Fortunately it didn't get that far but on my 06 Sportsman 800 I have been working on everything from ball joints to crank bearings for the last couple years. My tranny was hard to shift after sitting, dealer says its fairly common. He told me possibly just a clean and lube or replace the "detent" . Anyway, I took the tranny to them, he looked at the #s on it and flipped it over and says "wow John, you got lucky!!"
Well, turns out the roll pin on the rear output was backing out and cutting into the case. He stated others had worked their way through and needed complete replacement.
So, take a peek or atleast feel under there and see if yours is good. No idea what other models this may happen to.

 

Seen this happen before on the 700 and 800 models.I tried to flare roll pins on each side a little when I replaced them with new ones to keep this from happening. Some people have even installed hardened bolts and nuts. Usually the main place this happens is around the tranny area,never had problems with any other area on roll pins.