[Norman Viau]

Good day everyone out there. I’m in the process of rebuilding a 1994 Polaris XLT 580 triple but I am looking for a sled to ride for next season while I take my time to do that. I’m currently looking at a 2005 Polaris Edge 800 XC SP R. I don’t know anything about this sled or what I should be looking out for before taking the keep. Can anyone tell me about this type of sled.
Is it reliable?
What are known issues to look out for?

 

[Norman Viau]

By the way here is a picture of it

 

[fourh-ds]

There should be no R in the model name. Just XC SP. I have two of these, both 04s but same machine. In my opinion they are pretty solid and reliable. Maintenance is always an issue no matter what the sled is. Has it been taken care of, or parked on the lawn between snowmelt and snowfall. A common issue with those is the exhaust valve breaking. If it still has the stock aluminum valves, replace them before you ride it. It's not worth the risk. I got lucky when mine broke, it spit out the exhaust and didn't damage the piston or cylinder. The second XC I bought, the valve had broken and raised hell with the piston and cylinder. It had 3400 miles on it and I bought it as a project.
That is probably the number one issue I'd look at. A second is the bolt holding the lower gear in the chaincase. Replace that. They are known to break.
Other than that my original sled was excellent for 8500 miles until this winter. I let someone use it and it came back on one cylinder. I haven't opened it yet to have a look at what happened. I'm thinking a lean situation as she was driving pretty slowall day without any extra throttle like that sled was used to with me driving.

 

[fourh-ds]

Also at this age a shock rebuild is probably in order.

 

[northstarrick]

these are notorious for bad bearing crush fit and breaking the crank pin pto side. not all did this but about 75% did. if you get over 6000 miles you got a good one. i have xc 800 cranks stacked like cord wood at my shop. all the same pto lower crank pin broken at the outer crank wheel. all of them. i have a xc 800 i haven't torn down yet. but it's a broken crank pin i can tell 5700 miles.

 

[Lexuslover]

i had an 01 and bought it blown up. water pump belt that also drives the oil pump broke and sled was oil starved. so make sure you check that out. I Tore it down and was about to put it back together when i told myself i should go down to the crank. Good thing i did as it needed a rebuild due to PTO snub being fubared. Once fixed it was a very reliable sled and i put another 6000 miles on it before i sold it. I was happy with mine. The 2005s are a very good looking sled.

How many miles and how much are they asking?

 

[Norman Viau]

Thank you all for the information makes me a little nervous to purchase this sled then. It is currently at a dealership with a little over 7000 miles on it so it sounds like it’s ready to get work done on it and that’s not what I’m looking for I’m looking for something that has already been repaired so I can ride it while I Finnish my 94 XLT

 

[too slow]

The R means nothing, its just an 05 xc sp 800 edge. They rode pretty decent. If you got one of those 800 twins with no crank issues in the first 5k miles, you got a good one. For reliability our guys always put new pistons at 5k miles, or they usually broke sooner or later. Those pass seats are better than the old standard bench seat's imo. Only thing it needed was a 2'' riser for those low bars. By now i would guess the shocks need to be rebuilt. Same for the clutch's...new springs anyways. Change the coolant to. As usual, check the idler wheels, bearing, and track condition. Good idea to find out if the carbs n/s o rings were ever replaced.

 

[Lexuslover]

just ask the dealership what's been done and how they went through their pre inspection to put it no the floor. Honestly, they aren't all that bad and it's a really good looking sled and from what i can tell, looks well cared for. There is a history on it somewhere and if the price is right i wouldn't hesitate on the purchase.

 

[Norman Viau]

As an fyi it has a little over 7k miles on it the they are asking $4000

 

[sleeping_dragon]

these are notorious for bad bearing crush fit and breaking the crank pin pto side. not all did this but about 75% did. if you get over 6000 miles you got a good one. i have xc 800 cranks stacked like cord wood at my shop. all the same pto lower crank pin broken at the outer crank wheel. all of them. i have a xc 800 i haven't torn down yet. but it's a broken crank pin i can tell 5700 miles.

