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RZR Tranny

endobear

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Pretty sure I toasted the trans last weekend in Moab. Started making a knarly clunking noise. Output shaft jumps like something is bound up.
I feel like it's a bearing on the output.
Couple ?s.
Are these trannies hard to rebuild?
Is it worth rebuilding or do I just swap a new one in?
Any lines on used units?
Anybody got a hard copy service manual laying around they want to sell me?
It's a 2015 xpk4 1000 eps with 3k miles on it.
The plan is to get it going again and sell soon to upgrade
20240316_093358.jpg
. But I'd like to get some use out of it this summer. It basically broke on the 1st day of our Colorado riding season.
 

Maestro

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There's a guy on offer up selling rebuilt and upgraded trans for a decent price. He's out of socal. I toasted mine and for his prices I'm just gonna swap it out.
 

Bpracing1127

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they are rebuildable, however its almost cheaper to buy a tranny from a wrecked car. there is a ebay page based out of pheonix that does this. As far as pulling it out. its not hard. basic hand tools are needed and a full day. you dont need a service manual just youtube how to do it. there is plenty of videos out there. you will need a buddy to help pull it once you get it unbolted.


tip drain the oil first
take pictures
take your time
 

rickym20

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My brother had good luck buying a used one off of offer up . His went out around same amount of miles as yours . Did a quick search and looks like a few options out there .
IMG_0411.png
 

Maestro

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This is the guy I've been eyeballing. He's been around awhil
Screenshot_20240602-085633.png
 

Ziggy

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they are rebuildable, however its almost cheaper to buy a tranny from a wrecked car. there is a ebay page based out of pheonix that does this. As far as pulling it out. its not hard. basic hand tools are needed and a full day. you dont need a service manual just youtube how to do it. there is plenty of videos out there. you will need a buddy to help pull it once you get it unbolted.


tip drain the oil first
take pictures
take your time
Pretty sure LOF swapped out his trans for a used one, didn't he?
 
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crzy2bealive

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I got about 1800 miles on my rzr. I always overfill the tranny, but I know the snorkel gear is the weak point on the rzr. Maybe I’ll have it rebuilt with some upgrades after this coming desert season.
 

RiverDave

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This happened to my 2017 RZR about 10-20 miles after I sold it to some friends of mine.. not only did I give the car away and I ended up giving more $$ after the fact because I felt terrible that it blew up right after I sold it to them.

The bearings are garbage and fail right around 2700-3200 miles

But speeds are junk right? lol.
 

BRONCOBOY

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Rebuilt several of my sons while racing the WORCS series, really not that hard to do. Even fixed one in the desert for a freind, we always overfilled to keep the bearings wet, and upgrade the bearings. Polaris is so cheep they will upgrade a known bearing because of failure but continue using Chinese bearings everywhere else.
 

Bpracing1127

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This happened to my 2017 RZR about 10-20 miles after I sold it to some friends of mine.. not only did I give the car away and I ended up giving more $$ after the fact because I felt terrible that it blew up right after I sold it to them.

The bearings are garbage and fail right around 2700-3200 miles

But speeds are junk right? lol.
At least the rzr didn’t loose a motor in less than 500 miles lol.
 

JUSTWANNARACE

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Just rebuild it it is very simple, all it is is a few gear shafts and a chain. It's not really a transmission. and buy the upgraded gears and the double chain. You can have it out, rebuilt and back in in a day. Just make sure you inspect the cases very well cause they are notorious for cracking!
 

Ziggy

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This happened to my 2017 RZR about 10-20 miles after I sold it to some friends of mine.. not only did I give the car away and I ended up giving more $$ after the fact because I felt terrible that it blew up right after I sold it to them.

The bearings are garbage and fail right around 2700-3200 miles

But speeds are junk right? lol.
LOL, look at you talking shit about Rzrs in a Rzr thread.😂😂
 

DLC

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As I understand it the bearing are Chinese junk and don’t last!

need to swap out to a better bearings if you plan to keep your car.

Buying used is a crap shoot for longevity - Roll the dice …..



LOF swapped his trans for a used one, popped a hole in one of the side cases, on the last ride before he planned to sell it. It broke in November of 2021
 

JUSTWANNARACE

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Yep he did. He was all in for about 1500$ including the clutch alignment tool you need

What happened to LOF did he get the hammer? Kind of miss his posts. Sure he was an ass at times (as are alot of people) but was very helpful at other times!
 

rivrrts429

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They’re super easy to rebuild. We do it before every race. Nothing wrong with opening it up and see what you’re comfortable with. I think you’ll be confident.

The stock trans is junk and you’ll see why when you pull it apart.
 

Boatymcboatface

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This happened to my 2017 RZR about 10-20 miles after I sold it to some friends of mine.. not only did I give the car away and I ended up giving more $$ after the fact because I felt terrible that it blew up right after I sold it to them.

The bearings are garbage and fail right around 2700-3200 miles

But speeds are junk right? lol.
Would love a follow up post on your car of repairs and maintenance items when you reach 20k miles.


IMG_2962.jpeg
IMG_2961.jpeg
 

185EZ

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Trans is simple gears and bearings and EZ to repair. Depends on whether the cases were damaged.
Here's a manual,
SATV has a complete upgrade including the reverse chain
I can put you in touch with someone for a possible discount
 

Maestro

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What pissed me off about mine is I bought a used RZR, ran it for two seasons. Did oil change service. Replaced the fuel pump and replaced an injector. Ran all over glamis with a seasoned crew. Pitch a belt. Replaced and ran a couple more trips in the desert. Finally said I better change the trans diff fluids. Trans had no fluid.not leaking just a shady seller. Added fluid and now it's making all kinds of noise. I'd like something better but it's paid for and built the way I want it to look. I'm gonna just swap out the trans for one rebuilt with the upgrades. She ain't special but we have fun in it.
IMG_20231124_092721603.jpg
 

Bpracing1127

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Also can’t stress enough to change trans and front diff oil often. The capacity for these is very low.

