OK,
I have to pull the front gearcase off my '04 ATP to replace the armature plate. It's my own stupid fault, I put the wrong type of fluid in the front gearcase. The problem is that I can't get the damn driveshaft (right side) out of the gearcase. I pulled the wheel, brake caliper, and removed the driveshaft from the strut housing. The factory service manual says remove the driveshaft with a series of short, sharp, jerks (insert your own short, sharp, jerk joke here) I tried that, I tried pulling, light prying against the frame. I don't think King Kong could get this damn thing out, someone help me out here please, and dont offer to send me any damn short, sharp jerks : )
Thanks
Q

 

i feel your pain, my 700 was a bugger to get off too. don't worry you can beat on that shaft pretty good, try a set of vice grips on the wheel end and tap it with a hammer, that is how i had to get my rusted drive shaft off. pol says there is no reason for grease when you put it back together but i put some in between the shaft and the diff and there has been no problems after that.

 

Did you replace the circlip when you put it back or just use the old one?
Q

 

it seemed fine so i just put it back in, what a pain to do though. when you get your diff out be carefull, those roller bearings are a pain to put back in the cage, if you dont need to take them out dont. do yourself a favor, after every ride where you think you may have got water in the diff, when you get home change out the fluid, it will save you losing 4x4 on your next trip, take it from some one who learns the hard way.lol[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Try i big slide hammer like used in a body shop for pulling dents, I used about a 10 or 12 lb one, unhook everything like you have and hook onto the U joint with the tool and give it a few hits. have someone hold into it or you'll end up with a drive shaft in the needers.
The circlip may be hung up a little just persuide it.

 

sometimes prying and jerking the hell out of it, is the only way they come out because of the rust/mud in there.

 

Thanks Guys
There's a body shop about 5 miles away whom I have done a fair amount of business with over the years. I'm gonna stop by there on my way to Chicago tomorrow and see if I can arrange to beg borrow or rent a big honkin slide hammer over the weekend.
Q

 

like deerkiller said use a slide hammer. Thats about the only way to get it out. It proubly has seized in there from mud and water. The way i get the axle out is: I have an attachment that screws on the end of my that is L shaped, a body shop attachment, or you can make your own like i did by welding a nut that fits the slide hammer to a piece of angle iron about an inch wide so it will fit in the universal joint. so place the L shaped tool in the universal joint and give it one swift yank and it should do the trick for you. When you put it back together use a little anti-seize for next time if you have to pull it out latter own. Learned from prior experience.

 

UPDATE
1: I went to Auto Zone, they have the loan a tool program so I borrowed a slide hammer from them and welded up a jig too hook the U joint. 10-15 good whacks later I had the driveshafts out. Worked good, thanks for that idea Deerkiller.

2: I finally got the gearcase out and pulled it down, guess what, there's nothing wrong with it. I inspected all the parts and near as I can tell everything is golden. The only thing that's out of spec is the coil resistance and it's about two Ohms too high but you can't just replace the coil, Polaris in their infinite wisdom pressed the thing into the side of the case so you have too replace the whole cover assy and that's like $250 so I think I'll pass untill the AWD goes completely Tango Uniform.
I actually took all the parts to a mechanic who's got quite a bit of experience with Polaris. I told him the whole story which is as follows.
I replaced the fluid in the front and put in tranny fluid instead of the correct demand drive fluid. I drained it and then refilled it with the demand drive fluid. Couple days later I am out playing in the snow and cutting some donuts and generally boar assing around when the fronts lock in when I spin the rears fast. I posted on here or somewhere and was told that the tranny fluid contaminated the "rubber coated" armature plate, and I had too change it out. Hence the pull down and associated trouble.

Here's what really happened, again this is per a seasoned polaris mechanic.

Oh yeah, and the armature plate isn't rubber coated nor is the magnetic coil, there's no rubber in there period.

The tranny fluid didn't do much of anything, he said you wouldn't want too run it a long time with tranny fluid up front but in terms of contaminating the front diff or hillard or anything it' not the culprit.
He said, and I quote "Rule #1 Dont cut donuts or do anything that's going too spin the rear tires inordinately fast while the front tires are moving slowly" on a 4WD Polaris Utility bike. Polaris has evidently released some sort of "bulletin" to that effect. Evidently centrifical force can indeed cause the front diff too lock when the AWD switch is in the 2WD position. Just like someone else on this board said in another post. Once this happens it will continue too happen with less wheelspin the subsequent times. He said you have two choices, 1: replace about $600 of front end guts, or 2: Don't spin the rear wheels a lot.
I'm down with door #2.

So that's the story as I understand it, again I got it from a Polaris dealer mechanic who's done quite a bit of work on Polaris bikes. Take it for what it's worth. The real moral of the story here is that you need too treat everything you get off the internet with a grain of salt. I'f I had got up off my butt and drove 40 miles too the dealership and talked too this guy in the first place I wouldn't have had to rip the front end of my bike down, which while quite instructive, wasn't a way I would have chosen too spend last weekend.
Best Regards
Q

 

q, im glad you found out whats, what on these. you pain has helped the rest of us(i know it didnt do much for you) to learn from the experince you had. i myself dont know enough about them to know what really happens. i guess if i think of it as a awd car that you cant spin tires on it makes sence as being sort of the same. again sorry for your pain and ordeal but thanks for the lesson.