Posts
9635
Joined
7/5/2008
Location
Tallapoosa, GA
US
Edited Date/Time
4/27/2020 4:48pm
I am working on a 2017 Ranger XP 900 crew cab.
Can anyone recommend the best method of replacing the flex bearing on the rear half of the prop/drive shaft? In the photo below the bearing has to go onto the splined end of the shaft and sit against the raised shoulder on the shaft just past the tapered section.
When I took the shaft off the bearing assembly came off with it but it was a heck of a fight to get it out of the machine so I do not believe it is possible put the bearing on the shaft while out of the machine and then put it back into the chassis. The rubber was wrecked on the old bearing and I had to rotate the bracket to make it slip out of the frame rails-doing that with the new bearing does not seem a good idea.
The only method I have found online was to put the rear section of the shaft back onto the rear gearbox and then pound the bearing back onto the shaft using a short length of pipe to tap against the inner bearing race. I do not have a good feeling about pounding against the gearbox/output shaft and was curious if anyone had experience with this fix.
What a pain it is work on this thing, you have to disassemble the entire front steering/suspension/differential to pull the shafts out the front of the chassis. Polaris engineers did not have maintenance in mind when they designed things.
I have finished replacing all 3 u-joints on the drive shafts so now it is time to get things put back together once I get this bearing situation figured out.
Can anyone recommend the best method of replacing the flex bearing on the rear half of the prop/drive shaft? In the photo below the bearing has to go onto the splined end of the shaft and sit against the raised shoulder on the shaft just past the tapered section.
When I took the shaft off the bearing assembly came off with it but it was a heck of a fight to get it out of the machine so I do not believe it is possible put the bearing on the shaft while out of the machine and then put it back into the chassis. The rubber was wrecked on the old bearing and I had to rotate the bracket to make it slip out of the frame rails-doing that with the new bearing does not seem a good idea.
The only method I have found online was to put the rear section of the shaft back onto the rear gearbox and then pound the bearing back onto the shaft using a short length of pipe to tap against the inner bearing race. I do not have a good feeling about pounding against the gearbox/output shaft and was curious if anyone had experience with this fix.
What a pain it is work on this thing, you have to disassemble the entire front steering/suspension/differential to pull the shafts out the front of the chassis. Polaris engineers did not have maintenance in mind when they designed things.
I have finished replacing all 3 u-joints on the drive shafts so now it is time to get things put back together once I get this bearing situation figured out.
Good luck with that.
Sorry, I can’t help you on this particular issue as I’ve never done one but it sounds like the method you described, although hack, would work. Good Luck!
Once I polish up the drive shaft and lube things up I hope the new bearing treats me better.
At around 5400 miles 2 of the 3 u-joints were bad (I replaced all 3 since it was apart) and the front suspension bushings need to be replaced.
Right before I tore everything down I found one of the rear lower a-arms bolts missing (it was there 2 weeks earlier when I greased the suspension) which caused the sway bar to break in half so I need to weld that back together as well.
Not sure I would go for another Polaris in the future, a Japanese UTV would probably be better engineered and built.
I had to remove the rear cab floor panels to get access and then climb inside to bolt things back together.
This is the best part of the Polaris design. The drive shafts have to come out the front of the machine through this small opening in the frame which is blocked by the front drive train and gearcase which all have to come out first.
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