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XP 900 Transmission - Blown at 1450 miles!

131K views 276 replies 64 participants last post by  FlavorDave 
#1 · (Edited)
This REALLY surprised me yesterday on our ride. I have not really heard of any known issues with the XP transmission. But mine let go. NO forward / reverse gears. GRINDS in any position. was able to put in neutral, and although made some noise was able to get a tow back to pavement about 10 miles. It appears to have blown one of the bearing races out the side cracking the case. I've had similar issues in my rock crawler and generally find it wastes most of the gears by the pieces going around and around during the tow. Found a used replacement on Ebay for $1000 versus a new one for around $2000.

Has anyone else had this problem? Or any known issues with certain years, etc? I haven't pulled apart yet to try and investigate the cause either. I never serviced the transmission, i.e. oil change either - didn't think that 1500 miles was that much yet.



December 2015 Updated Information:

Exploded parts view with associated bearing numbers. This is for a 2012, but I think all bearings are the same up through at least 2015.





HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all! Jeffco and I collaborated on this, and this is our Christmas gift to the RZR community.

Since I have blown the infamous trans bearing TWICE now, I felt there was something else going on besides just bearing quality. After looking at ALL the pictures posted of the bearing failures they ALL appear to show signs of heat. IMO heat wouldn't be an issue if the bearing was getting adequate oil. Oil is defined not only as a lubricant, but a coolant also!

So the quest was on to find a way to get more oil to this bearing. I even purchased a 12v gear oil pump, fittings, hose, etc. and was going to tap the bottom of the case and literally pump oil to "the" bearing. After pondering solutions for a couple weeks and a bunch of "head scratching" we devised a way to let the gears do their natural "pumping" or centrifugal oiling, but capture that oil higher in the case, in a "dam", and use gravity and an external passage to naturally do the work.

Now I welded a piece (dam) on the inside of the case half to aid in the capture of oil because my transmission was out and in pieces already. But Jeffco has completed this modification with the transmission in the car and without splitting the case. You only have to pull the passenger side axle to gain adequate access to drill and tap the case in the "reservoir" area. The "dam" surely supplies more oil, but some oil is better than none. I would definitely weld the "dam" in if you have the case apart for any reason, i.e. bearings, heat treat, etc. and for that added racer advantage.

THE BEST PART - ITS ABOUT $10.00 IN PLUMBING FITTINGS!!! You will need a drill extension if doing in the car and it will take the average mechanic about an hour to complete.

Disclosure: Due to winter conditions we have NOT fully tested this modification but feel the video speaks for itself. We just figured Santa doesn't bring new transmissions often and maybe you would like to do some preventive mods over the winter season. So do at your own discretion.



Here are a few close up pictures of the fittings and locations to drill in the case if you are doing the mod in the car.





This was taken after about 60 miles of driving, trans was up to temperature, and was about 60 degrees outside. You can't say that bearing isn't getting oil now.



Here is a video of the "oil mod" done on Jeffco's RZR XP900. It was up to temperature and I believe he's running a 90w gear oil. It was done IN THE CAR, WITHOUT SPLITTING THE CASE, AND NO OIL DAM WELDED IN. Just as effective IMO. For $10 in hardware parts and about an hour of time its well worth it.

 
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#3 ·
Very curious. What lube were you running and when and how often did it get changed? Are you water and or mud runner? See very little evidence of lube being thrown out. The picture just may not show it. Bearing failure is usually an overload or lack of lube issue. Doubt the overload issue unless you have a turbo, so checking on the lube side.
 
#4 ·
X2.
 
#11 ·
That is nice, I'm just trying to find if there is an issue or just one of those things maybe assembled wrong at the factory. Not trying for blame either. Thanks for sharing.
 
