Swingarm Bolt

[04exking]

Long story short the swing arm bolt seized up so we had to get it out. So after banging on it for hours we ended up using a grinder which then turned into a plasma cutter. I thought I'd show some picks to teach everybody a lesson... Grease your swing arm bolt periodically..
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[440challenger]

yup i used an acettlyn torch and an air chisel on that rat 400 i dragged home.

[Def-e-nition]

Oh Sh*t!! .............
Mine is On it's way , to have EXACTLY the same thing done ....

What annoys me profusely - is that I'd like to know why the desgners of said Bike Don't go ONTO any forums and read UP what has been experienced in the real world with these bikes ???...I mean - an up-date could then be initiated (unless I've not seen this section in the users manual) and this could become part of a tri-monthly Maintenance schedule ????

Baffling .
Instead- I have to wait for some guy like yourself to post pictures of thier bike- withSPARKS flying from weird angles off the bike -indicating " hey guys- check this !!-I'm sure this is going to happen to you too !!! " .

which it DID .....

C'maaaaannnnn !!!!!!
Lol

[Ruby Soho]

we grinded mine out with a grinder.

its still frozen in the case, we need to drill whats left out

[drew416ex]

Just put some anti-seize on it. Ive had mine in for 4 years and took it out the other day with my fingers.

[drew416ex]

By the way, I also had to cut mine out, but now that i have anti seize on it ther is no prob.

[limetimeracerII]

What most people don't understand is that these aren't cars. They're not driven on the street. You can't buy one, go dive into a mud hole and splash through a creek and pound on it for a couple months and then expect to change the oil and clean the air filter and it be in tip top shape again. These things need very regular maintaince and harder you ride the more you need to do and more often. This lesson has been taught I don't know how many times. Somebody posts that their swingarm bolt is stuck at least once a week.

What annoys me profusely - is that I'd like to know why the desgners of said Bike Don't go ONTO any forums and read UP what has been experienced in the real world with these bikes ???...I mean - an up-date could then be initiated (unless I've not seen this section in the users manual) and this could become part of a tri-monthly Maintenance schedule ???? I think the owners need to start reading and paying attention to these forums too.

[Ruby Soho]

i agree with what was recently said.

you cant ride the piss out of a quad and expect it to be like new. theres such a thing called maintenance, and maintenance is more than cleaning the filter and changing the oil. if i owned my 400ex since 1999 the pivot bolt would have been removed many times, but i bought it about a year ago so it was in there for 7 years w/o maintenance. **** happens if you don't take care of your stuff

[Def-e-nition]

Limietime - Ruby , - I agree to disagree.
You dont exactly remove the Diff on your car in your garage every 6000 miles .

Maintenance is maintenance - and What if you DONT go onto forums ? I am privileged enough to have internet access 24 hours a day - therefore I surf like mad . I have seen posts about the bolt , but until you've done it Once - removeing the Swing-arm for Many first-time owners is a Daunting task .
for the guys like yourselves its a piece of P!ss - to Others -not so .
having Access to this forum is an INvaluable tool , I have learnt SO much from it, it's scary .
to now say that I am a Banana for Not servicing my Bike is Incorrect . As one gets used to digging deeper and Deeper into the Mechanics of removing larger pieces from the frame , it gets easier to maintain .

with more than what? say- 200 000 of these bikes sold worldwide(a complete Guess) I'm not surprised that the forum is getting One post a week about swing-arms and such .
Its NOT up to the owners of Bikes to find out whats cutting and whats not regarding service .I would've appreciatted a prompt for the Manual . Nothing More , and I dont Think I'm wrong in asking that from Honda - thay have been producing this quad since 99 and make a frikkin Fortune out of them .
If the damn MANUAL stated something remotely hinting that "listen -this one s going to hurt you if you Dont do this " - It would have helped alot of these guys , much like myself , that are posting swing-arm problems .
Anyhow - we all learn the hard way , and None of us really Want to .

