Hello, John Talley here with partzilla.com.
Today we're going to be working on our 2011 Polaris Sportsman 850.
In particular, we're going to be looking at the half shaft.
On this particular one, as you can see, we have a split in the boot.
So what we're going to do is use a boot kit from Polaris that actually has the boot itself,
the grease to go in it, and then the two clamps that actually attach to the axle.
So, we're going to get all of this pulled down, pull it apart, and I'm going to show
you how to do it.
Let's get started.
Alright guys, it starts off by just getting this outer cover off.
Then behind that you've got a cotter pin that needs to come out and then we'll go ahead
and loosen that main axle bolt.
If your cotter pin is corroded in there or looking a little too rough you may want to
ahead and replace it.
This one I can probably straighten out and reuse.
Alright, your main bolt is going to be on there pretty tight.
I'm going to use an air ratchet to take it off.
When you go to put it back on you're going to want to use a torque wrench and put 80
ft-lbs on it.
On the other side of that bolt, you've got two cone washers.
You'll notice they've got kind of a lip to it that protrudes out more in the middle.
Alright, as we're taking this apart, the goal is to get the axle pushed back through.
So we want to go ahead and start tapping it back to at least break it loose inside the
housing.
That way we can just finish pulling it once we get the upper control arm out of the way
and get the entire knuckle joint pushed down.
From here, go ahead and get the brake caliper and the carrier out of the way.
Just a couple of 15mm bolts that hold it on.
The top A-arm is just a through bolt.
13mm.
This isn't absolutely necessary right here, but I want to get this control arm out of
my way.
Once you've got it broken free using a dead blow hammer like this.
You can see how it's pushed back a little bit.
then you want to take a punch, go inside the threads, finish knocking the axle back.
There she goes.
Alright, now we just need to remove those two clamps.
Now with those off, go ahead and push the boot back.
You could actually go ahead and just cut it off because we're certainly not going to use
it again.
Alright, this one is actually just held in by a little snap ring on the joint itself.
We don't want to hit it too hard or in the wrong place.
We want to hit it actually right in there so we can hold the race together.
Hopefully she'll just knock right off.
At this point the outer CV joint didn't want to release by just tapping on it.
So, I had to bring out a slide hammer puller and attach it to the end of the shaft to break
it free.
Sometimes you have to get creative with these things.
Alright, our joint looks pretty good so it looks like we can just replace the boot and
then get it put back together.
Our boot kit comes with the grease and then our inner and outer clamps as well as the
boot.
Do yourself a favor: go ahead and put that inner clamp in there first.
Otherwise you'll get it all bend out of shape trying to put it on after the fact.
Cutting one corner of the bag so that we can go ahead and fill up our joint and then the
boot.
Alright, you can see that little ring on the end of it?
That's what actually compresses it and holds it in place.
There she goes.
Alright, you've got a set of grooves.
One here.
You can see that it's in place.
The same thing on the axle.
When you're pulling to towards you you can feel it jump over that first one.
Right there.
That way you know you're home.
Make sure you're in the groove all the way around.
You basically have got one shot at this.
There she is.
Alright, now let's go ahead and get her put back together.
Next we can go ahead and get in that upper control arm.
It's held in place by that 13mm through bolt.
Now you want to make sure when you're putting this back together put plenty of grease in
here on the inside and on the outside.
Otherwise, it will freeze on there and you'll have one heck of a time pulling it back apart.
Tap it on to get it started.
Here are your two cone washers.
Remember, you want the cone part of it facing out.
Put your 27mm back on.
Don't overtighten it if you're using an air tool.
We just want to get it on there.
We're actually going to bring out a torque wrench and I'll have somebody hold the front
brakes once I get the caliper back on and that will hold it still so we can get the
80 ft-lbs on it.
Speaking of the caliper, that's what goes on next.
Alright guys, other than just putting the tire back on, this is pretty much finished.
Listen, if you have to replace the inner boot you want to order them as a pair.
But it can still be done with it in the machine it's just a little bit tougher to get up here
with the pliers to get to those clamps.
But you still have to replace the outside one anyway because it has to come off to get
out of the way.
Listen, if there are any questions or comments that you need answers to just leave them below
and I'll do my best to answer them.
If you need any of these parts come see us at partzilla.com and until next time we just
want to say thanks for watching.