After you take everything off that is attached to the swingarm like the brake setup on the left side and the sprocket assembly on the right side the axle should come out of the left side if you tap it with a rubber mallet on the right side. The first picture is how your axle and rear swingarm should look to slide the axle out. Usually they just slide out very easily.

On the stock axle there is a lip that keeps it from coming out of the right side of the swingarm that I have circled in red on the second picture. It's usually a good idea to wear some gloves and have some towels close by when you take the axle out because it will get covered in grease from the carrier.

 

Oh no! That lip on the axle means I have to take everything off the left side as well to put the new bearings in, correct? Another rusty nut to try and break loose. DAMN!

 

http://gh-ftp.com/ORV%20Manuals/Pola...0%20-%20SM.pdf

Starting on page 142 it goes into detail on how to remove the axle.

 

Thanks! So the axle right now should "slide" out to the left but t only slides about a half inch. Am I going to damage anything banging it out of there?

 

The only thing in the carrier is a bearing and lube, so there's not that much in there to damage. If you use anything other than a rubber mallet to tap the end of the axle with I would hold a piece of wood against it to keep from damaging the splines on the end of the axle where the wheel bolt goes.

You shouldn't need a great deal of force to slide the axle out if you've taken everything off the swingarm and carrier because there isn't anything else to hold it in place.

 

I put the castle nut on the end of the axle flush, used. 1x3 piece of wood and hit it with a 3 lb sledge (not too hard yet) and it isn't wanting To move much at all.

I have been reading posts; different year scramblers have the rear axle removed in different directions? That is weird. I have everything off he right side (it's a 2003). Maybe the bearing wore at an able prevention the axle sliding out easily?

Man, I am so close.
Thanks for the advice. Will keep at it.

 

Any chance that you can post a picture of the axle and what all you've done up to this point? Everytime I've removed an axle on a Gen3 I've taken everything off both sides. If nothing else you could always try and remove it from the other side.

Here's a link to an exploded view of the housing and axle. As you can see there isn't anything in the housing to keep the axle in place other than the lip on the axle itself. Replacement axles like Durablue don't even have that lip on them.

World of Powersports' 2003 Polaris SCRAMBLER 500 4X4 (A03BG50AA) Parts Image

 

I did it.