Don't try to pry it out or you will damage the coil!! Yes,cut the excess silicone around the sleeve(be careful as there are two small coil wires that run in a groove at the back of the sleeve!!) I just used a small sharp chisel small enough to tap around the back of the sleeve to force it off without gouging the strut casting. You can heat the new sleeve up a little to make installation easier(use gloves to position it on the strut) silicone the area where the sleeve rides,don't worry about using too much as it will push back the excess. Use a small block of wood,hammer and a straight edge to install the new sleeve. Don't tap it on too far! Just align the edge of the sleeve with the edge of the inner pole of the strut(where the coil slips on) with the straight edge. Just take your time.

 

Update: I managed to get the sleeve off with a couple small chisels and a lot of time. Took me about 2 hours to tap it out & clean up all of the old silicone off of the strut casting. It was a PITA since the strut is in the way for a large part of the circumference, making for a less than ideal tapping angle in many spots... but it's out. A couple small nicks in the casting, should be fine with silicone. I'd challenge anyone else to get it off w/ less damage, short of having something like a specialized harmonic balancer/pulley puller.

Questions:
1) I cleaned up the strut casting well (old silicone), but should I remove & replace the silicone from that white coil too? Or is it OK to leave it as you see it (guessing - yes), and I'll re-silicone the entire backside (strut casting) when I put the new one on?

2) Should I just use the normal, blue silicone available from any automotive store? There's nothing special here? carb/break cleaner the strut casting surface before siliconing? (or should I not be worried that the hub fluid exposure may keep the silicone from bonding?)

3) I was very careful around the coil wires - 100% positive I didn't nic them. That said, is there any easy way to test the coil before I put the new sleeve on? Can I just turn the key on, 4WD button on, and see if it's magnetized?

4) White lithium grease between the inner lip of the new hub seal and this new sleeve, right?

Parts being delivered by CPW on Tuesday.

 

Yes to all questions except #1. Just leave the old silicone on the coil wires and use plenty of blue to go over the casting.Be sure to clean any that seeps at the front of the sleeve into the coil face.Looks like a clean job!! If the armature plate pulls to the coil in awd mode you're ok. Plus yes again it's hard to keep from getting a couple nicks in the casting when removing the old sleeve and I challenge anyone to keep from doing so too Plus if you have to ever do the other side you should be able to do it in half the time since you've got this one under your belt

 

Sounds like youve got it mastered the only ting I would add is when you put the new seal in back of hub, a little silicone on outside of seal would fill gouges in hub, good luck

 

Update: Parts came in from CPW on Tuesday. Stopped by a different Polaris dealer on Wednesday and they pressed the new hub seal in for me (no charge).

Last night, I installed the new sleeve. It was pain, but could have been worse. Problem #1 was that I didn't have a 0.001 feeler gauge (0.002 was the smallest I had), and the smallest my local auto parts store had was 0.0015. So I bought and used that, and just made sure it tighter than that. Other than that, just took a lot of time/patience, and an extra set of hands to help with lighting and holding the axle out the way while I was measuring clearances. In hindsight, I would have used a little more silicone on it. Should be fine. After the final tapping, checked the clearances like 50x just to make sure.

Tonight, after letting that silicone firm up for 24 hours, I reassembled everything back together other than the caliper & tire. Placed a clean sheet of paper towel under the rotor - praying it stays dry for the next 24 hours & that I've finally solved the leaking problem. (If it doesn't, I may very well be selling a 2000 SP500!!!!!!!!!)

Since I've had a leak on that wheel for some time, I also picked up a set of new brake pads since they're fairly oil-encrusted on that side. Just waiting to make sure the hub doesn't leak anymore before replacing the pads. Also debating if I need to get all four wheels of the ground and check the 4WD functionality just to make sure there's no issues on this wheel.

Fingers crossed - thanks for the help on this.

 

Looks good enough! Especially the hub seal and how it's flush with the casting. Looks like you have enough silicone. The sleeve will push back a lot of it when you install it,but there's usually enough of a film to hold the sleeve in place,plus it's a tight fit to begin with. Keep us updated on the progress..

 

Well, the good news so far is that the hub is not leaking after being filled up for 24 hours now. I live in the city, so I can't take it for a ride until our trip to H/M, so hopefully it'll stay good to go after being ridden.

Working today on replacing the front brake pads. So far, so good... but was caught off-guard a little by the color of the brake fluid in the master cylinder. It's dark tea colored... not clear. The bike is 13 years old. It smells like DOT 3, and it's very clean... just the color is off. Is this normal? Should I consider bleeding the lines & putting new fluid in? Or is it OK to leave as-is? I'm guessing the culprit is moisture after 13 years...

 

Just mop out the reservoir with paper towels. Fill with dot 4 fluid. Pump the brake lever up,lock the lever,start with the rear caliper and open the bleed screw.Pump up the lever again and go to the front left and right calipers and do the same thing while adding fluid to the reservoir as you bleed. Bleed until all the fluid is clear from the lines and calipers. A lot quicker if you have a vacuum bleeder.

 

Well, as the saying goes - Nothing is easy.

Checked on the wheel hub tonight, which is about 3 days post-rebuild. I thought all was well, but upon closer inspection, I had one drip of demand drive fluid. The interesting part is that it's not dripping from the same spot. Before the repair, it was leaking on the back (inside) face of the rotor... and I was pretty confident it was coming from the sleeve. Now, this time, it's on the front (exterior) side of the rotor (1-2 drips over 3 days). I can see where the hub mates to the rotor - the edge/perimeter where they contact each other is a little wet looking on the bottom side. I spun the hub 180* - we'll see if it continues. Not sure what to do... drive it and see if it fixes itself, replace the entire hub, etc.

And to add insult to injury, I was greasing up the zerks on the back suspension and noticed a ripped CV boot on the rear right drive shaft, the one closest to the tire. How involved is it to replace this? And should both CV boots on that axle be replaced at the same time? If it's easy, I'll DIY... otherwise, I may have to take it in based on my trip date approaching fast.

 

Torn Boots are a common problem, I would not even recommend being a ATV owner without knowing how to change them.
After you do one there pretty easy to do and do not cost much. Just change the torn one as they come.

Lots off good videos on Youtube showing how to do it.

It does not matter if the video is a Polaris because there all done the same way.
I think this site has a good "sticky" on how its done.

I like this guys video on a 400 Arctic Cat.