This thing is used for 75% work and 25% fun And its a work hard play harder kind of relationship with this thing so I’m by no means "easy" on it.
What has failed:
1)Front driver side CV joint, replaced with complete Highlifter Axle assembly @500 miles
2)Front driver side u joint, replaced with All Balls bearing @500 miles
3)Rack and Pinion steering gearbox started stripping out at @ 900 miles which gives me a ratcheting sound while turning. We have not replaced yet but will be ordering a new "severe duty" box from RackZilla with a lifetime warranty in the near future.
Bushings, ball joints, brakes, etc. have held up well so far, all are still in good condition.
I had some issues with clutch being noisy when I first got it. Working with Polaris wasn’t happening so I worked with Ryan @ RVS Performance to get the clutching figured out and after some trial and error we solved that issue.
Driving Impressions:
The ride is amazing, its very quiet even with the full cab on, and the torque/gearing of the 900 is great (also probably why I broke the cv joint)
Pre lift kit the Top speed is 62mph w/o the full cab on. With the full cab and lift kit its about 56ish
One of my favorite things to do is go out and move snow in my t shirt while it is subzero outside. Or "run and gun" during ice fishing season with my Marcum and clam portable icehouse in tow.
If I could pick ONE thing to change:
I REALLY wish I could manually lock in the AWD. If I could do this and have a front differential with beefier internal components would be awesome. But the current AWD system works ok and so far my front diff hasn’t exploded. When and If the front diff does fail (somewhat common on these rangers apparently) the guts can be replaced with Brutus components to give it a true 1:1 ratio for instant lockup.
Overall I’m happy with my Ranger, and admittedly I am really curious to hear some real world feedback on the new Honda Pioneer 1k—once people start racking up some miles/hours on those things it will be interesting to see how they hold together.
