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all 400ex owners please read and check your quad

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  #1  
Old 02-17-2001, 11:01 PM
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Ok, When I was painting my stock a-arms, I noticed that on the spot that the shock touches it, it had a very bad weld (on both of them, but a little worse on the left one) I did not think much of it, and went riding today. We hit a pretty niced size jump a couple of times and everything seemed fine. when I came home and powerwashed it, i looked again and there wasnt a weld anymore, it had cracked. So Im afraid if I ride anymore I will go straight through the a-arms. I guess Ill be getting the new ones sooner than I thought. Has this happened to any of you?
 
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Old 02-17-2001, 11:08 PM
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Thanks,
I will be sure to check that out!
 
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Old 02-17-2001, 11:10 PM
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Also on that note, what are some good a-arms to buy for under $400? the wider the better, my rearend believe it or not is at a plus 12" right now.
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 12:03 AM
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I have not had this problem, but a friend of mine ran over a couple of small stumps a few months ago and broke both the upper and lower arms on the left side of his 400ex and I was really surprised to see how thin the metal was that the arms are made of. After seeing that it makes me wonder how they take the abuse they do.
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 08:42 AM
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You might want to check the welds under your foot pegs too!
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 09:04 AM
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i think kryton sells +2+1 a-arms for around 400+-. shocconnection carries them i think
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 10:30 AM
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If the welds are bad, then isn't it a safety hazard? I'd call Honda and ask them to repair it, even if it's out of warantee. Honda seems to be very good about protecting their reputation on things like this.
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 04:24 PM
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Check with your Honda dealer. I had a mis-manufactured A-ARM. The snap ring groove in one of them was in the wrong spot, it allowed the bearing/bushing to slip laterally in the bearing holder on the a-arm. I discovered it when I went was going to replace one of the bushings, because it had movement in it. It turned out to be the gap between the snaprings was wrong. Honda replaced the whole a-arm for me, even though the warranty was expired.
 
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Old 02-18-2001, 04:45 PM
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I will call tomorrow. But what sucks is I do need wider a-arms. My back end is so wide it kinda handles like a three wheeler. Any Ideas?
 
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Old 02-19-2001, 01:48 AM
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They're plenty strong, see my webpage linked below... Mine have taken a year and a half of that abuse...

New Honda lower control arms are $35/ea from Servicehonda (clipped a tree, tore up a spherical bearing, as well as my thumb - a complete control arm was less than the cost of the bearings & seals)....
 


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