[400exrider707]

I dont know about you guys but no regular maintenance in the world will prevent those bolts from bending. Most of them get stuck because they are actually bent. I had this happen on my 400EX, but never took the bolt out, and it happened on my 450R, and I replaced it with a molycoated bolt. Sure some of them freeze and mine did as well, but after I got it spinning inside the cases, you could still see it visibly moving up and down because it was bent. If it's bent those spacers still dont slide off of there.

[Ruby Soho]

my quad is all apart right now, down the the bare frame, theres alot of things im going to fix on it cause the guy i bought it from was a dumbass, theres lots of things im going to take off for maintenance now that i never thought i would have before

[hondapwr46]

the other day, me and a buddy of mine went ridin. It was very wet, creeks, mud, everything. The next day, i pressure washed my fourwheeler. Then i noticed i needed swingarm bearings. So, while i'm tearing it down, i'm plannin on goin ahead and greazin the front wheel bearings and the rear axle bearings.

[Def-e-nition]

yip . I did the same to mine now .Fixed all the things i managed to dislocate during the seasons racing . I really drilled some parts ....

Painted the front and rear hubs because I polished them and they went even MORE dull instead of shining them up . Red . Only problem is that I reckon it's going to be a mission to keep them from that fresh stone-chipped look ...

Anyone got any hints on how I can cure front brake spongyiness ? I went onto those goldfren K5 jobs , and you reallly have to heat those suckers up to get em working.
While the bike is out of commission- figured i may asw ell ask about other things that are bothering me . Bleed brake fluid too ??

Guy is still fighting the losing battle with my Bolt . I have to chuckle - he was so cocksure of himself when i towed it in ... Who's laughing now ! lol
3 weeks from honda for a new one ... groan .

[Malcman]

Is there a run down on what parts to check on regular maintenance? I just picked up my 400ex and I don't have a sweet clue what to check on it. It'd be sweet if there was a sticky on all the stuff that should be checked and greased. I don't really know what the weak spots are on the 400's except for the cam chain stuff.

[Ruby Soho]

Well obviously, the pivot bolt is a problem. 400ex's aren't problem quads, just check everything, look for play in the a-arms, shocks, swingarm, axle etc.. go over everything and see whats wrong you know?

[Def-e-nition]

1) Swingarm Bolt .
2)Swingarm Bolt
3)Swingarm Bolt

ummmmm....

4) Obvious one would be Oil and oil FILTER -buy 3 of them and keep em at home . You cant do that one enough .
5) REGULARLY clean Air filter - then OIL said filter COPIOUSLY .Pour the oil into the filter on the inside -work it through the filter until you see most of the filter covered .
6)Steering head clamp , that clamps the Steering arm to the chassis . It's only 2 bolts , remove plastic bush -either replace or clean the old one.
7)Rear Brake Caliper- for some odd reason this thing likes to rust it's floating arms goodies nice and tight . I would remove it and check that all is ok . I removed park brake and put on tusk block off.(i wish it were like the Yzf 450's with the rotating lever on the clutch pot)
8)Spark plug - buy 3 of them and keep these at home .They rarely give trouble . I run a 9 instead of an 8 , i read up on that on the 'sparks site.Works fine .Done for a slightly lower engine temp. , I have experienced no noticeable loss in power .
9)Clutch cable and throttle pot .oil .
10)CHAIN . clean clean clean . check , and take up , any excessive slack. Mind that you dont damage the tensioner with too much force if you are running a 14/38 set up on a standard chain, it tends to be at it's very limit with this gearing.I didn't remove any links or anything .
11)Front sprocket - remove all the gunk from behind it.It builds up quick if you are using oil to lubricate the chain links .
Anyhow , thats about the ones I can think of that I tend to look at .
Others on here will have much more for you .
Did I mention the Swingarm bolt ? ......... Oh yes.

[Malcman]

Just what I was looking for, thanks dood ;)

[limetimeracerII]

I would check all your bearings on a regular basis. This is one area where people tend to ingnore or just don't relize how fast bearings can go bad especially if your in deep water or mud a lot. Also when you wash it with a pressure washer STAY AWAY from all bearings. All you're doing is blowing water and grit into them. IMO this is how half of peoples bearings go bad. Seals do a good job but can't stand up to the pressure washer.