Here's a very good post about the problem from another site:
I had the pleasure of picking up my Slingshot LE a few days ago - it was a 7-hour / 500 mile trip home through flat highways, mountains and even the miserable traffic of Atlanta GA. In any case, I enjoyed driving the bike, the great handling even in 90+ degree temperatures or driving through thunderstorms on rain slick highways, regardless - the Slingshot handled perfect.
I’ve been on bikes since I was 14 and pretty much owned everything out there at one time or another- Now in my later years, I’ve become somewhat picky as my past employment for 40+ years of pioneering, designing, and flying; hobby, aerial and military drones (www.rotory.com) makes me a bit more critical, so hopefully my bike is as near perfect mechanical-wise as it could be.
My last bike’s were a Can Am; RT & RTS Tour - I was looking for a 3-wheel bike to replace these but it had to be better! Well, I can happily say; the Slingshot was everything and more than I expected, even the Harley guys who hate everything have to look at this bike when it goes by, which by the way, I was not ready for the entourage of lookers and cell phone images I was about to witness - my good looking Slingshot might have been one of the contributing issues to the Atlanta traffic when I drove through. Anyhow, what is not to love, the SS LE has great looks – plenty of power – comfortable - smooth – vibration-less, everything is perfect except for that damn noisy “90 degree drive” this problem took all those positives and shed a dark cloud on the whole platform.
I’m sure I don’t have to go into detail on this problem – there is thousands of posts on Forums and Google to confirm the Slingshot has a major problem. Let me just start off by saying; if you hear a noise coming out of a mechanical device, (transmission – diff – engine, pump, etc.) “there is something eating it alive” and sooner or later, it will fail. One has to question why Polaris made the decision to go ahead and release the bike with this drive problem.
While the dealers continue to tell customers; it’s just the belt braking in - we all know the sound of the belt – The noise we’re taking about here is mechanical in nature and clearly sounds off under load or when coasting. There’s a lot happening in this drive transferring mechanical load from one direction to another, plus the radial load of the belt being pulled back causing other loading issues.
One thing is for certain, there is no way the Polaris technicians just over-looked this problem, they heard it and they knew it would be a problem long before us mortals even seen the machine. If it was a decision of not wanting to push back release deadlines, or the fact they already ordered thousands of units, we’ll never know. In any case, Polaris decided to install them and here we are today with a major drive-line problem.
As my research confirmed that everyone has this problem, as guys pull the plugs on the 90 degree drives and change the oil in the gearbox, they are finding metal filings, chunks of metal, darkened lubrication and occasional failed bearings, it all but confirms the 90 degree drive design is failed and Polaris needs to step up to the plate and design and replace these failing units we all own. For myself, I can’t think of one car or motorcycle that has a mechanical whine or gear clatter noise so why should we accept this as normal in the Slingshot. If you bought a car and the diff made this racket, you would drive it straight to the dealer, in fact every differential that ever made noise in my cars eventually failed. Anyway you look at it – It’s “Broke” and needs to be fixed.
Regretfully, unless we all have to stand together and make enough noise, Polaris will not fix our problem. While I’m sure some bikes will last past the warranty period, this still puts us all in a bad position when we try to sell our bikes in the future with this problem branded on our foreheads and known by the entire industry.
Another major problem is the failing bearing syndrome on the rear axle, this problem as well has taken the joy and confidence of any "out of town" ventures without the worry of a break-downs resulting in roll-backs, living in a motel and or leaving your bike with an un-experenced Polaris ATV dealer on the road.
Anyhow, I’m putting thread this up so we can have discussion and hopefully make a statement to Polaris that we need to get the problem resolved. Please share your thoughts!
. Like others I did get my dinner refund back. At the moment I haven't made plans for MV in August. Still up in the air. Its around the corner.
