Steering stem/steering shaft HELP

[nky400]

This past Saturday, the old 400 hooked up on a steep hill. I did everything I could to keep the front end down, but it just kept coming up. Anyway, I bailed and rolled down the hill about 100 feet and saw my quad doing kart wheels down the hill toward me. It finally stopped on its lid pinned against a tree. The handlebars took a good beating and are pretty much junk. How do I know if the steering assembly is bent? I can't really tell by looking at it, and the plastic is shifted making it look like it is out of line. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[KY Woods Rider]

Other than the obvious looking for bends, cracks, and twists, probably the best way to tell is to just buy a new set of bars and bolt them on. After you get them on, get the front tires of the quad completely straight and get back and look at the bars. If one side of the bars is higher than the other or the bars are turned to one side when the tires are straight, then the stem is bent. While you're at it, check the tie rods for any obvious bends and make sure that both front tires are even (both point in the same direction, not one straight and one off to the side).

If it's a stock stem and it flipped like you said...i don't need to see it....It's bent and you might wanna look for a new one....:(

[nky400]

KY woods... the tie rods are straight, which surprised me and everything else appears to be ok... I guess i'll buy another set of bars and see if everything lines up. Hopefully the stem is ok, but if Rico thinks it is bent, it probably is. Thanks for your help, I'll keep you posted.

[KY Woods Rider]

Yeah, the stock stems are pretty easy to bend and most hard crashes will tweak them pretty good, but I have seen a couple guys get lucky and just bend the bars.