When I want to flip my rims aroung to get a wider front end, do I have to get shorty valve stems, or are they short enough? Does this make anything else weaker or wear faster?

 

I'm not sure about the clearance on the Raptor, but on most quads, shorty valve stems aren't enough.

Take a NEW valve stem and put it in backwards where the one you have is now.
On the other side of the wheel, drill a hole for another valve stem and put it in correctly.

Like I said, I don't know if any of this is neccessary on the Raptor or not, but that is how it is done on most quads.

When you do this, the machine is more stable, but suffers from bump steer badly and will wander at speed.

It makes your quad much harder to steer and will take the energy out of you if you race motocross or cross country unless you have a steering damper installed.

It will put more wear on your bearings, ball joints, and tierod ends. I usually don't recommend anyone to swap their wheels around [or add wheel spacers] because of the trade offs in handling. I just don't think it is worth it unless you drag race or race flat track with it. Just my opinion.

 

I flipped the fronts on my warrior. In the next three rides I had 2 bent and 1 broken tie rod end.
Then I went back to stock.