I did one hell of endo last weekend and i know my bars are bent. I was looking at my tie rods,a-arms ,ball joints and other related parts to see what other damage i did. So my ? is - must you remove the steering stem to tell if it's bent or are there any other tests that can indicate a bent stem.

 

When I bent mine it was extremely noticeable without removing a thing. It was bent over three inches back.you should be able to put a ft. long ruler up aganist it and check for gaps. Hope I helped

 

I did a major endo as well and after looking at what I had to replace (handle bars, plastics, shock, headlight bracket ect.) I thought that was it. When I got the new parts installed, the alignment was off by about 2 inches or so to the right. I compared it to my other quad and EVERYTHING looked perfect, so I finally deceided to pull the steering shaft and sure enough, the flange that the tie rods bolt onto was bent. Ordered a new one ($175), installed it and now everything is straight again. Several people looked at the quad as well as I but there was no way to tell it was bent until I remeved it.

 

I hope you didn't pay $175 for a stock 400ex steering stem.

 

Yea, I sure did. Except it was for a 98 Honda TRX 300 EX. Guess I got screwed huh.

I never had to get parts B4 so I just went to the local parts / dealer and ordered one. Guess I should have looked on the net. You have any suggestions on where to order parts for a good price?

Thanks

 

i know its past teh fact but you could have sent it to someone for a retube and maybe even extend it ( like Timmyboy designs) for almost the same price

 

I got my stock steering stem from service honda for $53 delivered to my door.. I think they have since went up to $98...

 

Well no bent stem but new bars and some cosmetic damage,around the headlights.I took it out yeterday and, my quad starting cutting out so now i have the ol girl tore back down hopeing it's only dirt in the carb .Pulled the plug and it was black as could it could be but, found no noticable dirt in carb. Hopefully i got it