Shouldn't have to use a pry bar on these older u-joint style drive shafts. Grab the drive shaft behind the u-joint and use short,rapid jerks and it should pop out.The circlip on the shaft end is what holds the drive shaft in the diff. It will be on the drive shaft when it comes out.

 

Okay cool my next issue

is taking the front driveshaft that runs from gearbox or whatever to the front diff. Is it just a pin that holds it in all the way through and you can see it on both sides in the yoke as it goes thru the input shaft on diff or what? What scares me is I just found a grease fitting right underneath laying on the skid plate and have no clue where it came from.

 

This is the prop shaft.. Yes the clevis pin needs to be driven out. Then with an air chisel and dull bit (hammer and chisel are knuckle breakers) you can impact the yoke rear ward enough to get it off the front diff. On reassembly you can impact the rear yoke at the gear case forward so you can align the dif hole with the prop shaft hole. Then impact slowly until the holes line up. Best to use a new clevis pin also.

 

Got everything back together, thanks for the help!! Only issue I had was the seal coming out of the diff for the input shaft, looks like I got one different than what originally came out of it it, the one that came out was like a seal built into a metal housing with a lip that sat on on the outside diff housing to hold it there, and the seal I got was just one that slides in with nothing stopping it from sliding in too far and dropping in basically. Hard to explain but it'll work temporarily till I can figure out what happened with what I got. Time to test this weekend and see if I screwed anything up, thanks again I appreciate the tips!!

PS that random grease fitting I was talking about came off the prop shaft u-joint the threads were shot on it and musta just fell out when I was banging on it lol

 

Yes one seal I think was designed to install inside the case flush with its metal lip. Diff seals are NLA from Polaris now,guess the a/market kits come with standard slip on seals. Check the prop shaft u-joints for wear. Easier to replace the u-joints if worn or replace the whole prop shaft while it's out. If the joints are ok you possibly can tap the hole out for a little larger grease fitting. 2003 Polaris SPORTSMAN 700 (A03CH68AA/AC/AF/AH/AL) Front Prop Shaft | Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

It's weird though the seal that came with my kit was just a regular push in style withOUT the lip that you see in all the pics of the seal kits for sale, yet the old one I removed had a seal built in to this metal formed piece that sat inside of the seal and had a lip on the outside that caught the casing to stop it from falling inside the case too far. The new one I received and installed just slid in and I made it basically flush with the outside of the diff casing, but I was able to push the thing all the way through into the diff if i wanted too which kind of worries me because besides for the tight fit from install, there is nothing to stop it from falling all the way in, idk it is just a weird seal that doesn't exactly feel the safest but it will do hopefully.

 

Since the seals and a lot of diff parts for this old 2003 model aren't available,aftermarket places just use the factory dimensions for the seal without going into great detail as the what oem seal was. My two cents is to use red locktite around the seal. We did the same on plenty of other machines including engine case seals on Ktms.It's what the service manuals called for in a lot of instances.Engine seals held in place with no movement or problems on leaking.

 

Interesting, that's a great idea I'll have to do that when I get a chance, at least it's easy to get to that seal and I don't have to take the whole diff out again lol.

 

This is a common procedure techs have been doing for years. Even the Vespa scooters we sold for awhile recommended using it on the engine seals along with Ktm.If you're really worried about using red locktite they even have stronger stuff out there.Oil Seal Glue LOCTITE "542", | SIP-Scootershop.com

 

So far the diff is holding up nicely, along with my oem ignition upgrade I did before the diff based on your advice I saw on other threads. My friend's dad has an '04 sportsman 700 non-efi with a no spark issue too, was wondering if those years came with the crappy Ducati ignition systems too where everything in the system should basically be replaced, or should I be searching for a more simple issue on his model? Thanks