Forgive my ignorance, but now when I engage the accelerator, in reverse or high forward, it jerks into gear. then proceeds to go. but makes clink sound when begins to move after having to give more gas than usual (it seems). Not always, but sometimes. Kind of like bad u-joint sounds on a car. It's not too bad yet, but worried if I keep riding it I may ruin something that costs lots more then if I fix or check something now. Please help me. What do I check first, and then next? and so on?

 

Just jack up the rear end,have in neutral and turn the rear tires back and forth. You should be able to tell real quick if it's a sloppy cv joint in the rear drive shafts or worn prop shaft u joints leading to the front diff.If you eliminate any cv or u joint slack,could be as simple as a glazed belt jerking on the clutches.

 

thank you for the reply, I will try that and get back to you. might not be till this coming weekend.

 

Ok, there is play moving wheels back and forth, no bad sounding noises, but certainly play. Is that a bad thing then? should I just bring it in or can I just keep riding it? If it is or were merely a glazed belt, how is that fixed? simply replaced, or just keep using it anyway? And what would have caused this play in the wheels anyway? how do u-joints and/or cv joints go bad?

 

You will have a little play which is normal,but if a cv joint/u joint is really worn there will be a lot of slack,plus even worn wheel bearings can cause this clicking sound.Hard to really isolate where it's at jacked up with no load on the machine. This is mainly to check slack in the plunging joint and outer cv joints and u joints on the prop shaft. Best if you can have some walk behind the atv while you turn slow circles and see if you can isolate which side the noise is coming from. On a belt you can look at the sides of it for any shiny or burnt spots that could be causing any jerking,then you just simply replace it.Sometimes takes a little investigation to find out whether it's a drive shaft or bearing problem causing the clicking and the only way to do that is to remove the drive shaft on the offending side,check the bearing along with inspecting the drive shaft further.