The ones that break are from guys exploding belts.The bearing issues are on sleds that are all studded to shit doing holeshots all day or longtracks.Dont get me wrong they had plenty of failures but most were owner induced.My whole crew had those sleds new and not one had a crank failure.Mine had 15000 miles on it running all over the UP WFO with twin pipes for about 12000 of those miles.Back then I rode a lot ….like 1500-1800 miles on week trips.Mine was an 01 and literally the only thing I ever did was put in some wiseco pistons at around 5000 miles.
Those big block crank case werent designed very well but their failure rate was blown way out of proportion.
All that being said….those are 20 year old sleds now so its pretty much a crapshoot what you are getting.

 

[Lexuslover]

As an fyi it has a little over 7k miles on it the they are asking $4000

not sure where you're located but that's a heavy price. Here in Canada it would be lucky to grab a Covid price of $3500 with those miles.

 

[sleeping_dragon]

As an fyi it has a little over 7k miles on it the they are asking $4000

Definately time for pistons.The skirts like to fall off the stock pistons on larger bores around that milage

 

[Norman Viau]

I’m located in Fredericton New Brunswick Canada. My dream sled is a 2000-2003 Polaris XCR 800 but can’t find any out here or in Quebec si if any one know of any please let me know

 

[fourh-ds]

Just across the border you should be able to find them. Here in Maine they pop up frequently, more son the winter. I know of one extra clean local to me that WAS for sale. It's not posted now, not sure if he changed his mind or is waiting for fall to post it again.

 

[northstarrick]

$4000 is to much for that mileage. even in Canada. with 7000 miles a lot needs to be done. clutches need total rebuild @ 3500-4500 water pump belt replaced @ 3500 and inspected every 1000 miles, shock's should have been rebuilt about 3-4 times, piston's like was said @ 5000 mile's, track should be at the end of it's life if original? on and on.

 

[05xc7]

All the bushings in the front end will be getting worn out. Shocks like mentioned. The engine needs a complete overhaul unless already done including water pump bearings and seal. Good chance the water pump shaft is badly worn where the oil pump drives. Water pump belt when in there. Lower chance case bolt, I have had a couple break, and some come loose.
I have never had a big block polaris go much past 6000 miles on a crank. Usually by 5000 miles its time for a crank. Usually they failed and took a cylinder out with them.

The stainless exhaust valves on the 800 I hear came on some 2004's and all the 2005's. I cant confirm this but when you pull them if they are stainless there will be some fairly deep cut outs on the bottom of the valve to reduce the weight. The non stainless I'm told do not have that. Also when cleaning them you will not nick the stainless with a razor blade, the aluminum ones you will for sure nick or peel a piece off.

But honestly they are great sleds, I never really did any repairs outside of the motor until 7000-10000 miles on the sleds. And it was wear items at that point. Lots of sliders, carbides, bearings as expected through all the years. I changed some carb slides on one at over 8000 miles to stock the rattle. It still worked fine but annoying. My 700 and 800 lived their entire lives with a slp single, slp head.

 

[Norman Viau]

Man that’s Insane. I’m starting to guess that I should just spend the money on my old 94 Indy XLT SKS 580 it has over 11000 miles on it and it has never been touched before I started doing some preventive work 2 years ago. I changed the fuel pump, water pump and belt. Which were still working fine just figured they were getting old. Replaced jut about everything on the skid that was replaceable. That had to be done shocks were done and most of the bearing also. It was a joy to ride last year engine is working great. This year changing the primary spring. Secondary spring and helix and hopefully redoing the top end. And again just because I know that they are old but still working fine but I don’t want to get caught out in the woods as I always go out alone.

 

[Norman Viau]

So if I can’t get proof that any of the work that you are all mentioning has been done I’m looking at about another 1500 - 2000 to get it done so I am better off buying a newer more reliable sled like a Yamaha Apex

 

[orville-x]

I'd agree that for what it is, that price is way too high for those miles and with the condition of everything "unknown". It isn't that those sleds can't be reliable, its that it is now almost 20 years old and lots of stuff simply needs replaced due to age and miles.