Hi, well I bought a 500 sportsman for $700.00. It defintley has some issues. Swaybar mount is broke loose, I am fixing that. I have a couple of Qs. if someone could help me out. The rear diff bearings are worn out, do I have to split the trans case to get them out? Also the prop shaft splines are worn out to the point the shaft does'nt turn. How does that come out? I have removed the bolt that ties it to the front shaft, tried to slide it back but it only moved about 1/2 inch. At least the motor seems to run great, no smoke and good power. Thanks for your help

 

not 100% sure on the questions , but what year is it ?

 

yea u gotta take the whole machine apart to get those rear bearings out u will basically be left with a front half of a machine once ur done. Sportsmans (500)'s dont have rear differentials, its actually a freaking huge silent chain that drives a big sproket at the end that the drive shafts plug into. You can take the prop shaft (by whick im assuming the one that drives the front diff) out by either dissasembling one of the Ujoints or loosen all the bolts on the front diff and slide it forward u will have just enough space to get it out. but since u are taking the tranny out to fix the rear bearings it will just fall off when u remove the tranny. A word of advice i would rebuild the whole tranny you dont need to do any more than just every bearing and seal this will get you by as it did on my 97 the dogs were a little worn out but expensive as $hit. Another thing to do is replace that big silent chain and best to change the sprokets too. oh and the reverse has its own seperate chain if it is worn replace it cause other wise in a couple years ur reverse chain will just skip. i hope all this didnt scare you. you may not have to do any of it but u said u have a 700$ sp so im assuming old and whipped or stolen. or given to you./ You might want to look into these things since ur gonna be tearing down the tranny any way.

 

Thanks for the advise. I already have the back rack off and the shocks loose so I'll just keep on tearing it down till I get to the tranny. Hope I just need to replace the bearings in the rear, I'll check everything out and replace if needed. Is there another outlet for the chains or is that a Polaris only part? They seem to be a little over priced. Thanks again for the help. It is a 99.

 

good buy for 700 even if it needs some work

 

just rebuilt my rearend as reverse chain skipped in reverse. it wasnt a bad ordeal, just lots of pieces to remove. i basically replaced both chains and all the seals. cost me less the 150 bucks in parts. i also have replaced front shaft. once you remove the roll pin or bolt on the front diff yoke take and drive it backwards with hammer and punch till it clears the shaft and then drive it back forwards till its off

 

dont quote me on this but u cant get the chains anywhere but from polaris. perhaps some aftermarket place sells them as they are the same as the ones in sleds but way longer. i tried a place that makes custom bearings and chains and such and it is just about the same price as polaris and a longer wait. so either suck it up and spend the little extra or go hunting depends how fast u wanna ride it.

 

Hi, thanks for all the replies. I have been out either working on the 4 wheeler or working. Took the cv joint out of the tranny, the first one was a pain in the ##$$%@!!! It was rusted in there real well. I then punched the other side out. I found where all the slack is, the splines on the shafts are worn out, dang. Much easier then cracking the tranny open but alot more money. Going to have to wait for the proper fix, for now I drilled the hubs and tapped one of them, then ran a bolt through them and bolted them together. Took all the slop out of them, the splines should last a couple of years this way or till I have the bucks to replace them. I figure the inner cv hubs and the sprocket inside the tranny will have to be replaced, more money then I paid for the thing. Kind of wierd that the splines wore out when the rest of the cv joints are like new. I can't feel any slack in the chains, forward or reverse. Did like you said with the front prop shaft and it pulled wrait out. Splines are shot on it to. Looks like the shaft is a lot harder then the yoke so I should be able to get by with just new yokes. Give me a couple of years I'll have this thing like new....... Thank you again for the replies.