weed eater muffler mods

comfortableshoes

comfortableshoes

New Member
anyone done any mods on weedeater mufflers? Mine is loud as heck and I'm going deaf riding it. I'd like to mod it and I have a few ideas that would use some plumbing pipe pieces. The big issue is that on the Craftsman 32cc whacker the muffler is held on with 2 little but strong springs so anything I put on it has to use that to hold it on...

At this point I think anything would be better than the stock muffler on the thing.

I want to take the bike out for a ride but I've seen a few cops go by today and I'm afraid of getting pulled over.
 
The only mod I did was to drill five big holes in mine, now that is loud...

Now my chainsaw bike is very quiet but not as peppy as the weed eater.
 
pipes aren't the right fit.... Had the thing going like a bat out of you know where today, no pedaling and 15mph on a flat, then the allthread holding the spindle to the engine sheared off, leaving a chunk in the clutch and a chunk in the spindle.

sun of a beach

I've been working on it since it happened and it didn't look good for the clutch. The chunk of allthread left in it didn't want to come out, so I tried my extractor set... YEah right, that worked worth a turd. That broke off in the hole.

Then I've broken 5 drill bits off in that tiny little hole.

So I figured what the fudge, I'll cut the shaft below that little bit of extractor and see what happens.

So far so good. Now I just need to go buy another couple of drill bits.

I haven't cursed so much in a long time. Funny thing is that the piece of all thread in the other half of the set came right out! Slick like too...

This time around I'm buying a nice hardened steel bolt and cutting the head off it to use in the drive.

It was quite the thing to hit 15mph without touching the pedals!

HEre's to hoping nothing else is wrong!
 
I had always heard that the clutch bell on a weed whacker was too flimsy for a drive but some guys use them I think.

What kind of engine are you running?????
 
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32cc craftsman I got it for free off craiglist and it looks to be aboud 15 or so years old, looks a lot like one of the first ones my grandfather had.

So far the clutch itself has held up just fine, had enough oomph to shear off the 1/4 all thread I used to attach the spindle to the clutch.

After that sheared off I broke off a screw extractor trying to pull that out.

THen I figured I'd trim the shaft a little, that got the extractor out but it fouled up other thing.

So now the clutch bell is fubar and I pulled the clutch itself off and now I need to hing the whole darn thing and get it to work without the clutch.

I really liked the clutch. I found the part on a website and it'll cost me $25 to get a new one... MOre than I have in this whole project so far. I'm debating it.

I just found 3 weed wackers on craigslist in the $10-25 range. I'll be calling tomorrow.
 
I'm glad to hear your clutch is working why not just go with the gravity clutch it is pretty simple. However I can understand wanting to use the centrifugal clutch and keep the recoil starter as well.
 
On my Ryobi 31cc there are 4 holes where the weed eater pipe shaft connected to. I would guess that these supports ar very strong? I mean it held up the pipe with some extra stuff that I added before I wanted to mount it on a bike.

I have also learned that that would be a great place to connect to. The plastic housing is strong so i think it will support the weed eater motor.

I havent done anything to my bike yet except think of how to connect everything.
 
I used the 4 holes around my clutch bell as a way to mount as well, it worked really well, little vibration and held it very well. I cut a little of the plastic for my braces to fit well and it was still a tight mount. Even without the clutch bell those 4 holes are there and they hold on the pull start, I'm thinking of trying it out with a gravity clutch. it will be SUPER easy to mount up without the clutch. I need to find some brake handles to use for the gravity clutch. I figure all I need it a 1/2 to 1 inch lift off the back tire, and most brake levers will easily give me that much throw.

I wonder if the housing gives a little vibration dampening?

After work today I'm picking up another weedwacker, this one's only $20 and tomorrow I'm picking up another more upright bike that I'm going mess around with.
 
On a rear mount (chainsaw bike) I had to use a lever for the clutch. Just a piece of the shaft bolted on bottom of the motor to lift it up, Used the cable to pull the lever down and lift the engine. It works very well to be honest.
 
comfortableshoes said:
I used the 4 holes around my clutch bell as a way to mount as well, it worked really well, little vibration and held it very well. I cut a little of the plastic for my braces to fit well and it was still a tight mount. Even without the clutch bell those 4 holes are there and they hold on the pull start, I'm thinking of trying it out with a gravity clutch. it will be SUPER easy to mount up without the clutch. I need to find some brake handles to use for the gravity clutch. I figure all I need it a 1/2 to 1 inch lift off the back tire, and most brake levers will easily give me that much throw.

