| Author | Message | ||
     Rayycc1 |
I bought a spare muffler for my Ulysses..and did some research to find out what Special ops and Hawk mufflers looked like on the inside....then made my own version out of this spare. I know you're not supposed to reuse the front muffler clamp...so I got a new one of those also. The problem is...I have no idea how this new muffler is going to work.....so the question is....do I install this new clamp with the new muffler....or do I use the old clamp until I find out if the muffler will work and then change it? If I have to go back to stock...or buy another muffler....I wouldn't want to have to buy yet another $20 clamp.what would you guys do? | ||
| Hughlysses |
I've seen some people post that you can get away with re-using a front clamp if you're VERY careful to re-position EXACTLY where it was initially installed. You could always temporarily install some bailing wire or something similar as an "emergency backup" to hold the muffler up if the band fails. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I reused all the muffler clamps on my 06' ULY and on my son's 07'. I think the major thing with these clamps is that as soon as the bolts feel like all the play is closed on the muffler you should tighten NO more than one to one and a half more turns. More than that and you are probably over doing it. I've ridden my bike about 8,000 miles since having mine off and back on and they haven't broken. Two long trip for over 6,000 of those miles. As for putting them back in the same place, I think they automatically get pretty close because of how they are held by the brackets. I tightened the clamps with just the deep well socket and socket extension and without the ratchet. Turned it by hand like a screwdriver so that I could feel how tight they were getting. I didn't use a torque wrench on mine. Naturally you can do as you see fit but that is my experience with those straps. | ||
| Teeps |
The muffler on my '06 Ulysses has been off and on the bike at least 6 times. I have never replaced the torca clamp or the front strap. I did replace the 2 rear straps because I misread the torque spec and over torqued them. Note: over torquing the straps WILL CRUSH the muffler can... don't ask how I know. This is how I do it: 1. apply anti seize to collector. 2. support muffler on a jack and raise it into position, inserting the collector into the muffler. 3. make sure the muffler is seated against the muffler mounts. 4. install front and rear muffler straps and tighten them until snug. 5. lower and remove the jack. 6. shake the muffler and check for movement (should be little to none.) 7. finish torquing the straps The manual says: a. Install rear muffler straps and alternately tighten rear strap fasteners to 48-60 inch lbs. b. install new front muffler strap and fastener and tighten to 108-120 inch lbs. 8. torque the torca clamp bolt c. tighten torca clamp to 40-45 ft lbs. Note: torque specs above were taken from another post because I am too lazy to look them up. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/130789.html?1122819978 | ||
| Teeps |
Ray, There are other sources for muffler straps. http://www.deepblueyachtsupply.com/series.aspx?id= 127 | ||
| Dtaylor |
Any pictures of your muffler modification, Ray? | ||
| Rayycc1 |
I do have some pics but i'll have to find them....I decided to reuse the front clamp only long enough to establish if my muffler will work or not...and then i'll install the new one...as always...thanks for the replies....You guys ROCK!!!! | ||
| Callawegian |
I lost track of how many times my muffler has been off my 06 Uly. I removed the valve in my stock muffler and I am happy with the throaty sound but it is not bothersome at highway speeds. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I've reused that strap often successfully several times, so it can be reused. I've also had it break once after reusing, so the warning in the manual isn't just to drive revenue. So reuse while tuning and adjusting, but have a spare and tools with you on the bike in case the original breaks. | ||
| Al_lighton |
What Reep said... The cost of riding with the front strap broken for any length of time justifies replacing it each time. When that strap breaks, broken exhaust port studs, cracked headers and/or mufflers aren't far behind. I've seen it a BUNCH of times. But that said, back to the OP's question, would I temporarily use on for a test like he's proposing? Sure...But I'd sure be keeping a close eye on it. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Anything can break especially if installed incorrectly, I imagine even a brand new strap. | ||
| Buellhusker |
I was on a trip from Nebraska to key West FL and had the front strap break somewhere between Kansas City & Joplin MO and I could not find the correct strap in Joplin so I put on two regular screw type clamps one on top of the other and I checked them for tightness several times on the trip and they were OK while riding on down to Key west FL then up to Daytona for the bike races and then on home to Nebraska where I then installed the proper clamp. This was a 14 day trip, with 13 of those days riding with double screw type hose clamps holding the front of the muffler and suffering no bad after effects. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Midwestern ingenuity at it's best. | ||
| Al_lighton |
This is as good as any other place to bring this up.... The Socket Head cap screw that goes through the shoe that the front clamp clamps to has a "castle" type lock nut on it. Though the service manual doesn't say anything about using Anti-seize (not loctite) on it, I HIGHLY recommend using anti-seize on it. And think about replacing that bolt every now and again. I've seen a lot of fatigue failures on that bolt. And I think one root cause of that is that when that nut is first installed, it starts to "cold weld" onto the bolt just before the bolt gets tight. The last little bit of tightening on that bolt just about destroys the fatigue life on that bolt if no anti-seize is used. I've seen that bolt break on a number of bikes before, even on bikes that have never had the muffler/exhaust system serviced. And like the front clamp breakage, once it happens, bad things occur (i.e., studs break, headers break, mufflers break, etc.). That bolt and the clamp are one of the pre-flight checks on an XB as far as I'm concerned. It's pretty much impossible to install that front clamp without removing that bolt, because the clamp won't fit through without the shoe being pushed down a bit from the bottom of the engine. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Thanks for that tip Al!!!!! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Aha! Great advice! I can back you up on this one. My XB9SX had an exhaust stud shear. It didn't take me long to trace it back to that missing bolt that holds that top shoe to the engine case. I was beating myself up assuming there was no way that bolt could have come off unless I forgot to put the nut back on. But having been on the pointy end of the stick with a broken exhaust header on the M2, I am beyond just careful when meddling in the affairs of a Buell exhaust. I double and triple check everything. I couldn't understand how I possibly could have forgotten to put on that nut. I bet I didn't. I bet it broke. When that front exhaust strap goes, it's immediately obvious (it was to me anyway). It started making a racket. But when that shoe goes, you don't hear anything until the stud breaks. So a great warning.... | ||
| Poppinsexz |
FYI, I reused one once. of course it broke and I was at work 20 miles from home when I found out. multiple hose clamps worked as a patch till home. | ||
| Al_lighton |
We had one local customer that had his mechanic replace that front strap 3 times, and it broke each time relatively quickly. I had him bring me the bike to install the 4th one, and it became obvious that they were only replacing the strap each time. The muffler was cocked ever so slightly, front to rear. It's very critical that everything is aligned squarely when it all gets tightened. Two things that help quite a bit: 1) The muffler/header joint can be a bit of a bitch to get fully seated sometimes. It's a real good idea to use a dremel and radius the sharp corner of the header end and muffler end a little. 2) clean both the outer surface of the header and the inner surface of the muffler at that joint, and put a light smear of anti-seize on the inner surface of the muffler. It'll stink a little when it first gets hot, but goes away fast. Those two things really help to get the header/muffler joint fully seated, which is needed for the muffler to sit square against the shoe. Also, it's not a bad idea to slightly radius the corner of the shoe where the clamp breaks over the edge. If that edge is too sharp, it contributes to breakage. If a strap is reused, it's critical to make sure that slight kink in the strap is re-aligned with that shoe edge. The manual says to not re-use the Torca clamp that clamps the muffler to the header, but I'm not sure why. I've never seen a torca clamp failure and I always re-use that clamp. But I always replace the front strap. | ||
| Callawegian |
I have like designers built it, used the muffler as a jacking point and put the muffler in place by jacking it up into the mounts. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I always use the never-seize slathered on the mating muffler and header and then force-ably twist the muffler onto the header as far as it will go before tightening the Torca clamp a bit. Then I do the straps and finally tighten the Torca up to spec. I've so far had no strap failures and have all original straps on my 47,000+ 2006 ULY. I imagine if you tighten those straps up too much they will stretch and become brittle and then likely pop from vibration. |
