Reliability Kit wich one to use

[shwantz34]

The piston tolerances are needed but it's also about the weight of piston( piston, rings, clips, wrist pin& bearing) . Stock and others being 580+ grams is a little heavy . Get the total weight down around 500 grams with a great designed piston, proper tolerances and you have less stress on other parts . This can equal more reliability and hp in the right hands

So what makes would do the trick ?

Brock Why don't you just tell us which pistons have "total weight down around 500 grams with a great designed piston, proper tolerances"
Witch makes ?
I just want to refresh my sled for next winter with the best reliable piston kit available for my sled. (better performance also if possible)
Oem or other , i don't mind. I just want to keep my motor top notch. Winter is short , i don't want to loose riding
time because of piston failure or ring wear.

and the winner is ................


P.S i understand all what you say before , about blue priinting the engine, but for now i only want a reliable
stock motor, with a pipe and PCV, I don't have the budget to put 3-4 k $ at a race shop for now.

 

[AFM]

IMHO the best piston available for the Axys 800 HO motor is the stock Polaris piston.

 

[ZR SLEDHEAD]

With failure rate being so low, also on the stock piston band wagon until something else proves more reliable.
On a side note, in a Cat 900 then again in an '11 Cat 800 HO, put big miles on Wiseco pistons in each. When it was time to freshen up, only replaced with fresh pair of Wiseco's as a matter of good maint. By big miles I mean north of 10,000 miles, the 900 was actually upwards of 15K when removed.

 

[Powaton]

The politics surrounding this are such that you can only read tea leaves. No one seems to be able to come out and say what they think.

Here is me reading the tea leaves:

#1 The stock Polaris piston in the 2015 and up 800s is good. Maybe 10000 mile good. At least 5000 mile good. It's a good piston.

#2 For those of more discerning taste and ability to make or buy a "built" engine, the Arctic Cat H.O. 800 piston is to be considered. It's a proven 10000 mile piston and lighter than stock Polaris.

#3 Titanium DLC coated wrist pins are what the cool kids are using. No downside other than your bank account. But where do you buy them? You godda know a guy that knows a guy. I don't know a guy.

On the car forums and dirt bike forums people are sharing all kinds of info freely. Ski Doo forum is somewhere in between. Polaris, less so. This place has leprechaun guild levels of secrecy on some things.

 

[AFM]

I could care less about snowmobile politics. Love/hate RKT, BMP or whoever it doesn't matter. I sell nothing. Sponsored by nobody. I can run whatever I want to run. From my experience, the best piston available from a reliability standpoint for the 800 HO motor is the stock piston. If I thought there was a better piston available it would be in my sled. The pistons aren't the same and the engines aren't the same as they were in 08/09/10/11/12 and etc. I think the chrome coated rings are the best available. I was very skeptical of the oil retention grooves, figured it was the latest piston gimmick. After a recent tear down I'm starting to believe they may have some real merit.

Let's also remember those Cat motors are not a CFI. The designs of the CFI and i'd also lump in the etecs are going to be hard on pistons.

 

[ZR SLEDHEAD]

How quickly these engines come right up to temp should at least cut down on damage by those that tend to squeeze the throttle hard long before they should.

 

[George A Twitchell]

I have not been able to locate the PN for Wossner Piston to use with Shim kit (taller Piston) and I doing one right now and would like to use cast piston. I am not familar with TAR Where and how to locate a piston PN ?? I had Snow-x and had a lean condition due to not changing fuel filter soon enough (bad on Me!!) Can no longer get Snow-X as they went out Mar 1, hopefully they get their stuff together and get going again over in Utah as I like their alloy. Any help on the Part Numbers on Wossner and TAR would be appreciated!!
gtwitch in wyoming

 

[George A Twitchell]

AFM, I was putting my own oil retaining grooves on pistons (turning them on the pistons on the lathe .005 deep with my custom tooling bit .020 wide and round tip, so as not to have a stress concentration point at the bottom of the groove) in my race engines over 25 years ago and learned then that it was not just a gimmick.
gtwitch in wyoming

 

[racer487]

I said it before on here and I'm going to say it again .

Do you think Polaris engineers don't know what their doing when designing engines, engine components and want warranty claims against the company that they work for???


The aftermarket companies would have you believe Polaris engineers don't know what their doing, but they do ....... So, Polaris is going to design an engine that fails and has warranty claims were the company loses money??? I don't think so. No big corporations want to lose money, it's that simple . It's ALL about the bottom line .

Ask yourself this, it's reasonable.

I cannot agree with that. Like the early 800's like 2010 were horrible. No excuse for loose pistons that broke skirts off at low miles , they slowly got better but even my 2013 snapped a rod in half & trashed the entire motor at 3200 miles at $4200 & out of warranty. Bought it used with 300 miles on it. & I see many of them scattered. Dont have much faith in there 800's. Had an 05 900 cat with 12000 miles & was never apart & no engine issues. Had a few of polaris 600's with no issues but the 800 design sucks

 

[George A Twitchell]

If you want some great reading/knowledge, go to snow west and read INDYDAN on his thoughts and ideas plus first hand knowledge!! Basically, he says ---no fix kit!!! use stock 15 or later 800 POO pistons, DO not hone unless you can get INDYDAN or someone else to "plateau hone".
I have used poo pistons and SPI stock replacement pistons with very good luck (5 to 8k miles with no problems) . Prior to that, 5 years ago and before, I tried fix kits with several different brands of pistons and have gone back to no fix kit and 15 or later stock poo or SPI stock replacement pistons. To be honest, I have not torn down any engines in this area for my stable or those I ride with for at least 4 years, so that speaks for itself.
gtwitch in wyoming