​Repairing, Replacing, And Protecting Your Polaris RZR CV Joints, CV Boots And CV Axles

Breaking CV joints is a common occurrence throughout the RZR community – especially with heavily modified machines! But issues regarding constant-velocity joints can even arise in bone-stock buggies. Thankfully, though, there are preventative measures you can use to protect your CV joints. And when things do eventually break, repairing or replacing the CV joints, CV boots, and CV axles is something that every rider can learn how to do! So here are our thoughts on how to protect your Polaris RZR CV axles, joints, and boots, as well as how to remove them, repair them, and replace them both before and after damage occurs!

Protecting Your Polaris RZR CV Joints

Although it might not be the funnest way to protect your Polaris RZR CV joints, driving with caution is one of the best things you can do to prevent CV joint damage. If you encounter a big shelf, don’t hit it too hard. And if the front end of your machine lifts up, be sure that you’re not giving it gas when the tires make contact with the ground. Jumping is also hard on CV joints – especially ramp jumps with soft landings under full throttle. So if you want your CVs to last longer, you should avoid getting too rowdy and eschew from jumping altogether!

Aside from driving in a deliberately dull manner, using a-arm guards and CV boot guards will also help to protect your CV joints from harm. Parts like stick stoppers are great at preventing boot punctures, while full-length a-arm guards will shield the entire control arm as well as the axle joint. But when shopping for the best Polaris RZR a-arm guards, make sure you choose an option with slits, holes, or other drainage features. Full-plate a-arm guards tend to trap and hold stuff like mud, snow, leaves and other foreign objects, and these objects will then wear through the CV boot guards and begin deteriorating the CV joint itself. Even without a-arm guards that don't clear out, you will still get debris that finds its way into the CV joints. And this leads us to the next action riders can take to protect their Polaris RZR CV joints: maintenance.

Every now and then, you’ll want to repack your CV joints with some CV grease. But not just any grease will do. You’ll want to use grease with a high moly content (Molybdenum Disulfide). A grease that’s loaded up with moly will have a creamier texture, and it’ll be able to smush around inside components of the joint to protect them from both heat and abrasion.

At-Home And In-Field Polaris RZR CV Boot Repairs

If your in the great outdoors camping, hunting, or otherwise recreating and suddenly notice a small hole in your CV boot, you can try to seal it up with silicone and liquid electrical tape if you’ve got them, or carry some 1-minute gasket makers like “The Right Stuff” by Permatex to make in-field boot repairs. Similarly, Flex Seal (the kind that comes in a can) can also be used to temporarily fix a CV boot. Simply paint it on, let it dry, do a couple more coats, then finish everything off with lick of the spray-style Flex Seal. Another McGiver-style CV boot fix is to wrap the boot like a mummy with a layer of Saran wrap, a layer of electrical tape, and a layer of duct tape. Then, add a final layer of Saran wrap and blast it all with a heat gun. After that, you'll be good to go… at least for a couple of days!

A more permanent way to fix a CV boot is to simply replace it, and with a full Polaris RZR CV boot kit by a company like Moose or Quad Logic, swapping out CV boots is quick and painless! Some people use a funnel to get new CV boots over the knuckles on the axles, while others remove their axles and slide the boot off that way.

A CV banding tool will help you install the boot clamp, while CV joint pliers will help you crimp the clamp closed after you tighten it with the CV banding tool. CV Joint tools will also help you align the band in the right orientation so that doesn't hang out and snag something on the trail.

Regardless of whether or not you remove your axle to replace the CV boot, you’ll want to clean the guts of the joint out thoroughly and let it air dry before you repack the cup and boot with grease and re-band everything back together. In some cases, the Polaris RZR CV axle removal process can be a bit tricky, so now we’ll get into a few tricks you can try to help you remove stubborn Polaris RZR CV axles!

How To Remove A Polaris RZR CV Joint / Axle

The most commonly-used tool for removing Polaris RZR CV axles is a slide hammer. You can rent a slide hammer from places like AutoZone and O'Reilly's. But if you’re using it often for regular axle replacements, you might be better off just buying one.

Removing an in-tact axle is one thing, but it can be even harder to remove an axle if it is broken. If your axle broke off flush with the transmission and there's nothing to grab onto, you can pull the axle out on the opposite side of the broken axle and pop the latter out with a thin bar through the transmission. If the axle is broken on the drive wheel, there are several ways to coax it loose.

You could try to get a better line of attack by undoing the shock to get it out of the way, or you could throw a ratchet strap around the cup and use that to pull the axle out – making sure to pull straight out, not at an angle. The claw end of a crowbar can be used to remove a pesky CV axle, and so too can lady-slipper pry bars. If you’re truly desperate, you can weld your axle back together to help you pull it out. Or, you could also use two vice grips to hold a chain to the cup, then swing a sledgehammer while it's inside the chain loop in the direction opposite the joint. If you don’t have any vice grips, you could also use an exhaust stretcher to fix the chain to the cup.

If you spot a torn, punctured, or otherwise damaged boot soon enough, you can replace it before anything bad happens to the joint itself. But if mud had a chance to get inside and crunch around, a new boot can’t fix CV joint cages or CV joint balls that are already beat up. At the end of the day, it’s a judgment call, and it depends on how long you ran the joint after it became contaminated.

Replacing Your Polaris RZR CV Axles

We touched on how to remove / replace a Polaris RZR CV axle, but once you have your old axle removed, what should you put in its place? While replacement CV joints are available, many riders take the easier route and choose to replace the entire axle. But which Polaris RZR axle replacements are the best, OEM or aftermarket?

Some argue that you shouldn't use strong axles, as you want them to be the weakest link in your driveline that brakes before the differential or transmission. But this argument is fundamentally flawed, as you can build the weak links out of the system if you truly want to – there are upgraded parts for everything! Besides, with a CV axle like the Rhino 2.0, you’ll get something that’s stronger than stock axles, but weaker than the tranny and diff. Rhino 2.0 axles are also easy to rebuild, and they come with a solid warranty as well!

Other good CV axle replacements / upgrades for the Polaris RZR include Eastlake axles, Quadboss axles, EPI axles, and All Balls Racing axles. For non-lifted machines, 4xpro axles work great. But for a beefy axle that is all-around bigger and burlier from the CV joints to the shaft, Rough Country axles are about as stout as they come! Whichever CV axle you decide to go with, it’s always a good idea to have at least one spare front axle and one spare rear axle on hand at all times.

Final Thoughts On Polaris RZR CV Joints, CV Boots And CV Axles

Whether you’re replacing a CV joint, a CV boot, or a complete CV axle assembly, applying anti-seize to the splines of the joint is a must – especially if you play around in the water and mud, as this moisture causes rust and make it hard to remove the axle / joint when the time comes for upkeep, repairs, or replacements. Learning to work on your own toy is also a better route than taking it to a shop for every minor issue. You’ll not only avoid the wait and save a ton on labor costs, but you’ll also learn what to do if and when things happen when you're out on the trails. CV joint damage is an unavoidable part of the game, so the sooner you accept this and learn how to deal with it, the better!