I wonder if the housing gives a little vibration dampening?

After work today I'm picking up another weedwacker, this one's only $20 and tomorrow I'm picking up another more upright bike that I'm going mess around with.
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So the 4 plastic holes will hold the engine? If so, great.

That probably going to be my method of attachting the engine.
 
I don't know I always mount mine directly to the cast alum behind the drive shaft. Seems like these guys have had good luck but I have even vibrated the cast alum apart. I am waiting to see how it goes.
 
holds it no problem, if you think about it, during use that engine is mounted to the shaft via those 4 holes, not quite as much bumping up and down as on a bike, but made to hold it through use.

I wish I still could use the craftsman clutch as it was tough as nails the new ryobi I got today, the bell was junk!
 
I snagged a 31cc ryobi weed wacker of c-list for $20 today. Seems the kid is/was clearing out a retired neighbor's landscaping shed, It's in great shape. I'll be tuning it up.

Here are some pics of my mount, they aren't very good, but it was rigid and held the shaft to the tire well. I think that a mount with a little more give mightbe better, I fully think that the reason the allthread sheared off was because I went over a speed bump to fast and hard.

I made up some plans, sketches, rough,of my idea for a new mounting system. I picked ideas from here and there to make it, I like to think of it as the best of the easy. I'll get build pics as I go along this time.

I put a few pictures as attachments, but you can see more of the rougher looking build on my flicker account here

^5
 

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well it looks a lot different than mine but then if it works, it is probably better than mine. Let me know how it does.

And yeah all the clutch bells I have seen were pretty much junk. Still I haven't seen them all by any means.

the only big advantage I see to your use of the front cover is the recoil starter stays on. I use the pull rope from it so there is a little less convenience with the mounts I make.

However the clutch would be a significant difference. And here it wouldn't be a speed bump but it would be a manhole cover. I hit one going to fast and thought I was going to get separated from the bike.

After I get this demo bike finished, I'm going to find me a 31cc on craigs list. I have a complete 31cc with a busted up case and the flywheel is off but I can make a used 31cc run with the carb so all is not lost. I would like to use it on the best of my bikes so that I have one really dependable 'WW' bike. I am about at the point of getting rid of my china bike. I hardly use it at all and the 31 bolens i had would pull any hill the china bike would just a mite slower which is okay with me.
 
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The craftsman clutch is the only one I would use for this- it was an OLD WW. I think that if you want to use the clutch your gonna need an OLD WW. I'm looking for another older looking craftsman to use for parts.

I've decided that I'm going to build one of these for my brother for Christmas. I think he'll like it and use it around town. He lives in a safer more bike friendly city than I do, so he'll love it I Think.

I'm modifying my design and going with some of yours and some of what I saw in other pictures. I'll be using a hinge as well as springs to get the tension. I like your design, a lot. It works and you get more oomph from the engine than I did with mine. I do think that if I could get another stock craftsman clutch- cheap I'd go for it.

I'll get some images of my design this afternoon at work. Their scanner can scan all at once and do a PDF. I'll clean it up and put it online so it can be downloaded.
 
I would like to use the bell on my ryobi, but its junk. I wonder if I could make one from a piece of metal pipe?

As for mounting I have alot of ideas. That engine hanging over the side is just not for me, I would like a in frame mount. I just have to figure out how to do that.

Deacon, How did you get the flywheel off a ryobi? I want to mod my engine to suit my needs.
 
you'll need a jack shaft to frame mount a WW. check out DavidsFarm on youtube he has an excellent youtube video of his and how he made it. He has little 20in tires on a BMX so if your using a 26 in tire you'll need to modify the ratio, but it should essentially be the same.
 
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Ranger said:
I would like to use the bell on my ryobi, but its junk. I wonder if I could make one from a piece of metal pipe?
Deacon, How did you get the flywheel off a ryobi? I want to mod my engine to suit my needs.
Click to expand...

I agree the ryobi clutch bell is junk, looks like a tin can. Inside the shaft there is a torx screw. you'll have to stop the rotation of the engine to get it out. I shoved a screwdriver between the fins and was careful.(^)

Which ryobi do you have. I snagged a 790r. It seems tough as heck.
 
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