I'm trying to remove the complete left axle shaft on my 700 sportsman. I've read everything I can find on the subject, and cannot get it out. First tried to use the weight of the tire/wheel as a slide hammer until inboard joint fell apart. Then welded some 3/4 in round stock on the cup and a piece of angle on to it and used a 10 lb sledge and my 240 lb butt behind it and ended up with a bent piece of angle and tired arms. bro-in-law came over and we tried wedges first. then drilled through the shaft and tapped it with a 5/8 tap. using a grade 8 5/8 bolt, we pressed off of the other shaft using an impact while wedging behind it. Still nothing! I',m hoping the alum. diff housing holds up to all this abuse. anybody ever had THIS much trouble? Any help is appreciated.

 

I'm having the same issue.

 

OK. I finally got mine out last night. here's how. I turned the bike on its side in my garage, problem side up. I had already drilled through the center of the cup and tapped it with a 5/8 tap. I sprayed wd40 and that PB buster stuff into the hole filling the cup 1/2 way. let it soak over night. took another piece of 5/8 allthread rod and welded a nut on it.screw this into the hole and impact the hell out of it. you're basically pressing off of the other shaft. Then take a 2 lb hammer and swat the cup a couple different directions. impact again. swat again. I kept this up for about ten minutes and finally started to see it rise out of its home. that ring in the back was fused together with so much rust and dirt it had no where to go. I actually had cut splines into the ring on the way out. No damage to the diff at all. Be sure to clean out the inside of the diff really well with a shop-vac to get the thing ready to accept the new axle. I coated the new one with anti-seize before slipping it in with ease. hope this helps.

 

the big key to these is getting penetrating oil in there because of the rust and crap that gets in there and stays causing it to come apart extremly hard for sure.