What state? I just saw a 2006 rmk 550 go for $1500 with 8,xxx miles and a blown motor here in Maine

 

If you are going to be riding in the mountains then I would wait and find at least a 600 RMK as that 550 isn't all that powerful. And yes those early ones had issues with blowing up.

 

I’m in Alaska.
I don’t need that much power. Occasionally I’ll be climbing in the mountains but mostly just riding in the valleys for ptarmigan hunting.
My main concern is it blowing up on me soon. With 1200 miles is there still a chance I could get some mods on it and get it to last me awhile or should I just forget it and try to find another machine?
Prices are crazy right now, just saw some 99 summit 700 with 3k+ miles go for $2300.

 

Tbh 2,300 for a Summit 700 with 3k on it for miles isn't too bad a little high for my area but everything in Alaska is going to be a bit higher. Telling ya you would be better off with a 500,600 or 700 Liquid Cooled over that 550 Fan. It just doesn't have the power behind it to really go far in the mountains especially if it isn't a RMK which has a longer track which you need. All of those I listed can be had in a RMK or Summit or w/e the maker calls it.

No real mods to a 550, that 1st design had its issues and they were widely known. 1,700 even with those miles I would pass.

Wait for @TheBearAk to arrive and post. He lives up in Alaska and can help as well. He might even know someone selling something that would be better for you.

 

The way luck has gone for me is no matter how long I wait to try and find a better deal, they always show up right after I've made my purchase

 

Thanks for the replies! I’ll wait for now. The machines are selling crazy. Even if there is a fair priced machine it’s gone within an hour or outrageously overpriced. Like a 2010 RMK 800 with 1800 miles for $7k! I do agree that a bit more power would be nice. he’s in no hurry to sell. I just want reliability above all else and doubt the 550 will give me that based on my research but the price seemed low and I figure it might be worth the gamble. Thanks again!

 

Did the 2010 800 come with a spare engine?

The difference between a 550 fan and a 600 liquid is substantial. The fan engine has about 55 hp, the 600 liquid is closer to 120 (my 08 CFI has 124, the carbed version was 116-118). When it comes to turning a longer track, you will find the 55 hp of the fan engine to be lacking, especially in the powder.

 

Fan cooled motors in Alaska are going for premium prices. $1700 is a great deal for that and I've been told it is a very reliable motor.
Here in Alaska, that machine would sell for $2500 the day it was posted for sale. Good sled to learn how to ride on. You ride on that and learn how to maneuver and get through deep-ish snow, moving onto anything newer with a liquid cooled motor will be child's play.

 

Look up 2001-2006 Polaris 550 fan issues. They had quite a bit of trouble with destroying pistons. They knew they had an issue and didn't issue a recall on it. Sadly quite common with those 1st gen 550s

 

Interesting, Coolhand. A friend of mine has a 2003 and it has 9800 miles on it, never been rebuilt. Of course, he is a very gentle rider, sled probably rarely has seen full throttle except maybe when his daughters take it across the lake. Most of the mileage is just getting back and forth from his cabin.

 

Yeah they even were selling a "kit" that was supposed to redirect heat away from the cylinders as well. People were not amused. Had a friend who bought one for his 15 year old daughter in 2002 or 2003 ICR the exact year but he worked with me at that time. 800 or so miles and it went BOOM! He had bought their extended warranty as well but it was within the 1 year as they bought it in November and by the end of February had put that many miles on it from all the riding they were doing. He was a mechanic at the shop, had owned snowmobiles as long as I had at that time. He was not happy at all. They were trying to sell him on rebuilding it and over sizing the cylinders and he said no way. That is a new motor that went boom because of Polaris either you put cylinders on it or you deal with the lawyer, they put new cylinders on it and redid the thing for nothing since it was warranty. He sold it during the summer once he found out how prevalent it was from talking to other people in his club. Bought her a XC 500 Edge to replace it which they still have with iirc around 7K on it and no rebuild.

Tbh I had kinda forgotten about those issues till some people here mentioned them when I first joined. And then it hit me on what that old friend of mine went through. It is too bad because if they hadn't had those issues there would still be a lot of them out there on the trails today as a beginner snowmobile.

 

Thanks for the replies. The machine is super well maintained, runs great and drives great. Just looked at it in person today. In the current market I thinks it’s a good deal. It’s never had a problem over-heating so far and has only been on trips about 30-40 miles long. I figure if I get it and install the oil vent kit and extra venting I should be ok for a couple seasons (probably only 400-600 miles for me) then I’ll re-sell as I’ll be moving on to med school. Hoping it will last me until then and hopefully even longer than that! I’ve read about some people getting these things well past 5-6k miles.
I’ll be picking it up sometime tomorrow but won’t make the final decision for a week or so. If anyone else has stuff to add I would love to here from them!
Please tell me if my reasoning is flawed 😎

 

Not sure what chassis the 2006 was but the problem was in the Edge Chassis. We had a 99 RMK in the Gen II chassis and never had problems with it. It's my understanding the issue occurs at mid-throttle.

 

2006 was the Edge chassis in those iirc. Either way the 550 during the 2001-2006 had serious piston issues. When polaris wants to sell a kit to try and fix the problem instead of doing a recall that says a lot. But typical Polaris just like with the XLT engines as well.

 

Yeah it appears it was the edge chassis that had the problem.

I have the machine in my garage now (still haven’t fully committed to buying it). It looks different than other 550 engines I’ve seen on the forums. It has the aluminum heat shield between the exhaust and engine as well as an additional air vent in the bottom of the cowl belly pan. This is the RMK Trail 136 model so different than the classic. Anyone know if they tried to somewhat remedy the issue in this model? It’s a late 2006.

I plan to install the oil bleed kit and try to fab an additional air vent from the outside of the cowl straight to the fan.

Anyone have pictures or good ways to fab that air vent? Can’t find pics of it on any forums and no way I’m spending $250 for a piece of plastic from Polaris.

Thanks for the replies!

 

550 fan Jetting and burn-down issues....

2002's vs later models I was looking at the exhaust setups on the Polaris OEM sites. My 2002's seem to have a larger can under the cowling as well as a 1/16th" heat shield that is attached to the can. The closest distance between the can and the cold air intake for the fan is about 6", which...

www.snowest.com

This is a thread on SnoWest, it has a lot of posts on the 550 in the Edge chassis. It will take a bit of reading but may prove helpful...

 

Did Polaris ever work out the problems with the 550 engine? Was there still issues in the 2009 550 shift for example? Was it the same powerplant going forward?

 

My understanding (as previously mentioned in this thread) was that it was only the edge chassis. I have taken apart this 2006 (on the edge chassis) I’m buying and have noted the design flaws. Very obvious! The Polaris engineers in charge of this should be ashamed tbh. However, I think this particular machine I have will be OK as it has the extra cooling vents already installed and a heat shield on the exhaust pipe. It has other various heat deflectors on the exhaust system as well. I’ve heard 2007 was much more reliable but I’m no expert although with the amount of research I’ve been putting into this machine I’m quickly becoming one haha.

 

Back in the mid '90s I worked at a Polaris dealership. Polaris knew then about the XLT mono-block design being junk and having serious issues. But did they do a recall? Nope just constant TSA's all the time expecting people to pay for it instead of doing a recall like they should have. They didn't get the issues fixed until '97 XLT design with the crankcase issues, oil pump issues and what not. Now the 680 Ultra Triple was pretty rock solid, I had a '97 with a Xtra-12 underneath it. The Xtra-12 was my only complaint on it as it is a different type of suspension vs the Xtra-10.