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RZR XP4 1000 Bent Driveshaft

swtfman

Well-known member
Joined
May 19, 2020
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Went out to one of my favorite play spots yesterday to hit some jumps. Right when I landed after the 5th jump or so the machine started making bad noises. Upon inspection I found the rear driveshaft is bent. From looking at the scraped off powder coating I think it hit the cross-member just in front of the transmission when I landed. I did not bottom out the suspension on any of the jumps either.

A) Is it normal for these machines to flex that much?

B) If so, what is the best way to stop it? Would a metal skid plate help stiffen things up or do I need to make a stiffer upper cage or what?

I ride pretty hard and want to beef things up as necessary while I'm fixing the driveshaft.

Thanks
 
A. Yes. You are jumping a rear engine machine that has a bolted together frame in the middle. The frames are like .050, exhaust pipe thickness. Your frame is bent, they mostly all are. Not a big deal. I wouldn’t routinely jump one or expect it could handle it.

B. Full tube chassis. Everything else is a band-aid.

most go with what I call the Bridge method of bracing the frame. A full cage that bolts on from end to end. Front bumper, a pillar, B pillar, c pillar, and rear bumper, all one piece . So you have made a bridge front to back grabbing the frame in 10 places along the way. Here is one of mine

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The stock propshafts are insanely weak and like to bend whenever. There are upgrades but then you're moving the weak point to the front diff and the trans.
 
The stock propshafts are insanely weak and like to bend whenever. There are upgrades but then you're moving the weak point to the front diff and the trans.

Ever pulled a driveshaft out of a rzr? I’d rather break an axle shaft than the D-S. I broke my front diff with the stock drive shaft. Upgraded to the Turbo-S diff, then broke the stock drive shaft. As difficult and time consuming as it is to get the driveshaft out I want the strongest piece I can get in there so I never have to do it again.
 
Ever pulled a driveshaft out of a rzr? I’d rather break an axle shaft than the D-S. I broke my front diff with the stock drive shaft. Upgraded to the Turbo-S diff, then broke the stock drive shaft. As difficult and time consuming as it is to get the driveshaft out I want the strongest piece I can get in there so I never have to do it again.

Been working at Polaris dealers since 2012, mostly behind the counter but had a few years wrenching. The way they engineer them makes you want to beat your head against a wall.
 
B. Full tube chassis. Everything else is a band-aid.

most go with what I call the Bridge method of bracing the frame. A full cage that bolts on from end to end. Front bumper, a pillar, B pillar, c pillar, and rear bumper, all one piece . So you have made a bridge front to back grabbing the frame in 10 places along the way. Here is one of mine

I've been looking at the cagewrx kits. Probably get one and add some additional tubes front and rear.

Ever pulled a driveshaft out of a rzr? I’d rather break an axle shaft than the D-S. I broke my front diff with the stock drive shaft. Upgraded to the Turbo-S diff, then broke the stock drive shaft. As difficult and time consuming as it is to get the driveshaft out I want the strongest piece I can get in there so I never have to do it again.

Yeah, getting the driveshaft out is turning into a PITA. I have the skidplates off and cut an access under the center plastics to loosen the carrier bearing bolts from the top. It has enough play to almost slide the rear yoke off the output shaft splines but not quite. I think I need to loosen up front diff and slide it forward then work the whole thing out the back?
 
I've been looking at the cagewrx kits. Probably get one and add some additional tubes front and rear.



Yeah, getting the driveshaft out is turning into a PITA. I have the skidplates off and cut an access under the center plastics to loosen the carrier bearing bolts from the top. It has enough play to almost slide the rear yoke off the output shaft splines but not quite. I think I need to loosen up front diff and slide it forward then work the whole thing out the back?

Yep, pull the diff bolts out entirely, the diff will move forward a little bit to let you slip it off. They are a horses ass. Might have to pull the clutch cover off to sneak it out the back too.
 
I've been looking at the cagewrx kits. Probably get one and add some additional tubes front and rear.



Yeah, getting the driveshaft out is turning into a PITA. I have the skidplates off and cut an access under the center plastics to loosen the carrier bearing bolts from the top. It has enough play to almost slide the rear yoke off the output shaft splines but not quite. I think I need to loosen up front diff and slide it forward then work the whole thing out the back?

yes. Move the front diff.
 
I took the front yoke roll pin out and my driveshaft slid forward enough to get it out. Didn't have to move the front diff. I did cut a small hole in the lower part of the tunnel to access a carrier bolt.
 
I've been looking at the cagewrx kits. Probably get one and add some additional tubes front and rear.

