# 750 Brute Front Diff Clicks



## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

I am hoping someone can help me out.

As I was slowly moving along in about a one foot deep swamp of wet grass and loose mud today, I started to hear the front differential start to click intermittently in 4 wheel drive. It started after traveling about 50 yards in 4 wheel drive.

Is this normal? I have an 09 Brute 750 with about 110 miles on it. I've noticed it since day one whenever I use 4 wheel drive. I thought I read somewhere hear that that the front differentials are notoriously noisy on these.

It might be the transfer case but I'm not really sure.

Thanks in advance

Mark


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

i have read too that some of these are noisy and that's just how it is..
Personally, I don't find those statements correct. If it's making popping or clicking something in there is wrong.

Have you changed the oil in the front diff since you got it?
if not are you sure there is enough oil in it?


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## FABMAN (Dec 18, 2008)

CVs maybe?


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## w8tnonu22 (Feb 3, 2009)

I would check your boots to see if any are torn on your front CV Joints. Mine was doing the same because a boot was torn and water was getting in. I looked several times before I found the torn boot. Sometimes they can be hard to see. If it is clicking because it is torn just replace the boot and repack it with grease and it will be fine.


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## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

Thanks for your responses so far. I stopped by the dealer today and asked about it. They told me that it might be the limited slip differentila making the sound as it was transfering power from one wheel to the next. They said to get back in the bog (where the wheels would slip) and when it started clicking to look at the front wheels and see if the click corresponded with the wheels slipping and transferring power. Then they said to pull the differential lock and see if the clicking stopped when the wheels were locked up. If that was the case then the noise is OK and i just have a noisy differential.


Doesn't sound kosher to me, why should i have any sound at all? It indicates poor tolereances to me if some quads have it and some don't.

As a saving note for the dealer, they did say that if i wasn't comfortable with that I should bring it in and they would look at it.


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

FABMAN said:


> CVs maybe?


That's what it sounds like to me!!


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## Yesterday (Jan 2, 2009)

yep. sounds like axles clickin


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

Wouldn't that be a warranty issue?


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## FABMAN (Dec 18, 2008)

not if the boot is torn


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

FABMAN said:


> not if the boot is torn


I assumed they checked that.


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## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

There doesn't seem to be any rubber boot failure that I can see. 
I'll take it out this weekend and see if the clicking is still there when I lock up the differential


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

good deal. let us know the results!


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## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

If it is the cv joint, do the balls actually jump a tooth on the sprocket if the retaining ring is cracked.

Actually, my question is ...How do these cv joints fail? do they just come apart? is it generally from wear or something like water getting in and wshing out the grease?


Thinking back now.... a couple of weeks ago I tried to pull my neighbor out of a a mudhole. I hooked up the tow rope to the front bumper of my brute and started pulling him out in reverse using 4 wheel drive. I heard a snap and thought it was just the bumper mount bolts moving or thought it even sounded like a weld snapping. 

Could it have been a noise coming from the front cv joint? Do they fail like that by jumping teeth in the ball and sprocket cage?


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## Yesterday (Jan 2, 2009)

that snap was NOT a good thing. You should never try to pull anything in reverse with your brute! brute + reverse + pulling something = deadbrute. (this is where roasted belts are common) I'd definitely give everything in my front end a one over, actually about a 3 over after hearin that given the circumstance.


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

Bigdog29485 said:


> If it is the cv joint, do the balls actually jump a tooth on the sprocket if the retaining ring is cracked.
> 
> Actually, my question is ...How do these cv joints fail? do they just come apart? is it generally from wear or something like water getting in and wshing out the grease?
> 
> ...


cages can break but also the shaft itself can snap in two


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

see... broken cage








http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/the_happy_smurf/Replacing Axle/ReplacingAxles008.jpg


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## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

Might also be the outer retaining basket, If that has a crack in it then the inner cage/ball assembly will split the crack open and it will rotate under load making a loud click or snap noise. I'll have to pull the front wheels tomorrow to check that. If that is the case, the original tires go back on and its back to the dealer for a warranty repair. If it happens again then i'll have to get some gorilla axles.


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## Bigdog29485 (Mar 25, 2009)

Well I had it up on the lift last night and what I discovered was that the front a-arm ricochet plates interfere withwith the upper a-arms when the suspension is compressed. Since the ricochet plates haxve a slight reward bend to them, when the suspenion is compressed they actually sort of wrap around the upper a-arm and when the suspension releases, they make a snapping sound as the come off of the upper a-arm. So when I'm slooging through a grassy marsh bog at slow speed, the suspenmsion compresses and I hear the snap from the front end.

I bent the plates back a little bit and we will see today if that makes a difference.

Thanks for all the input, I especially liked the picture of the busted cage.


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

cool. that's nice to know about those.. might save someone hunting down a elusive problem.


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## Yesterday (Jan 2, 2009)

sweet. no money spent on your part!


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## FABMAN (Dec 18, 2008)

Heck you got lucky. You didnt have it all a part before you found that. Id have the hole thing torn down. then see that. then id say fffffff***


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## TEXAN AVIATOR (Feb 25, 2009)

It's not always an axle! Check out this video, the diff makes noise all the time we just get used to it.

http://www.atvtv.com/atv08-L-ATVTest08-BF750.html


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