#14 ·
I never changed the fluid or checked it. yes the manual says every year, or 2500 miles. so although it was technically over a year I was far under the 2500 miles. I run all kinds of terrain, i.e. sand, dirt, use low once in awhile, but i don't bash on the thing, rock crawl it, or bounce it. I have other dedicated toys for that. this is the "family" car!

the bearing that let go is about 2in above the fill plug, so little oil came out. i checked the level and it is still just below the fill plug level even with the hole in the case.

another thing; i've had sporadic issues with my EPS turning off since almost the day i bought it. randomly the "check engine" light and "steering" lights would come on and you would loose the EPS. you could slow down, almost to a stop, and it would reengage. the day prior to this we were ridding and this problem became constant and i rode the second half of the day with no EPS. after some head scratching my wife actually noticed that when the EPS wasn't working nor was the speedo. took the speed sensor out and there were some very fine metal particles, almost like a past on the end of the sensor. my buddy even commented about excessive gear wear and maybe i was loosing a trans. well i cleaned the sensor and no issue with the EPS the day of loosing the trans.
 
#15 ·
Good information. Maybe the bearing is only the end result if a gear was going. Doubt the metal was from the bearing. Something else failed putting excess stress on the bearing and breaking the case.
 
#20 ·
mine would NOT move an inch and had a horrible grinding, chattering noise. like i said, i've heard this noise before in my rock crawler case when i blew the smallest intermediate gear (twice now). when it went it takes out 5 other gears with it.
 
#24 ·
more than anything (even the money) i'm dreading the time to remove the transmission. i've looked at the manual and its pretty involved. it recommends actually replacing some of the bolts, special torque sequences to reassemble, several different special tools (clutch removal & alignment), etc. i just don't have the time.
 
#25 ·
What I see is a destroyed bearing that may not be pressed down on the shaft as far as the big one next to it, with damage on the outside of the inner race. As if it was rubbing something like the case. Could be after the bearing started to fail. No blueing from excess heat. Two gears with damaged teeth. What it would take to fix it. Two gears, a set of new bearings to keep from having metal contamination and future failure. Case half. And I would run better lube oil.

Would really look at the one bearing to see if there is space between the inside of the bearing and gear face. A un-seated bearing would cause this problem by having to much end pressure on case.
 
#28 ·
come awn, be realistic. there is NO way ANYONE can get the trans out in 45 minutes even without taking the bed off - which, yes, i don't see that being necessary. just to pull the axles, get the primary, secondary, and clutch cover back off will take even a seasoned mechanic an hour. I see a trans swap as taking up the better part of a day from the first wrench pulled to reassembly and clean up.
 
#30 ·
I had the exact same bearing fail in my 12 xp with 900 miles, it trashed a couple of gears, filled the bearings with metal and cracked the passenger side case. I looked at rebuilding but all parts replaced added up over $1000 I bought a new trans
 
#33 · (Edited)
Does anyone have an idea of WHY this failure occurred?

I'm still working on this situation. I received a used (600 mi) transmission off of Ebay today to swap out. I have researched to see if Polaris made any upgrades between 2012 & 2013. Thinking maybe the bearing that failed, but it is the same part number for both years. The case halves are different as the 2013 has the additional billet mount to the engine. There are a few internal changes / upgraded parts as follows;

2012 - Shift Fork - 3235230
2013 - Shift Fork - 3235454

2012 - Dog, Shift, Park - 3235228
2013 - Dog, Shift, Park - 3235457

2012 - Shaft, Input, Helical - 3235226
2013 - Shaft, Input --------- 3235464
addition on 2013 - Sleeve, Collar, Input Shaft - 3235465
 
#34 ·
OK, THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON WITH THIS BEARING AND FAILURE. MY BUDDY JUST LOST HIS TRANS TODAY, SAME EXACT BEARING AND BLOWN OUT THE CASE. 1900 miles.

I'm starting to think there is a design problem here. Maybe an oil slinger is needed for this bearing to get proper oiling. I think for his we may see if this bearing is available in a roller type in stead of the ball type that it is.

We need to start documenting how many of these break. We will be calling Polaris directly.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Just saw this thread today, no problems yet, but subscribed for future reference just in case... Thank you for checking back in!!!
 
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