Hi I have a 02 sportsman 500 I'm having axle removal problems.I removed the whole rr suspension and took the axle apart now I have the inner cup stuck and it wont move.I welded a nut to it to screw the slide hammer to it.After a ton of hammering it wont budge I'm pulling on it straight.Then my father and I put it on the lift at our shop and tied the left side down and put a chain around the cup and tried pulling on it with a *** along it still wont budge.I have done more car and truck motors and trannies then you can shake a stick at and never had a axle fight me like this. Am I missing somthing ? If I can get the left axle out can I stick a punch through the rear diff ? Thanks for any help. I have also tried the air hammer with a long chiesel.
I also took the new axle apart and tried to use the old inner cup but its worn out and clicks a little.

 

welcome to the forum. wow , i've never heard of anybody going to that extreme to get a cv joint out. there is only 1 cir clip on the spine(see my sticky thread on top of the page)which hold it in and requires a snap of the joint to get it out vs a straight pull. sometimes it keps to soak the penetrating oil right to it as rust and grime build up. the spine slides into a sealed cup in side the rear end so as far as i know you can't use a punch on it.

 

Yes you can knock it out from the other side..The axles actually almost butt together in the rear housing..I have did this many times..

 

Thanks I looked at the sticky.I also watched a video on you tube no luck.I'm going to try to remove the left axle today.Thanks for the help I'll let you know how it goes.

 

yea when i had to remove the left axle (PITA) i went ahead and punched out the right axle while i was there to put sone anti seize on it... so if you can get the right side off you can get that left side out with a little more persuasion.. I had to use 3 prybars to get my axle off. Had to remove the rear plastic and hammer a prybar from the top to try and start the separation and then used two prybars one on the front one of the rear.. these things are stubborn and there is no GREAT place to pry from... just when i thought it wasnt gonna move it somehow popped off.... just keep working it it may just pop off when you least expect it

 

hamweena, I suffered through the exact same thing last summer. Might have been the most frustrating process of my life. All of a sudden, you'll get one, then you can drive the other one out. I cleaned everything good, coated everything with anti-sieze before re-assembly. God, what an awful experience. Good luck, I know you'll get it.

 

thats good info to have guys, thanks for the input.

 

I GOT IT I ended up taking the left side apart with no luck this side also wouldn't budge.What I ended up doing was drilling a 1/2'' hole in the center of the right side axle cup.Then I stuck a puch in there and hammered the left axle out a couple of blows and it popped.I went around to the left of the quad and punched the right side axle cup out.I am so happy that I got it out.There was a ton of rust on the splines.Because of the design no shavings from drilling got into the rear diff.Thanks for all the help I hope this process helps someone else out.

 

Happy endings make me cry. *sniff*

By the way, that's not really a differential, the axles are 'locked'. Clean them inner splines up good, paint it all with anti-sieze. Someone, maybe you, will thank you.

 

Yeah those rear axles can be a bitch took me awhile to do, but got it out with pry bars and few hard pulls. Coated the **** out of the new axle with anti-sieze. When I had to go back in to replace a boot it came apart really nice.