2" lift

[extreme atv rider]

i got my 2" lift kit i'm puttin it on today is there any thing i should watch for after i put it on?

[Ken]

Watch your axles.....

[MrBill]

Watch your axles.....

I hear more about removing lift kits now a days.
CV joint strain. Even more so on a 800 because of the extra HP.

[Ken]

At least on Polaris...if you do the lift....you have Gorilla Axls in your future. It's inevitable.

[extreme atv rider]

well the lift has come off. both front one rear axle later. i'll invest in gorilla axles before i put lift back on

[Ken]

Wow...3 axles? That didn't take long.

[MrPolaris]

well the lift has come off. both front one rear axle later. i'll invest in gorilla axles before i put lift back on

why did you take the lift kit off?

[extreme atv rider]

nope didn't take long after puttin kit on i knew it wouldn't be to long the axles had a steep angle to them. i got stuck in deep mud hole snaped fronts then on the way out of hole left rear went. the only good thing about that day i always bring tools with me. one wheel drive sucks

[Ken]

well the lift has come off. both front one rear axle later. i'll invest in gorilla axles before i put lift back on

why did you take the lift kit off?

Cause he snapped 3 of 4 axels!...Ground Control to Maj. Tom...

[MrPolaris]

Snapping two axles is a good reason to remove it. . . Just thought you would buy new axles (Upgraded of course) instead of removing the lift kit only to re-install it later. . .

[extreme atv rider]

money little tight for all new axles gorilla not really cheap. now that all the holes have been drilled and i've put the kit on and off once it should only take about half hour toi put back on so no biggy

[rubberdown]

You should have bought a rubberdown lift kit bro

Seriously though, I have heard that the gorilla's are too tight of a joint and the CV boots actually blow up like a balloon from the heat, this was posted on another forum by a guy not happy with the gorilla axles.

[Spritemaster]

Yea that's good enough to convince me not to lift mine anymore. Thanx for the warning. Sorry about your luck.

Sprite

[FloodRunner]

I’m a dealer for Gorilla and sorry, but I can’t recommend their axles and won’t sell them anymore. Within 25 miles of riding my ’06 800 with the 2” lift I broke CVs on both stock rear axles. My misguided solution was to leave the lift in and spend big bucks on Gorilla axles for the rear.

Here's the deal. No matter how you get there it's all about axle angle (degrees from horizontal). For about $5 you can buy an "angle finder" at a hardware store. This is a round dial with two flat sides (square) with an indicator needle that always points up. Park your quad on a level surface, set one of the flat sides of the "finder" on the axle and read the degrees.

Gorilla states their axles are designed to operate at angles less than 45 degrees. In my experience, with my kind of riding, that's just not the case. The rear Gorilla axles in my '06 800 with a 2" lift were at 36 degrees without me sitting on it. A three mile trail ride would heat the inboard CV to as much as 275 degrees (measured with a laser thermometer I carry for R&D) while stock CVs in the same position on the same trail (1" lift) were running at between 115 and 120 degrees (average of stock CVs on three machines). It's even worse on my '05 Ranger XP with the Gorilla 6" lift. The inboard rear CVs get so hot the boots blow up like balloons until they explode grease all over the place requiring replacement. These axles are running at a 38 degree angle.

What does Gorilla have to say about this? I was told the problem with the Ranger was "known" and they were trying to solve it with better "high temp grease." (huh?) They sent me two new boots and two packets of this "special grease" that was in the exact same packaging as the original grease (can you say placebo?). The result? No difference. Right now I have a ripped boot on the left rear inner caused by overheating.

Maybe we need to examine what is meant by the words "operate or run" in their claim. If you're mud bogging and keep these CVs submerged a good part of the time they may stay cool enough. For many of us who love to play in mud but have to ride miles of trails to get from one playground to another that's just not possible.

My solution on the 800 was to take off the 2" lift and go back to the 1" lift that was on previously. Now my CVs are running around 150 degrees, still more than stock but that's to be expected because the Gorilla CVs are "stiffer." But the problem is the splined stubs don’t want to stay in the gear case, they keep popping out on the trail. And the stock axles ran just fine with a 1" lift so at this point I have to conclude that while the Gorilla axles are stronger they're providing very little advantage for the extra expense. Although I don't plan to remove the Ranger's 6" lift I'm going to have to reduce the lift/axle angle on it too. Yes, I am disappointed with the product(s). They are not performing "as advertised."

[MrPolaris]

WOW. . . this is good to know info. . . thanks for the post