I did a search and found some pretty good threads on driveshaft bearing replacement. Even found a pretty good step-by-step list from RYANRU. My question is do I still have to yank the skid and drop the driveshaft if I'm just replacing the chaincase side??? Are the shafts held in place by something other than the chaincase or would I just be able to slide the chaincase out and then not be able to re-install it cuz of the tension from the track??? Could I just loosen the track?

pretty hard to do, you should remove the skid it makes reistallation alot easier also if you go that far it only makes sense to replace the bearing on the left side of the axel because that one goes most often.

nacapster - I might give your idea a try. Worst case, I have to pull the suspension. No time really lost....

Likely though, if I'm going that far, I'd replace all bearings/seals while I was at it. Just me.

Yep if your doing one side go the extra step and do the other side :div20:

The sled has already had the pto side driveshaft bearing replaced a few years back. Plus it's an 89 Indy Trail that I hauled away for free and am selling to an uncle for only $150.00. So, I don't want to stick any money into it. I already put $15 in the gas tank. So, I just want to do the one bearing that needs to be replaced. I also really don't feel like wrenching on the sled that much, I don't want to have to drop the skid and the driveshaft. I was really hoping that just loosening the track would be enough. Otherwise I'm probably just going to pick up the bearing and give it to him with the sled. Along with a "call me if you need help / advice". Not to be a jerk but for $150 I don't want to put much money or time into it.

I assume that is the same one you have for sale for $250 in the classifieds? Not for sale anymore?

Yeah, it's one in the same. I guess I should post something over there. I thought I'd offer it to family first. But they were out of town and didn't return my call till late last night. I actually didn't really haul it away for free, I took it as partial pmt for a 96 Indy 500 that I sold to my buddy. I'll let you know if the deal falls through for some reason if you're interested.

Well, I sure feel pretty stupid. :frech32: Seing as I am selling the sled to family (albeit extended family) I decided to go ahead and do the work for them. He's pretty handy but has never wrenched on sleds. That plus I have a well lit shop along with a nice lift versus his dingy lit dirt floor out buildings. Everything I've read on here lead me to believe that it would be a lot easier if I yanked the skid so I did. I got the whole thing ripped apart and to my surprise the bearing seems just fine. I wasn't able to yank the chaincase, it would slide on the driveshaft but wouldn't budge on the jackshaft. But the bearing looks just fine and feels just fine from both sides. That plus the driveshaft seems to spin freely. Now that I think about it when the other side drive shaft bearing went out you could actually reach in and feel that it was messed up. So....I guess all it needed was a track alignment adjustment. But I couldn't even do that because when I was loosening the track I needed to use a breaker bar cuz the adjusters were so coroded and one of the bolts actually snapped off!!! I hit it with some penetrating oil and will try a small propane torch and a vice grip tomorrow. Hopefully I can get the stupid thing out. But I'm glad I ripped it apart cuz the slides are shot along with 2 of the idler wheel bearings so it needed it. I guess this will teach me to check the simple stuff first. But when the track came to an immediate halt and when I saw that it was extremely drifting to the right and no one had touched the adjusters I just assumed that's what it had to be. That's what happend when the other side bearing let loose only that time it was drifting extremely to the left and no matter how much I adjusted it I still couldn't get it centered. Man, I'm so sick of wrenching on old POS sleds. :banghead: I can't wait to get rid of this stupid thing, then all I'll have left is my 04 REV and my 01 EDGE. At least they were built in this century. I've been heading in the wrong direction. I dropped off my old 96 Indy 500 and ended up hauling back a 89 Indy Trail. I didn't even want to take it but I figured that as long as the darn thing ran that I could park it out on the main drag and at least get a couple hundred for it. I should've just cleaned it up and sold it as is. :frech32:

Im probably going to get booted out of here for doing this but..... looks like you could use the help. The answer is no, you do not need to yank your skid, track, shafts...to change out chaincase bearings.

http://www.snowmobilefanatics.com/forum/to...?TOPIC_ID=15738