I am home now and was wondering if there a trick to remove the pins from the U-Joint to look at the splines.

 

Easier to use an air hammer and and a round punch. Grind the punch down to fit the clevis pins and they'll come right out. Hardest part is to get to them on some machines. Once the pin is out use the air hammer with a dull bit on the rear yoke to drive it in enough to pull the shaft off the front diff. Then move the front of the prop shaft over to the side and impact the yoke off the gear case shaft.Beats tearing up your knuckles with a hammer and chisel. You should be able to inspect the yoke splines plus then you can crank the machine up and see if the grinding noise is still there or not when you give it throttle.

 

Just saw your posts, I will try that, thanks!

 

I took the prop shaft off and the noise is still there, so it has to be inside the gearbox.

 

Bummer to have that new of a machine to have gear case problems. Was hoping for you that it was a simple prop shaft replacement.. Just a guess but silent chains do take a beating and one of the two could be the problem. If you have to tear into I'd always replace chains regardless.

 

Yeah it does suck. I ordered the service manual for guidance. I will post updates and pictures of what I find.

 

Any other recommendations or precautions doing this work. From what I can tell without the service manual, I am going to need to remove the clutch and entire belt drive system in order to access the gears. Does that sound right?

Are the alternative resources available besides the OEM service manual?

 

Yes the clutches and belt and backing plate has to be removed. Too new to find a good cheap pdf manual.Cheapest hard cover I've found. 2015 Polaris 850 850 SP 1000XP Sportsman Scrambler ATV Service Manual

 

Awesome, I've got one on order, and like I said I will post updates, pictures, and questions as they come.

Thanks so much for the constant input and help!

 

Also, are there any specialty tools or tools in general that I may need to remove the belt drive system, clutch, and everything else to access the gears?