I have a 98 Polaris 500. Recently my drivers front tire has had some wobble to it. One of the problems was the bushing was missing front the top of the shock. As I was inspecting everyrhing , I noticed the side which has the wobble comes out of the differential much farther than the other side. I'll attach a picture below.

As you can see I went ahead and removed the roll pin from that side but I have the holes lined up so itd be an accurate picture of what I have going on. Thanks for any help

 

I'd order the lower as well as the upper pivot ball as cheap as they are to get the strut back straight and tight. While you have it jacked up check for any excessive play in the inner and outer tie rod ends as well as any excessive play or damage to the a-arm or it's bushings that could cause the output shaft in the front housing to pull out further on that side. Could be worn bearings etc in the front housing also. Check for back and forth play on the output shaft.

 

I had a little roughness inside of the strut housing but I cut up some pieces of 400 grit and smoothed everything out (money is tight as always). I do atleast have new bearings to go back in with. Tie rods have a decent amount of wear so I guess I will just go ahead and get those. Been cleaning all splines with a wire toothbrush and soaking in pbblaster

As far as the differential goes, any advice on getting it apart? Can't find any videos on my model online.

 

Not too many videos on the older front diffs. Found one on a 99 but the diffs have changed. The front housing cover(#26) shows a couple tools that you may be able to substitute around to remove it. Older models had a rivet to drill out,newer ones had two allen bolts you removed to pull this housing cover.The manual is the best as it goes into better detail. At least my 96-98 manual does. The 98 manual should be more specific.1998 Polaris Sportsman 500 Service Manual PDF Download

 

I saw the two allens and I've had them soaking and I drilled out that rivet.

Once I get her open, its not gonna spring a bunch of puzzle pieces at me is it?

In your opinion, is it some gears worn out or a spring or what would cause that?
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You won't know until you pop the cover. Just look at the diagram. Bearings and spacer washers and the shaft. If it's full of mud like a lot of them at least the bearings would need replacing.