welcome to the forum. there are a lot of post telling how to do it if you search using the search feature or maybe you'll even find a you tube video on how its done. the short version if its the cv side then it just snaps/jerks out of the housing. it's held in with a split ring. if it's never been apart before then it will come apart very hard. you cant just pull it out, it has to be snapped if you understand.

 

 

i just removed and replaced front axles on my 2004 sportsman 500 ho. There are a few different axle combinations. One type has a roll pin on the differential side of the axle. You can remove the roll pin with a punch and then remove the axle. Mine did not have a roll pin so i had to remove the axle by removing tie rod connection, A arm and axle nut from the spindle housing to be able to knock the splined shaft out of the housing. I had been spraying penetrating oil into the splined shaft at the differential side of the axle for a couple of days. I then started pulling on the axle with pressure and tapping on the axle with hammer while pulling and turning it popped out with a little patience.It is held in place by a small metal circlip around the splined shaft so you really have to manipulate it to get the circlip to retract enough for it to release.

When I researched how to do this I came across all kinds of unique ways of getting this to work. Old Polaris Tech recommended a slide hammer, but i didn't have one handy. Mine both came out fairly easily with strong hand pressure and tapping with a hammer while turning the axle. I think I was lucky I saw some people struggled with the circlip rusted into the splined shaft. I think the penetrating oil helped mine, but then I had to replace the expensive diff fluid after I got everything back together because I didn't want the penetrating oil breaking down the diff fluid.

 

I guess if you are just trying to get your front axle bearings and not replacing the axle you can just disconnect the A arm and tie rod end and possibly the top of the strut/spring mount to get enough play in the strut housing to drive the axle out from the wheel side and get it out of the way.You could then replace the bearing and race and re-assemble everything.You wouldn't need to remove the axle from the differential end like i was saying above. I think a lot of people remove the whole spindle and strut housing from the machine to get it on the bench to do the bearing work. If you do get the axle out on one side be careful not to get the CV joint too angled or the joint will come apart inside the CV boot and will be difficult to get back together without ripping the boot.

 

I also forgot you probably have the locking Hilliard style front hubs which is a different set than mine and I don't have experience with, so you can probably ignore my above posts.