Muffler broke in half while riding on flat road

GoldenMotor.com

Ruby478

Member
Apr 2, 2011
218
7
18
Dallas,Tx
weak welds thats all cause my muffler isn't strapped in place and ive never had a problem with it, i leave mine like this on all my bikes and no problems ever............. next time just inspect the welds
 

killercanuck

New Member
Dec 17, 2009
1,748
6
0
47
Wallaceburg ON
Brutal geoldr, I'll bet the neighbors love you now :p

I finally used my bracket, once I figured out you need to bend the middle of it when its mounted on the exhaust. Mine has almost 90 degree bend. I always thought "This's too long, I'm not using it..." lol.
 

Ruby478

Member
Apr 2, 2011
218
7
18
Dallas,Tx
my kits never came with any muffler mounting rings so i do without ...... but if you wanna be safe, then i guess use them
 

DuctTapedGoat

Active Member
Dec 20, 2010
1,179
10
38
38
Nampa Idaho
Use p tape to affix it.

Looks like you had a pretty bad exhaust manifold leak - would that be a more severe source of excess vibration leading to what happened here?
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
20
38
N.M.
A rattling muffler contributes to uneven cylinder wear and the cylinder head bolts loosening up. That muffler can resonate a vibration that can be felt through the bike. Just rev one of these motors up a good rap with the clutch disengaged standing by the bike and watch one of these mufflers rattle. They move a lot!
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
59
Moosylvania
Wow, first time I have seen one completely fall off at the top weld. Normally, the guts just fall out on mine, lol

Gives ya a chance to make it a poo-poo.

Every one is right. The muffler wiggling around does add an amazing amount of vibration. Put your foot on it at WOT. The thing is doing the shake down boogie as ya ride!
 

Helen Weals

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
11
0
0
penns woods
Was it made in china? just kidding, I think most members will agree vibration is a problem. anything hanging needs support also all bolts should be locktighted or double nutted
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Unless I'm wrong it looks like you have some kind of rubber under that rear engine mount. If so that's another reason you vibrated the muffler apart. Couple a questionable weld with severe vibration from an improperly mounted engine and you're asking for trouble. Mount the engine solid to the frame and fabricate a muffler clamp of some sort.
I agree also that it appears you have an exhaust leak at the cylinder. If that manifold was loose that certainly contributed to the failure.
Good luck. Keep us informed.
Tom
 

biknut

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2010
6,632
411
83
Dallas
You can cut down on that a lot by not reving it to eighthundredthousandmillion rpm all the time too.
 

geoldr

New Member
Jun 19, 2011
260
0
0
California
Ok, the red stuff on the exhaust is a high temperature sealant that I use with this aluminum gasket that I have. Because the part that connects to the motor wasnt flat, I had to use this sealant to seal it up. Although I think it wasn't fully sealed, because at very high revs, sometimes hot liquids would hit my leg. Only happened like once, but that's prolly because it was vibrating so much. What can I do to fix this?

I ordered a new black muffler for 20 bucks.

"exhaust leak at the cylinder" what exactly does that mean? That it wasn't sealed on right?

And on the actual motor mount, there is no rubber. It's attached directly to the frame of the bike.
 

geoldr

New Member
Jun 19, 2011
260
0
0
California
Attached is the other stuff I have in my kit. There was something else, it was probably the muffler strap thing, but I have no idea where it is :(

I also don't know what to do with these two things either. Never used them during setup.

How can I go about fabricating a muffler strap?

Also, when I was taking off the broken muffler piece, one of the things that holds the bolt unscrewed. Can I just screw it back in with some locktite? Or is it broken?
 

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biknut

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2010
6,632
411
83
Dallas
The exhaust header pipe has a nasty habit of loosening up from where it's bolted to the head, especially after it's been run a while the first time. Some types of exhaust gaskets are worse about it than others, but in almost every case you have to retorque the exhaust bolts at least once. Head bolts too.
 

geoldr

New Member
Jun 19, 2011
260
0
0
California
The exhaust header pipe has a nasty habit of loosening up from where it's bolted to the head, especially after it's been run a while the first time. Some types of exhaust gaskets are worse about it than others, but in almost every case you have to retorque the exhaust bolts at least once. Head bolts too.
Where are the head bolts located? From the top of the engine?