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400ex, what to watch out for?
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Posted by: Antifaith

I bought a 2001 400ex last year and been running it for about a year. When i bought it i did not know much about mechanic in general and as i learned more and more, i found out that the previous owner did a poor job with the maintenance aspect. In fact, it looks like he did NOTHING besides oil change.

I had to change the carrier bearrings( not sure that's the right term in english, sorry.. they're in the back of the bike) because they were litteraly torn to shreds and made a terrible noise everytime i turned while riding. Every single bolt was seized and it was a very unpleasant experience and I'm hoping that you guys could give me a quick list of things to look out for on a 400ex to prevent this kind of stuff from happening again.

I was also wondering what parts of the bike should be regularly greased, and which grease should be used for each part, because right now everything seems to be totally dry becaused of repeated pressure wash from the previous owner.

Thanks a million for any help provided! And yes, i did do a forum search but i don't really know what i should be looking for in the first place.

Posted by: Rip_Tear

I'd suggest getting a service manual and taking the whole ATV part to check and grease things. Another problem area is the swingarm pivot bolt, try taking it out... A-arm bearings need to be repacked with grease... steering stem needs grease too, there's a lot of things...

Posted by: Antifaith

I can find all that in a service manual? Do i need to see my local dealer to get one of those?

Posted by: MixMasterMike

buy one on a cd off ebay for like $7 or a printed one for like $30 n ebay. your dealer is gonna charge you like $60

Posted by: JOEX

A Clymer repair manual should be about $25, that's what I use.

A Honda repair manual runs about $40-50 I think.

Be careful with the cd's some are just the schematics, then there's the copyright issues to think about....

Posted by: Travis712

I'd spring for the honda manuals. There simply the best of the best.

Posted by: Antifaith

Ordered one from ebay, thanks for the pointer guys.

Posted by: 400exx

a manual is like 30...and they have the list of mantenace checks to look for...hte main thing i would be lookin at is the air filter, the oil...the back bearings and the greas in the a arms or they are gonna spueak on jumps...good luck bud, im hungry so im gonna go eat....peace

Posted by: Travis712

old thread dude.