Resistance when rolling (coming from front sprocket)

[RLife_181]

Recently while i was working on my 2001 Warrior 350, i noticed the there was some resistance while rolling it back and forth. I pulled the chain of to see if it was from the axle bearings or the Transmission. turns out the front sprocket its pretty hard to turn. I read somewhere that around the 2001 years they had a problem with this. Is this normal and can i leave it, or should is it something that needs to be fixed asap. Thanks in advance!

 

[hashish420]

i would think in neutral it should turn freely if its not there is a problem that needs dealing with. riding it will probably cause damage to whatever is causing the resistance