The Facts;
She is just out of warrantee (only 6 mo. boooo!) 2014 Sportsman 570 bone stock, tires too. Has only 25 hours and 250 miles, just had its first oil change. I don’t beat it at all, and wipe it with a diaper in the garage.
After some riding around the yard and driveway doing a little yard work (not towing anything) I noticed a weird ticking noise when I drove into the garage that I have never heard before. I am talking less than 10 minutes of easy riding on grass and tar.
I traced the slight ticking noise to the left side rear axle area as if you were sitting on the machine for L&R orientation.
Upon closer inspection the "cup" of the transmission side axle is too hot to touch, like you can’t touch it for more than a second. The other axle sides "cup" (exhaust side) is cool to cold to the touch and seems totally fine. The hotter it gets the louder the ticking noise, once it cools off it is still there, but not as bad.
The transmission itself feels cool to the touch and rear trans fluid levels are good.
There are no tears in the CV boot and clamps are sealed tight with no signs of grease leakage, it looks brand new. There is no play in the CV joints at all and they appear tight.
When back tires are off ground and rotated, noise and resistance are pretty consistent, with a little more resistance in one spot, but its really barley noticeable.
However it seems to me the tires are fairly hard to spin off the ground in neutral than one would expect, but I have no other point of reference as this is my first time working on a sportsman and with all the drive linkage there I can see a little drag through the tranny as being normal.
I know once I rip the CV boot or break the clamp to check the CV, I will be taking the axle off to replace the CV boots and possibly the CV joint/axle itself so I wanted suggestions to test the CV before I start taking bolts off…but it seems pretty obvious unless its in the trans, but again trans is cool, fluids ok.
I mean the ATV is like new and yeah I ride it in the woods and defiantly some mud and water, but nothing abnormal.
Any input or suggestions are appreciated I have had many 2 wheel drive ATV’s and am pretty handy with machines, but it just can’t be a dead CV already, it just can’t….
