I just picked up a 1998 Suzuki ltf 500. It has the full time 4wd. When I test drove it, it felt slower but I didn't think much of it. A few days later i went for a ride around the neighborhood with my buddy. The roads were icy and right after taking off he told me that my rear wheels are not spinning like the fronts do when I give it gas. I didn't hear any weird noises or grinding when driving it that day or when i originally test drove it. I took it home and jacked it up. When in gear the front tires spin, the rear drive shaft spins but the rear tires dont. If I hold the shaft still I can spin the back tires, and vice versa. I suspected that the rear differential was bad. So I drained the rear diff.There wasn't any chunks, or metal in the fluid. And when I spun the tires I could see the rear diff spin inside the case, but didn't see any movement when I spun the drive shaft. My guess right now would be something in the drive shaft or the gear that is between the drive shaft and the differential gear. Looking for some help on this or if anyone has had a similar problem.

 

pull the drive shaft and check the splines. Sounds like the splines on the driveshaft stripped out