A buddy is insisting I fix this. 2000 Sportsman 500 with only 208 miles on it. The pinion gear in the trans to drive the front is trashed. All teeth are chipped; some missing. I have no idea how it got this way. I see & have read what is involved and I don't want to spend the time/frustration. Could you give me a guesstimate on how long a "hobbyist" might take to get this done? I have all the tools and knowledge, just not the desire. And it is not all that clean underneath. Would need a pressure wash before any work started.

Also, can I unscrew the snorkel far enough to disengage the gears completely without exposing the o ring on the housing? Basically make it 2WD only?

 

You can disconnect the power to the front hub coils which would be essentially the same as removing the prop shaft from the transmission that goes to the front differential,BUT this is no guarantee that either one of the front wheels wouldn't accidentally kick in awd mechanically anyway and could put you in a dangerous situation. Yes it's a lot of work involved removing and splitting this gear case.If I remember correctly the flat rate time(always low) was around 10-12 hrs and that's under perfect conditions. You say you have the tools (and manual hopefully),but not the desire.If you're going to keep this machine do it right when you have the desire. It may take you a couple weekends if you split it up,but worth it if the machine only has 208 miles on it..

 

The gears are clashing and clunking pretty bad right now. That's why I was wondering about backing off the snorkel housing. That way it could still be driveable if I didnt get to it right away. Thanks for the reply. It's definitely worth fixing for sure. Not my machine, or I would probably be more excited about the project.

 

You can remove the prop shaft and here's the break down on the snorkel that you can pull the shaft and snorkel out,can't remember if the cases have to be split to remove the internal gear. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse