The travel on the 400ex shocks are definitely longer stroke than the cannondale shocks. I can't remember if its 1/4" or 3/4". I'm not sure if that would cause that problem.
i dont know what differences in set ups are but i have 400ex plus 2 arms and spindles on mine and the tie rods DO NOT bind against the frame,not even close.Now this set up may not be perfect but for trail riding and a bit of local racing ,cant beat it.The fact that i already had the arms from my 400ex made it a even better option.So based on my experience and not heresay,400ex arms will work on a 2001 fx400,oh and i run the yfz450 shocks as well,they work better than the honda 450r shocks imo
Some of the other vets on this forum can help me out with this but maybe there were different tie rod tabs on the steering stems. I know there were a couple different stems.
3 versions of stems.2 later ones they lowered the tab and also moved the holes to slow steering down.Last one they also changed the bar mount to be in line.I also remember my tierod ends nicking the frame on downtravel on original early stem and speed shocks.It isnt much and only happens when landing and turning at same time.
Well then maybe that is it then. If they longer stroke of the 400ex shock allows more compression, it would make sense for the rods to hit the frame with the older stem. Question is, which stem does 2000ex have? Well?
See the problem occured because Cannondale changed the tierods and the ends from a very small joint to the huge trucklike ends we have now.I have been trying to get ahold of some of the originals.I know shop I worked at had boxes of them we had to switch over.I cant seem to find them though.
well mine has the original stem i guess because when it was stock it had what appeared to be "twitchy" steering,no such thing now with the 400ex/yz450 front end.I would race it in a heart beat...if i had time