a thousand bucks spent a bike that's worth about 2k is hard to swallow. what did you decide to do? if you decide to get a new 500 let me know I may be interested in the 400 for my brother.

 

The shafts only come as one complete kit! I tried to get just the end part and had no luck. I then went to a dealer and he said he could order just the end part, but when he tried it, it would not let him. He called and they told him that it is a package deal as the parts wear together and need to be replaced together. He said they must have changed this in the last 2 years because before you could get each part seperate.

If I lived near you I would do it for half and if I just assisted, and the beverages were cold [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I would help for free. I took mine all the way apart to see if I bent the axle and had the dealer check it(was bent but not enough to matter he said). I then reasembled it and hav not had a single problem. No manual or experience. Its not that hard. It should take the better part of a saturday but thats it.

 

Were did you end up ordering the parts and for how much?

 

You probably can re-use the CV joints you have and you should be able to do the repairs yourself. I overhauled both front struts on my xplorer (replaced leaking seals, new bearings, hub coils, etc) which I took my time, followed instructions in the service manual and got advice from forums like this one when not sure (also had to buy a few tools I needed). Everything went back together and has been working fine. This was the first mechanical job I ever performed (cause I'm a computer geek too :-).

You can remove the entire shaft/CV joint from the strut and output shaft to make it easier to work on. If you get the CV joints out and cleaned up and discover they are too damaged to re-use, then you can try to find replacements on ebay. There are shaft/CV joint assemblies on ebay all the time. Go to 'buy' and search for "polaris axle".

 

I will be picking it up from the dealer tomorrow. I am not letting them fix it for that price. How will I know if the cv joints are bad when I take it apart?

 

Since the axle shafts are already pulled out of the CV joints, you will need to clean, inspect and reassemble them. To make it easier to do this, you may want to remove the axle shafts from the ATV (punch out the spring pin holding the U-joint yolk to the front gearcase output shaft and pull it off the output shaft).

To remove the CV joints from the struts, you'll need to remove the wheels, remove the brake caliper assembly from the hub, disconnect the A-arm from the ball-joint on the bottom of the strut, then pop the end-cap off the hub (put a pan below to catch the fluid). remove the large nut, washer and outside cone bearing. I strongly recommend you label/mark each part that is removed so you can put the parts back in the same location. "Gently" pull the hub off the CV joint. Inside the hub there should be a total of 4 bearings, the Hilliard clutch assembly and armature plate. These parts may slide off the drive shave or remain in the hub so be careful to note the order in which the are installed as it is very important to get them back in the correct order and alignment. Handle the Hilliard clutch carefully so not to damage the spring. You should now be able to remove the CV joint by pulling it out of the inside of the strut.

remove the damaged boot from the CV joint, clean out all the old grease so that you can inspect the inside of the joint. If it is not damaged and moves freely you may be able to re-use it. inspect the splines on both the CV joint and the axle. Make sure the old driveshaft circlip is not still inside the CV joint. If everything looks good then order a new circlip, boot and boot clamps, repack the joint with grease and re-insert the axle spline into the CV joint. Clean up the struts while everything is dissassembled being careful not to damage any of the oil seals.

To put everything back together, you'll need to re-attach the axle to the front gearcase (use a new spring pin if the one you removed was damaged),
put the first cone bearing onto the drive shaft, insert the CVjoint/shaft back into the back side of the strut making sure the bearing seats correctly, carefully slide the 2nd other bearing, armature plate, hilliard clutch, 3rd bearing onto the drive shaft. Carefully slide the hub over the above, put in the last bearing, washer and install the outer nut and tighten to proper torque. Re-attach the A-arm to the ball joint stud. Re-attach the brake caliper to the strut (may want to inspect/replace break pads before re-installing). make sure the wheel turns freely, re-fill the hub with the proper amount of hub fluid, turn the wheels, look for leaks.

After you get both CV joints replaced and everything torqued to specs, make sure the front wheels turn freely and that the hubs engage properly when in 4-wheel drive. When I did this, I didn't re-install one armature plate quite right and had to remove the hub again to re-position it.

Getting the proper torque on the outer axle nut is critical otherwise you'll end up with free-play between the hub and drive shaft and this could result in leaking around the oil seals.

When I did this, I took my time and used it as a learning experience. I could do it quicker with more confidence now. The tools I needed included a large socket (to fit into the hub to remove the outer axle nut), a torque wrench that measures inch-pounds - already had one for foot-pounds, 2 CV joint banding tools, a punch (for taping out the roll pin from the axle yolk). Since I also replaced the bearing cups, oil seals, sleeves and hub coils I also purchased a set of bearing/seal drivers to be able to install them. I found most of the tools I needed on ebay so waiting for them to be delivered took time too. The manual was invaluable so be sure to use one as a reference.

You can find 2000 scrambler 400 4x4 exploded diagrams for the CV joints, front wheel/hubs, suspension-front strut at:

http://216.37.204.206/wps/Polaris_OE...?Type=12&A=150

I also purchased all the replacement parts I need from the above web site too.


Good luck

 

Wow, thats a big process. How much did it cost for all the parts and tools? By the way thats some great detailed instructions. You should create manuals

 

it looks to me like all u need to do is get a top left aarm and put it on yourself

 

As for parts, the cv joint boot, clamps and circlip (x2 for L and R sides), plus hub fluid, grease might be all you need if the CV joints are ok to be reused and no other damage to the strut or hub is noticed. The parts can be obtained from the web site above (you can determine the cost of the parts by selecting the desired part and then hit "add to cart". Of course you'll have to pay shipping too. If you have a local polaris dealer you can probably get the parts locally, but then you'll have to pay tax. You won't really know how much parts are until you determine what needs to be replaced unfortunately.

As for Tools, I can't remember exactly but the boot clamp pliers (two different types due to two different bands) were a few buck apiece on ebay, the large socket and torque wrench I got from Sears, I would guess less than $100 for the torque wrench and socket combined.

 

ScramaDamaDingDong pointed out in the pics that there is metal shavings on the shafts so i will need new shaft kit. Plus the fluid and tools.
I see on ebay the shaft kits are 150 apeice plus shipping so 322 plus 100 for tools and fluid, plus the 90 i have to pay to the dealer for looking at it. $30 for service maual. So a grand total of $540 to fix myself. The dealer wants $960. Net savings of $410. Not bad.