Bent axle question

[73watermutt]

I just noticed that my axle is slightly bent on the left side. Will it hurt anything to ride it like that or should I get it replaced before I ride again?

[Scro]

Over time, it could wear your bearings out prematurely on that side. I've rode with a bent axle for a couple months, but I couldn't tell it until I was on a smooth surface. I couldn't tell a difference in the woods.

[deathman53]

Every axle gets bent somewhat. All of my atv's have slightly bent axles. It used to bother me and I bought new axles, same thing happened to them within several months. Just keep riding it, you will feel it when its too bad to ride. Go to almost every mx track, 1\2 - 3\4 of the people have slighty bent axles, wheather they know it or not.

[8my_Cash]

I agree with deathman, Im on axle #3, hahaha they just dont make them strong anymore. But anyway the only damage would be to the bearing but over a long amount of time.

And it all depends on the bend, I mean if its bad it will create damage over a shorter time period. But a slight bend is just normal on a quad, something has to give when you land a little of chamber. :cool:

[RyanWsly]

Just had to do this the other day on my 450r stock axle, got it good enough you don't notice it on roads anymore, ghetto way to fix it is pull it out, pull the bearing carrier, mount it in a vice, put a hammer beside it, spin it and find the bent spot, mark it and prop the axle on something solid, anvil, RR iron and beat on it with a sledge till it turns fairly true again, don't know how bad your bend is but doing this may get you by till you can buy another. You can also take it to a machine shop and they should be able to true it up well enough to ride on. Makes bearings fail and is very annoying when you have a decent bend.

[Simon MX49]

agreed on the MX track, go to a track with a cement starting pad, and watch the guys do their burnouts and you'll see a definite wobble in their wheels, probably 3/4 of the quads on the gate will have the wobble