A buddy of mine bought a 2002 SP700 with 3500 mi. on it. Were are going thru the rear end and replaced the hub bearings. The CV's feel free and smooth to the hand and boots are good. Problem, the thing still has a clicking in the rear somewhere. My question is: can the CV be bad and still feel smooth and tight to the hand? How do you test them or tell which is bad? Thats alot of money to spend if they are good. Thanks

PS: the clicking is louder when you turn to the left.

 

Yes, a defective CV can feel good to the hand and still "click". Have you jacked it up and tried running it in the air to see which side is loudest? Sometimes I use a 2X4 board to apply a little upward pressure on each wheel to simulate "load" - be careful though, you could hurt yourself or loose the quad off the jack.

Most driveline shops that rebuild automobile CV's can also rebuild an ATV CV as well - walk in price around here is $79 for both ends rebuilt (that includes new boots also)