Tried to get my rear axle out on my 04 700 last weekend. Pulled, jerked,pulled, jerked, pryed, no luck. ended up checking the outer CV joint with the axle still in the ATV. Never tried a slide hammer but if I ever have to take mine out that is what it will take.
Looked at mine and it's the same as yours. The axle will need to come out to get that bolt out.

 

only way to get out is to remove CV. I got mine out by heating the side that plugs into the rear end and taking a big pry bar and a big chisel to it. put chisel in small gap in between CV and rearend and pound it in until theres enough room for pry bar to get in.dont go to far cause u will hit splines on axel.leave chisel in and pry from othere side till she pops. belive me u r gonna need to lean on it and careful cause it will slip. dont use slide hammer cause u will pull CV apart. it takes lots of leaning and swearing but it will pop. theres a lock ring in there that tends to be a pain. thats how mine came out. polaris should have turned bolt around.

 

You never got back to let us know how you made out???
Was out in the shed tonight servicing the bike and was looking it over when I was checking the rear suspension I realized that I in fact had my rear A arms off 2yrs ago to re bush them. I didn't pull the axle but instead unbolted the A arm mounts from the transmission to pull them off and get the bolt out. Might have saved you the axle pulling headache. It's amazing how a few beers make your memory so much better.......

 

Your a arms dont mount to transmission. i dont see how thats gonna help anything. cv joints need to come out for that bolt to be removed

 

OK maybe the 700's are different but on the 500 the rear upper A arm mounts are bolted to the side of the transmission. Once the mounts are unbolted the A arm comes out and the bolt can be pulled....

 

yes sir they be different. arms are mounted to frame. pretty much like a car or truck. its lots easier for me nowdays with design cause it is just like little truck. I saw older models and they made em lots simpler now,big mess and ugly as sin the older models drivetrain was. but it sure works good though

 

I finally got to work on it and it's the upper bolt. I have been writing this from work. I took the differental loose and was able to raise it enough to get the bolt out. a real pain. the axles didn't want to pull out so I tried this. Thanks