My '05 Brute 650 is steering very hard, even in 2 wheel drive. And when in 4wd (with the diff unlocked) it crackles very loud when turning and even crackles now and then when I'm just going straight forward. I'm thinking CV joint but the 4wd/2wd activation in the front diff is clunky and not very confidence inspiring as well. That has me thinking the differential is messed up. I camplained about the 4wd activation being very clunky when I bought it and the dealer and everyone on here says it's normal. I realize all mechanical devices have their ways but this is very annoying. When I switch out of 4wd back into 2wd the front diff makes a loud clunk and you can feel it releasing throughout the whole quad. When the diff clunks back into 2wd it feels like the whole front of the quad pops up a bit higher. It definately does not sound or feel good. Could my diff lock cable be adjusted too tight? Just last night it took longer than normal to go from 2wd to 4wd. Usually it's instant...this time it took at least 30 seconds.

Not happy right now and I'm not going to go get raped by the dealer. What would I do without these forums.

 

my 750 goes in and out of 4wd very smoothly, so does the other 750 and 700 Prairie I've ridden, "clunky" is not normal. you can jack all the wheels off the ground and run it slowly in 4wd, you ought to be able to tell if its a CV or the front diff.

 

Found the problem. Front left CV boot popped off allowing the CV joint to get packed with tons of mud. Hopefully the CV joint is still good.