Well, I think I have done it now... 1997 Polaris Scrambler 400 4x4

I was in a sand pit, climbing a hill in 2wd - decided to have fun and stopped for a minute so I could throw sand everywhere...

Starts spinning, I dig myself down in a hole about 4 inches, then BANNNGGGGG!! noise comes from the front end (still in 2wd mind you) and the handlebars jerk hard to the left.

It acted like the 4wd engaged for a split second and hammered the wheels left - but the sound was awful..

My question is this - Now the Scrambler is steering very oddly - hard to explain. It feels like it is pulling to the left, almost dragging. The 4wd still works, and both front wheels engage. I visually inspected the CV joints, and they look ok. Also the steering-- sometimes it is darty and wants to raise the inside rear wheel with minimal input - other times (especially turning right) it almost won't turn at all and requires heavy input.

I know SOMETHING is wrong, but cannot tell what it is... Everything looks ok on the surface.

Having never worked on CV joints before, can anyone advise if it is supposed to be easy to move around? I recently (since this happened) changed my right CV boot, and had a heck of a time manuevering the CV joint once i had the axle out of it. Sometimes it would move freely, other times the ball bearings seemed to "stick" and it was almost impossible to articulate the inner piece. Not sure if this is the problem, or what else to look at.

Thanks alot for any help, my search of the forums didn't produce many like occurances..lol.

Jax