Spoiler: you should upgrade your front output shaft because it’s the next thing that breaks after you upgrade your reverse chain. And here’s how we know:
Everybody knows that the reverse chain is a weak point on the RZR 1000. The thin chain in the stock transmission just doesn’t have the strength to get through everything the rest of your RZR 1000 was built to handle.
What’s worse than getting stuck, putting your RZR in reverse, and hearing the telltale pop of your reverse chain giving up the ghost? Maybe the fact that now you have a loose strap of metal rattling around in your transmission and you still have to figure out how to get home? Yeah, that’s not a great situation.
Once we got tired of ordering new parts every other weekend, we said enough was enough and built a bigger, tougher reverse chain that’s almost twice as strong as stock. And now you guys are upgrading your stock reverse chains with it in droves.
One thing not everybody knows is that there’s another failure point in your transmission that can really ruin your day. We’re talking about the front output shaft. While the stock front output shaft doesn’t have as much in common with an old rubber band as the reverse chain does, it still leaves a lot to be desired.
The RZR 1000 simply has more torque than its shaft can handle. That leads to another telltale pop—this time it’s from your front output shaft. Now you’re left without power to your front wheels at best, and at worst your transmission case has a new window in the case. Hopefully you planned a two-wheel-drive friendly route back to the trailer.
We didn’t like the sound of that either. So we made an output shaft out of 300M steel and use a proprietary heat treating process to make it even stronger. Now we have a front output shaft that’s 41% stronger than stock and a reverse chain that’s twice as strong as stock. Install them both and you can say goodbye to those cringy popping sounds coming from your transmission.
Here’s the sticking point with these replacement parts: they’re tough to replace. Getting into your transmission, cleaning out the broken shrapnel, then putting everything back together again is an all day job. For the average person, it’s an expensive all day job that they pay their mechanic to do for them.
And boy do you have egg on your face when you pay your mechanic $80 an hour to replace your reverse chain one week, only to pay him to do the exact same work again the next week after you break your front output shaft.
Our recommendation is to replace the front output shaft when you replace your reverse chain. Replacing both at the same time cuts the labor in half—once you’ve got your transmission open, it’s simple to get both the reverse chain and front output shaft installed.
The reverse chain is the first thing you’ll think of to replace (probably because it’s the first thing you’ll break) and when you do replace it, go ahead and grab a front output shaft. They’re relatively inexpensive and you’ll make up that money just by cutting your labor in half.
While you’ve got your transmission open, you might as well consider making a few more upgrades. Check out our Pinion Shaft and Snorkel Gear Kit to really beef up your output shaft. And don’t forget to replace your seals to prevent leaks too.
So make sure when your transmission pops, you work smarter, not harder.
