My buddy has a 03 700 sportsman and turning left or right makes a clicking sound relevent to axle rotation. On graval or loose terain it is not as audible but on pavement it is quite noticeable.Kinda sounds like the right side but not 100% sure on that one. If someone leans on the right rear of the bike the noise seems to go away or if not at the least is way less noisey. I took off the rear bearing housings both sides and feel no play or stiffness in the joints. Just wondering if it is in the diff or a joint that only makes noise when it is loaded. Any ideas would be a great help thanks!

 

In my experience it usually means one (or more) of the (4) CV joints in the rear is failing.

 

he has a bad cv joint w/out any question imo.

 

Common problem or complaint with a lot of my customers,when turning one side of plunging joint extends toward limit of travel making noise,BUT if you put a load on rear rack,usually no noise when turning,this compresses rear plunging joint further in where tighter and also puts more pressure on outbound cv joint.

 

So if the noise only goes away when the right rear of the suspention is compressed and still noise when the left side is compressed is it a safe bet that the offending joint would be the right inner then?

 

Sound can be deceiving on which one is bad. Try to see if you can find excessive slack in driveshafts by turning shafts by hand back and forth. Or have some one behind machine as you slowly turn left and right to help hear which side making noise. We do this at the shop to help isolate problem. When shaft is completely off machine I can usually tell better about wear/slack.

 

I have the shafts to the point of just pulling them out of the trani and feel little if any diference between them I will check them again but there is no excessive play in either of them worst case I will put it back togeather and listen again. Thanks for everyone geting back so fast!

 

Mornin seana.mcbride
I had that problem once, I quit a ride and went home after I looked it over real good. The next motnin I jacked it up and had to get a flash light but I found a rock in my skid plate. a BIG rock.. And when I would turn it would slide over and hit the U joint and make a heck of a racket, then the noise would go away. Might not be the problem, but worth lookin at,,, I always go for the the easy fix first and most of the time that's what is it. Good luck!!!

 

check to make sure the boot isnt ripped or the clamp isnt loose. if water gets into the cv joint then its good bye joint once the gease is junk. its the crome on the bearings inside that wear off and when sliding in and out in the cup is what gives it the clicking sound. like it has been mentioned, the sound is deciving on which one it could be.