I am having trouble figuring out why my front driveshaft has pulled out of the cv joint for the second time. I have no idea why it happened the first time. I was pulling a hunting trailer through some mud holes, and realized I didn't have awd. I got off and looked to see the drive shaft laying in the mud. I attributed the failure to the front wheels being toed out too much?(I'm guessing,,, could too much of a steering angle, or too sharp of a turn, cause the shaft to come out of the cv joint?) I bought a new assembled shaft from Polaris and installed it.(old shaft was mushroomed) I toed in the wheels as per the service manual.(to me they are running straight in line with the rear wheels) I drove in a couple of quad rally's, tested out the awd, and everything seemed to be fine. Went hunting again, and the first mud hole I hit, the drive shaft popped out of the cv joint, and tore the boot off. This time I noticed that I had left the cotter pin off of the ball joint nut, and the ball joint castle nut had back off created a little more play in the wheel. Could this have been enough to cause the driveshaft to come out of the cv joint? I am running stock tires, with no lift kit. The A frame is not bent or damaged. The hub nut was tighted to spec, and the front wheel bearings are in good shape. What else could I be looking for? It is like the shaft is too short or something. I know there are 2 different shafts for the 02 700, but I have checked twice with my dealer to ensure I have the right shaft.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have been searching quite a bit, but haven't found any similar posts.

 

if the castle nut back off a bit that could be the problem. Did you have the cotter pin in place snug with the nut. If you did that nut shouldn't go anywhere.

Ty

 

I had the castle nut tightened, then forgot to put the cotter pin back in,,,, my fault. I must have taken a while for the castle nut to work loose. I broke the original cotter pin, and didn't have a new one handy. I just forgot to put a new one back in.

In my mind,,, that's what caused the second drive shaft to pull out,,,, but I just wanted some second opinions.... Thanks for the reply.