This is a 1999 Sportsman 500, Since day one that I bought it used ( a couple weeks) it had a clicking sound coming from the rear trans axle area. It doesnt do it at all in foward or reverse when its up on the atv jack. But when you ride it at very low speeds in reverse and slightly in foward it makes this somewhat loud clicking noise. Now, I bought it with a torn CV boot on the inner right side rear, which is basically where the sound seems to come from. I pulled the axel, inspected the ball bearings which looked fine then cleaned everything and repacked grease and put a new boot on. No Luck, didnt change a thing. Im stuck!

 

prolly gonna have to replace it, no matter how much u clean it, something worn in there and now its making noise, on ebay there's a guy out on there, his user name is the cv guy, a lot cheaper and better made stuff one that my buddy bought was made out of 4340 chrome moly and is thicker

 

Click/clacking noise common on cv joints that have a lot of time on them. Mainly just slack in plunging joint or in wheel side cv bearing channels. They are used to going one way foward most of the time and when engaging in reverse noise usually happens. Normal condition unless begins to do it constantly,or if if starts making noise in forward,then time to address problem. They dont usually make noise jacked up,only under load. Sometimes you can remove driveshaft and twist each cv to se if one has excesive slack,BUT replacing only one joint puts pressure on remaining joint and will usually start making noise also! I've done this before and explained this on the forum. If you replace joints separately,will cost more than an assembly! Polaris OEM parts are constantly going up,might try EPI or Gorilla as an alternative.

 

yep, im thinking its gonna need to be replaced, Im just confused because the bearings seem in good shape and tight, but this is the first time Ive messed the these ball bearing types