I have a 1994 Sportsman 400 been a great machine. I was Pulling starter to replace the bendix drive and found the seal behind the flywheel was leaking. I proceeded to put puller on flywheel using 3 hardened bolts when one of the bolts snapped off.
Does anyone know of an easier way to get flywheel off ? Then I can get bolt drilled out hopefully. Can I use a torch to heat center of flywheel without damaging the stater in behind.??
next problem My 400 would run a bit and then die. . We tried new plugs. That didn't help it would run 4-5 minutes then die.I started by trying to check for spark because I can't see any spark@ plug. I was testing it w/ recoil rope because starter didn't want to engage. Hence i ran into problem above.SHould I just shoot it or is there hope for repairing this without buying it twice?

 

The way you were doing it is how, do you have a regular puller with the three bolts and a larger one in the middle?, When it gets tight you should hit the large center bolt with a hammer, dont use a torch cause there is electrical wirees behind it, the spark problem is probably the stator which is also behind the flywheel, the service manual will tell how to check it.

 

Yes that is the type of puller I was using.How about if I tried a jaw type puller and put jaws in the 2 half inch big holes on either side of center shaft. I have never seen such a hard flywheel to come loose. There isn't any other boltss attached underneath is there ? like a collar over the seal that could be holding it on?

 

Kerbbirds is right, tighten the puller up, then smack it with a hammer - it may take tightening, smacking, tightening, smacking - several times before it comes off.

Some of the 400's had 6mm threaded holes, some had 8mm threaded holes - we have found that on the 6mm threaded holes to drill them out and tap them to the 8X1.25 mm size - gives more strength in the pull.

Since you only snapped off the bolt, you should be able to get it out easily enough, maybe even working it with a small center punch and hammer - unless you crammed a wrong threaded bolt into the hole.

The service manual is a great tool, and there are tests that can be done with a multimeter set to Ohms to determine the cause for lack of spark - the Pulse (or Trigger/Pickup) coil for the stator could be one of the culprits.

 

I had to replace the pulse coil on mine when I first got it, the flywheel was tough to get off, I did like the other guys said, smacking the center with a hammer and I used a jaw type puller because that was all I had at the time but it was a pain in the ***. if you can use an ease out to remove the broken bolt i would, then try again with the regular flywheel puller.