Inner rear CV boot is ripped on my 01 SP500 but Clymer manual says remove the rear axle and take it to a dealer for them to put a new boot on. But, my dealer is very incompetent. I've searched this forum but found no help on rear inner boot. Has anyone done this?

 

Don't you hate that? If you wanted to take it to the dealer, you would not have bought a service manual. You don't "have" to remove the axle to replace the boot, but it would be easier to clean the joint if it was out. To change w/o removing axle, tear off the old boot and find the snap ring that holds the axle shaft into the joint. It's hard to see with all the grease. It's one that you spread apart. Spread the snap ring apart and the axle shaft will pull out. You will then be holding the axle shaft and the outer cv joint. Now just clean it up and put the new boot on the shaft. Put the shaft back into the joint and slide the boot up over the joint. It's not too hard.

 

Thanks, Pest44, I'll do it this weekend.

 

An '00 SP500 uses a typical CV axle system that "snaps" into the gearbox. There is a "snap ring" on the end of the shaft that compresses as it goes through the splines of the gearbox, then expands when it reaches the end of the splines. You should be able to "pop" the shaft out the gearbox once you have the wheel bearing housing out of the way - you may have to persuade it to start moving with a prying instrument of some type. Keeping the axle in a straight alignment with the gearbox splines makes it easier to remove and install.

 

Polaris is carrying a new CV boot (p/n 2202629) that will typically outlast the stock boot a couple of times longer. At lot of the dealers don't know about it so you have to ask for it using the part number.

 

I replaced my inner rear CV boot and the method described by pest44 works. Just be sure to clean up the CV joint and you'll find the snap ring that must be EXPANDED, not compressed, to dissasemble the axle from the CV joint. Not too tough. I think quadwrench might be referring to the outer joint because prying the axle from the inner joint won't work and could do some damage. Gup, thanks for the info about a new boot, but my dealer didn't have any boots in stock so I ordered one online. I wasn't surprised that my dealer was out of stock 'cause they don't seem to care much about Polaris.

 

I was talking about completely removing the CV axle from the bike, it is actually a whole lot easier than trying to replace the boot on the bike, and only takes 1 more step to remove the entire CV axle.

If you go HERE you will see item #7 (plunging joint) is the inner CV, and item #8 is the ring that holds the entire CV axle assembly into the gearbox.

 

Sorry, Quadwrench, you're right. Actually, when I did the job I removed the internal snap ring that holds the CV joint in, then removed the two races and the six ball bearings that make up the CV joint. This enabled me to thoroughly clean any grit out and replace the grease, then put it all back together. I figured as long as I was in there, I might as well do it right.
Thanks.

 

I ripped mine on my 03' 700 Sportsman the other day, or I hope. I was cleaning it and found it ripped. Hope it wasn't like that for too long. I know I let one go to long on my old Explorer and you could hear the dirt that had got in there. Anyways, thought I'd leave a post, been a while since I've posted.
Thanks everyone,

PAT

 

i had to do both sides on my 500 and its not hard i took them both right out and worked on them