Polaris Primary Bearing Info

HD Bearing Fitment:

08-14 RZR 800 both EBS model and non-EBS models

2010-2014 Ranger 800 both EBS and non-EBS models

2011-2013 RZR XP 900 and XP4

On the 2013 RZR 50" EPS with EBS and Blue Fire in color, you can use this kit to upgrade to the better bearing

On Ranger 800 Models like the Browning Edition that come with EBS, you can use this kit to upgrade to the better bearing

More models as we test fitment on!!!

What is a primary bearing?  The primary bearing is what the belt runs on at idle, if you look down into your primary clutch with no belt the center shaft is a bearing or at least a bearing running on the center shaft. When this bearing starts to fail or does fail, you get jerky starts, won't shift out of neutral into gear without griding or continues to pull forward in gear without foot on throttle.

Polaris did use a wider US Made primary bearing in both the One-Way for the vehicles with EBS (Engine Braking System) and what we call a Two Way which means it rolls either direction in the 08-09 RZR but they made a change in 2010 to go to a different bearing that is about half as wide and uses a wider spacer to make up the difference. I would assume this decision was made to cut cost but that is a guess. I am basing that off the fact of what the old bearing retails for versus the new one. So this means, in a 08-09 RZR these bearings would be a direct replacement, no spacer needed, for vehicles 2010 through 14 800 RZR or Ranger you need the whole kit with washers and spacer.

Let's get a little technical and use some not so specific measurements and explain the spacer and bearings role.

The spacer is what the spider tightens down on, there is a shoulder on the shaft of the clutch and there is a bevel inside the spacer. When the spider tightens down on the spacer the bevels meet and lock in, the space below the spacer is where the bearing runs and there is some end play between the bearing and the clutch, without it the bearing would not turn and you could not idle.

The old bearing was roughly 2" wide and had a 1/4" spacer (not exact), the new one is roughly a 1" wide and a 1 1/4" spacer.  The movable part of the clutch slides back and forth on the bearing and spacer. In old way the movable sheave only moved on the wide bearing surface and in the new, it slides off the bearing and onto the spacer.  As far as what the movable sheave is sliding on probably does not make much of a difference really in reliability but what should be obvious is a bearing that is twice as wide and made from better materials will last much longer than a narrower one. It should be very obvious especially on the one way bearing that actually has to do work, that a wider bearing will last longer than the present narrow one way.  Think on that a second, the way the one way works is some long needles in a slot in the bearing, one direction they go up in the slot, turning the other way they slide down and wedge themselves between the shaft and bearing housing. Twice as much surface area with the wide bearing is much better.  These narrow one way fail so often that there has been lots of people who replaced their one way with a two way just to stop having to replace the bearing so often, now you can have your cake and eat it too, the wide one way is very reliable.   It is my experience that the narrower two way bearings fail often too and I am not seeing many people with the 08 or 09 RZR having many primary bearing issues, hence the reason for us buying what we call a HD bearing and offering it for replacement of the narrow bearing and spacer. You will receive a HD bearing, small spacer and two new fiber washers in this kit.

This kit also allows us to add EBS to vehicles that do not have it if you chose the one way bearing. 08-09 RZR can simply add the one-way because you have the EBS secondary already, some 2010 have the same and then to 2014 have the rapid reaction secondary so you would need the EBS secondary to go with the one way bearing  All XP 900 and XP 4 900 can add the one way bearing kit and get full on engine braking too since they already have the EBS secondary.  Warning!!!!  Full on EBS with a one way bearing is NOT for people who jump alot, you will hate the one way bearing if you stay in the air long enough for the engine to return to idle, when you land you might get thrown through the windshield and may damage the clutch!! LOL Don't let that scare you but think about it, if you need extreme slow speed engine braking then you probably are not on a track somewhere getting serious air time.  I realize adding the one way bearing is hard to understand in print so if you wanting to add engine braking to a vehicle that does not, simply call me so I can explain it better.

While we are on the subject of adding engine braking to a vehicle, even the vehicles that do not have the EBS style secondary, we can offer that secondary clutch, helix etc and this one way bearing to add full on EBS to those vehicles.  Call me to discuss that, hard to put that on the site and say buy me, it needs a phone call.

So to sum it up, if you have a otherwise good primary, no need in replacing the present OEM bearing that you will be replacing again if you keep the vehicle with yet another present OEM one. Get the HD bearing from us. Will the bearing cost a bit more? Yes, but you won't be back in there for this.

How do you replace it? Several ways, you can buy the bearing kit with all the parts, take to a dealer and tell them to install and of course they are going to look at you crazy and tell you that is the wrong bearing, which from their way of looking at it, it is but you say just do it, watch our video and call us if they want us to explain. If they are good dealer, they will start buying the bearings from us and making customers happy.  Option two is buy the tools from us to do it yourself, these tools are good to have anyway for a real good maintenance program.  Tools needed: all vehicles need a primary clutch puller to get the clutch off, all need a clutch holder and all need a spider tool to unscrew the spider.  The tools are cheaper than taking this clutch to a dealer, having them install the present OEM bearing plus you are getting the tools to do maintenance.

Link to tools on our site

If any of this confuses you or you have questions, feel free to call Todd.

For any business competitor who might be reading this, we have a exclusive on this bearing so no one but us can buy it from the company that makes it, but we do have dealer pricing on it if you are interested in buying it from us.

Disclaimer: Believe this or not, Polaris is not consistent always on what clutch is in what or what parts is in what and their microfiche does not always match up. Example: I have a 2014 Ranger 900 that came with a primary clutch no one can identify, the microfiche does not match, and the parts in do not match what is in microfiche.  These are rarity but it happens.  So if for some reason you are the unlucky one and this seems to be minor occurence then you would have to use the original bearing.