ok, lets assume your axle , ring gear, pinion gear is ok ?, then you must start at the rear of the motor, and check to see if the rear drive shaft from the output shaft backwards to the rear differential is good ?, there is a u-joint right there at the output shaft, then drive shaft, both of these have splines. soooo..do this, jack the atv up off the floor, all 4 wheels if its 4wd ? , put the tranny in gear, spin the rear wheels by hand..it should turn all 4 wheels, wont be easy..unless you have the spark plug out ?, but what your doing is checking to see if the drive line is working like it should ?. if you don't see the front wheels turning ?, then somewhere from the motor backwards is the problem. chances are, drive shaft bad ?, output shaft splines stripped ?, pinion gear splines or teeth stripped ?. if you have a 2wd ?, do the same, jack the rear off the ground, put it in gear, spin the rear wheels, it should not spin easy ?, if it does ?, then from the output shaft at the back of the motor to the rear differential needs to be looked at.
ok. now you must trace from the rear output shaft back to the rear differential, and see where the problem is ?. i'll narrow it down again, output shaft splines stripped ?, u-joint splines stripped ?, pinion gear to the drive shaft splines are stripped ?, ring gear splines stripped ?. one or all of these is your problem. you will need to pull the rubber boot off the output shaft at the back of the motor, and check, if that shows to be good ?, then you must pull the rear differential, so you can get to the drive shaft at the back end, while you have the differential off, split it, and check the ring gear teeth, as well as the pinion gear teeth, and also check the ring gear axle splines. its a lot of work..but if ya want it fixed..and fixed right ?..then all of this must be done !. keep us updated please
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your very welcomeLast time I did this, it APPEARED to be the axle alone that was the problem.
The splines on the axle were clearly wasted, and the splines in the ring gear seemed good.
I figured it was just 6 years of hard farm work, and good design on Honda's part, making the easier-to-replace, wear-and-tear part not as hard as the internal stuff so it would wear without taking the ring gear with it.
Now that the new one has only lasted 6 months, I'm thinking that I misjudged the situation
Thanks for the help.
I'll get it up on the lift tomorrow morning...if I can get that weird old Deutz tractor out of the way!
. anytime you replace an axle ?, then while your at it, check the ring gear splines, and hub splines !. all of these work together, if one fails ?, then count on another part right there with it to be bad as well !.
large tires, lift kits..all of these are the number one killer on drive lines !.
here's my understanding on how everything tears up: I will start with the pinion gear, the pinion gear has two bearings, the main bearing, and the needle bearing. if the main bearing starts to go bad ?, then it will '' wobble '', once this happens ?, it wears the needle bearing out, once this happens, then the teeth on the pinon gear cant mesh well with the ring gear. ring gear : this ring gear has two carrier bearings , one on each side of it. if either one of these carrier bearings start to go bad ?, then the ring gear '' wobbles ''. then you have the teeth not wanting to mesh with the pinion gear. as these two gears turn..they are not meshing right, now your grinding away at the teeth, sooner or later the ring gear and pinion gear start to '' clunk '' ?, when this happens..there goes the pulling power. axle spline : the axle splines are grooved..as you very well know ?, but !...have you ever looked closely at the axle splines when they are worn down ?, if you did ?, then you would have noticed that not all of the axle splines are worn down across the grooves !!, only a portion of the splines ( grooves ) wear down, so you really are not getting much of a '' bite '' on all of the axle splines. over time, the ring gear splines wear down, when they do ?, they make it harder to '' bite '' on the axle splines, this is when you slap a new axle into a ring gear, and it does not last. ever noticed when you go to buy a ring gear and pinion gear..that they sell them as sets ? ( or used too ! ), they do this , because they recommend that you replace them as a set, because they know they wear uneven ?, or wear together ?..either or..pick your poison !. always replace the ring gear, pinon gear, axle if it is worn ?, hub splines wear as well. all of these parts MUST BE CHECKED/REPLACED AS NEEDED. or you just start piecing it together ?, all your doing is wasting time and money
. p.s. if all those bearings wear out ?..9 out of 10 times..the oil seals are bad too !.