My xp1k had about 4000 miles trouble free when I sold it.
My turbo s4 has 6000 miles trouble free miles. All I have done is maintenance on it and last summer I did preventative maintenance on the turbo and tranny and put the good bearings in.

I change all the fluids every 25 hours of use. Air filter every 50 hours or 1000 miles whichever comes first
 

DLC

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Just so you RDP - RZR owners know….

Chris @ Benchmark Performance is an outstanding and Stand up guy. He doesn’t need any more work to short change a customer or try to cheap out a repair !!

110 % A+ I‘m very proud to call him a friend & any questions please - Call him
you want to do something else that’s fine

But

he only speaks the truth and gives Excellent pros / cons, well worth a call


Ramona Ca -
 

DLC

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What pissed me off about mine is I bought a used RZR, ran it for two seasons. Did oil change service. Replaced the fuel pump and replaced an injector. Ran all over glamis with a seasoned crew. Pitch a belt. Replaced and ran a couple more trips in the desert. Finally said I better change the trans diff fluids. Trans had no fluid.not leaking just a shady seller. Added fluid and now it's making all kinds of noise. I'd like something better but it's paid for and built the way I want it to look. I'm gonna just swap out the trans for one rebuilt with the upgrades. She ain't special but we have fun in it. View attachment 1382853
Buying a used Rzr every fluid should have been changed, also need to look at injectors
motor trans & diff maintenance is huge


I mean these cars aren’t CAM AMS….

sorry couldn’t resist

lol

Can ams have their own issues….

need to buy a welder for those cars!

a few can ams have over 25,ooo miles, mine has 7,500 miles! W/ Zero drive train issues
However - full disclosure-

I have fixed a few cracks added a few gussets recently

and I maintain my car very well.
 
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Bpracing1127

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Just so you RDP - RZR owners know….

Chris @ Benchmark Performance is an outstanding and Stand up guy. He doesn’t need any more work to short change a customer or try to cheap out a repair !!

110 % A+ I‘m very proud to call him a friend & any questions please - Call him
you want to do something else that’s fine

But

he only speaks the truth and gives Excellent pros / cons, well worth a call


Ramona Ca -
This is my go to
 
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endobear

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Thanks for all the replies.
Pulling the tranny shouldn't be an issue.
I've got a buddy that has done some internal tinkering on a couple of his Porsche Transaxles and helped me rebuild my Mendeola in my old sand car.
The Mendeola went good but we didn't put the right bearing in for the upgraded gears and had a whine and would pop out of second. Ended up sending that box in for a pro to go through again.

I'll pull this trans out and see what's what.
If I find case damage I'll look in to a used rebuilt unit.
If no case damage I'll replace bearings and chain with better parts.

Got a local quote of $1200 plus parts to rebuild.

A brand new upgraded unit is out of the ?.
I'm on the hunt for a newish 72" Turbo car so money for a brand new upgraded trans for this car is out.
 
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Dunerking

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I had Sean at Weddle rebuild our Wildcat XX trans with all of the upgraded bearing and parts. Price was good and peace of mind that it’s built right.
 

Maestro

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Buying a used Rzr every fluid should have been changed, also need to look at injectors
motor trans & diff maintenance is huge


I mean these cars aren’t CAM AMS….

sorry couldn’t resist

lol

Can ams have their own issues….

need to buy a welder for those cars!

a few can ams have over 25,ooo miles, mine has 7,500 miles! W/ Zero drive train issues
However - full disclosure-

I have fixed a few cracks added a few gussets recently

and I maintain my car very well.
I agree, failure on my part. Oh well at least I can get a complete gone through trans now. Oh and now I need doors. With the new cage the hinge doesn't quite line up. Wifey said time for doors 😉
 
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SeanRitchie

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Lots of options for rebuild services out there, including mine.

Weddle only offers a full "race prep" service at this time, which is everything we can do to make these reliable and last as long as possible. Might be a little more than what you are looking for, but give me a ring if interested. I do have a complete new race prepped trans on the shelf that I would be wiling to cut a deal on for RDP member, but it is considerably more than a new trans straight from the dealer.

One thing to note is that when you lose a bearing in these, the shafts/gears come out of mesh and usually do a good job of ruining lots of otherwise good parts. This drives the cost up quite a lot when factoring in replacing all of the damaged parts. In most cases, there is not enough good parts left to rebuild the trans.
 

stonehenge

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Many ghayzer owners have alluded to these points;

overfill the tranny just a tich, that extra oil seems to help
change the tranny fluid often
change the front diff fluid often
change the engine oil & filter often
change the air filter often

all great advice if you own one

I will throw one more in the mix, change the fuel pump "sock" fuel filter often
(keep a spare fuel pump handy and two fuel injectors, might never need them, but when you do you will have them)
 

SeanRitchie

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Changing the oil frequently in the trans or diff won't necessarily keep a catastrophic failure from happening, but it will show you that a failure is imminent by the metal that collects on the drain plug magnet. That is where you will save some money by fixing the issue before it fails and ruins otherwise perfectly good gears.

There are many issues within both units that cause failures due to no fault of the user or even how it's driven.
 
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