I run a Cagewrx Baja Spec cage on my '18 XP 1000. It is a really well made kit. There are no instructions with the kit though. If the piece needs to be trimmed to fit where you want it to go then it doesn't go there. I have had mine almost 3 years now. When I bought it they didn't offer a full glass windshield so I went the EMP poly custom cage windshield kit. I only run it a couple of months in the dead of winter so it's not been a priority for me to replace it with glass. Get the roof kit.

https://www.cagewrx.com/CageWrx-XP-1000-Roll-Cage-Baja-Spec-p/cw2sxp1k-ft-diy.htm
 
Finally got this done yesterday. I did have to take the bolts out of the front diff to get enough movement to get the old shafts out. I went with superatv's rhino shafts and carrier bearing, the stock shafts, especially the rear one, are a joke in comparison. I used a grade 8 5/16" bolt with a nylock nut and loctite on the front instead of the roll pin cut off with about one thread past the nylon. I don't see why that won't work but maybe I'm being dumb/lazy :confused:.
 
Most people don’t use the roll pin. I just put the rhino driveshaft in mine yesterday too. My new front yoke isn’t squared up where the hole is so I begrudgingly used the roll pin. I didn’t have to cut the car to get anything in or out but several times I thought about it. I had my front diff clear out for other reasons and that doesn’t help at all. the front driveshaft has to go in through the tunnel from the top, and the rear has to come in from under the clutch cover.

There is definitely a substantial difference between the Polaris shaft and the rhino one. I went with the CV driveshaft.
 
Are the SATV Rhino DS balanced or just phased correctly?

:Edit I just looked at the SATV site and they are balanced and phased.

I know the Popo DS isnt balanced or phased like a normal automotive D/S

Any vibes from using a solid mount carrier bearing? That has always been my fear that the solid mounted carrier would add a lot of buzzing and vibes in the cab. (more than normal)
 
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Are the SATV Rhino DS balanced or just phased correctly?

:Edit I just looked at the SATV site and they are balanced and phased.

I know the Popo DS isnt balanced or phased like a normal automotive D/S

Any vibes from using a solid mount carrier bearing? That has always been my fear that the solid mounted carrier would add a lot of buzzing and vibes in the cab. (more than normal)

It is a head scratcher that Polaris didn’t phase the yokes right. I had a Ranger that the driveshaft vibrated like crazy. Thought it needed new u-joints but it was just an unbalanced un phased POS. I’ll let you know how a fixed carrier bearing works out. I used the billet SATV one, chassis flex has me worried about that but I know other people who swear by them.
 
It is a head scratcher that Polaris didn’t phase the yokes right. I had a Ranger that the driveshaft vibrated like crazy. Thought it needed new u-joints but it was just an unbalanced un phased POS. I’ll let you know how a fixed carrier bearing works out. I used the billet SATV one, chassis flex has me worried about that but I know other people who swear by them.

did you shim up the rear of the front diff to bring the pinion angle closer to level? It's supposed to help with side load on the pinon bearing.
https://sandcraftmotorsports.com/pro...tial-shim-kit/

I have added the longer diff bolts to mine since the stock bolts are only going into the case about 10mm or something. I need to shim my front diff as well. just haven't done it yet.

caveat: mine is a '18 R&T XP1000 though so that may not matter to the Turbo chassis?
 
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did you shim up the rear of the front diff to bring the pinion angle closer to level? It's supposed to help with side load on the pinon bearing.
https://sandcraftmotorsports.com/pro...tial-shim-kit/

I have added the longer diff bolts to mine since the stock bolts are only going into the case about 10mm or something. I need to shim my front diff as well. just haven't done it yet.

Not sure, I have the RS1 diff swap in mine and I never had any vibration with either diff. Except for when the XP diff was broken anyway. But the RS1 diff bracket there’s no way to raise it up.
 
Oh if you are running the RS1 diff then that doesn't apply to you. I must have missed that in your build thread..

Carry on!
 
Been working at Polaris dealers since 2012, mostly behind the counter but had a few years wrenching. The way they engineer them makes you want to beat your head against a wall.

After tearing into it a bit this is the conclusion I came to as well. So I just sold the RZR and bought a KRX 1000 Trail Edition. Everything about the new machine is just better made/engineered compared to the RZR.
 
After tearing into it a bit this is the conclusion I came to as well. So I just sold the RZR and bought a KRX 1000 Trail Edition. Everything about the new machine is just better made/engineered compared to the RZR.

I've always been a huge Kawi fan, they're good machines and Kawi really stands behind their product. Have only looked over the KRX once or twice but I've heard good things. Knew they had some propshaft trouble with a few locally and a few right off the bat had an easily fixed clutch issue.

Does the centrifugal clutch make the off idle engagement a lot better?
 
Slow speed crawling is much better than the rzr. Takeoff is much smoother as well, it doesn't grab and go, more like an automatic transmission in a car.
 
A couple friends have a KRX.

The female friend only has 100 miles or so on hers. I have driven it a little around the campground but never trail ridden it. She loves it.

Another friend bought a used '20 KRX with 35s on it already and he intends to let his son and parents trail ride it. He took it out this past weekend to SMORR and said it does really well. He has a XPT4 on portals for reference. According to him it fits our riding style very well. trail riding, rock crawling. We aren't really into dunes or wringing them out so the 100-110hp or whatever they are is plenty. Tim said the clutch system works really well for trail riding.
 
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