<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: HIGHOCTANE

Is it possible Polaris designed the axle as the weak link?</end quote></div>

Back when I was building 4x4 trucks I always tried to make the U-Joints the weakest point in the system. It was preferable to break a 20 dollar U-joint in a drive shaft or front end than it was to break an axle, twist a drive shaft or grenade a differential or transfer case.

 

Exactly,and since the Sportsman's axles don't have u-joints,then the axle or more likely the CV joint needs to be the weak link. Breaking a driveshaft("propshaft") u-joint could be ugly.