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Aftermarket Mufflers

17425 Views 31 Replies 17 Participants Last post by  Retroben
First Of All, HELLO! This is my first post as I am a newbie. I am a newbie to the wonderful world of motorcycles as well. I decided after many years to finally take the steps toward being a safe and responsible motorcycle rider. Well, I may have gone about it all backwards but I bought the bike before the license! I do have my permit and am scheduled for the safety course so, it's all good. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I purchased a 1980 CX500 Custom with over 40,000 miles, yeah I know. Well, it is in better shape than you might expect. The biggest issue I am having right now is the mufflers have been horribly modifed or at least I think so! A previous owner decided to knock out the end baffle or cap and now it is wide open back there. This is of course affecting performance. It bogs down a little but mostly back fires. I have searched high and low on the net for a cheap fix to this problem bk I don't really want to refurb this bike or pay more for the pipes than I did the whole bike! What solution could be done to restore the mufflers to as close to original as possible w/o buying all new ones? Thanks!

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I never knew that Harley mufflers would fit these cycles! I must contact some dealers in my area! I guess they will know which will fit. But Harley dealers do not like Rice Burners in their lotss either!
I never knew that Harley mufflers would fit these cycles! I must contact some dealers in my area! I guess they will know which will fit. But Harley dealers do not like Rice Burners in their lotss either!


Most mufflers are the same size input. I think I remember it to be 1 7/8ths. I bet 90% of the harley mufflers will fit. As for rice in the lot only the insane ride into a pack of harleys. So jump on the bike and ride into the pile and show them you're crazy. Nobody will be giving you any crap.
Check with your friends who own hardley's and still have the original's...
I don't have any friends who ride Harleys. Outside the forum, I don't have too many friends who ride.



I do have a neighbor with a fatboy (I think.) I'll try to remember to ask him.



R
OK, so I got some HD Dyna mufflers, $10 on eBay ...awesome! Anyway, I had read previous forum from old site and thought it indicated these would bolt right up w/o modification. Well, the current hanger bracket definately will NOT mate up with the Dyna muffler. The Dyna muffler bracket is a good 3-4 inches further back than the stock. So, will need to get a bracket made. I don't currently know of anyone that could do this for me so, if any of you have made one and it works, please give me details on size and such of the bracket. I would really love to buy something if someone would be willing to make some for this purpose. Let me know.
You can use a universal muffler strap, like this one:



Chrome Strap



I used a piece of sheetrock strapping and painted it "chrome" to fit my soon to be ex aftermarket mufflers.
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So, the nightmare for the "easy" Harley muffler has begun. The fun started with trying to remove the OEM mufflers. They had become one with the H-Box! They were rusted tight and needed much persuasion and cursing to free them. As you can see after an hour or so I finally managed to get them free. Now, the dilema of fitting HUGE HD Dyna mufflers to a bike that was clearly never meant to handle such beasts. I know I am beating a dead horse here but I really need some input as to what in the heck to do with a bracket set-up. Please include any ideas and provide as much detail on material and configuration as possible, pics of your bike modified in a similar way would be great!



The OEM muffler had snapped off inside the H-box and I had to PB blast it to death and dig it out.

[attachment=267:OEM LH Muffler.jpg]



This was the fun one!

[attachment=268:OEM RH Muffler.jpg]



The bracket will need to be 7" to accomadate the Dyna bracket

[attachment=269:Side View New Muffler.jpg]



You can see the position of the muffler, not much clearance for nuts to the swing arm!

[attachment=270:Top View New Muffler.jpg]

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What I would do Zman is get a piece of probably 2 inch wide 1/8 inch flat bar & drill three holes in it.Two of which you will mount to the muffler slot one at one end of the slot & the other at the other end,try & use the full length of the slot.Then use the third hole to mount to the frame.distance for the holes well you will have to eyeball some of them but using three holes will give you the support you need.once you get everything the right length & holes drilled you can round of the corners & even paint it to look good.Hope this helps
Today I bought some Harley mufflers part number 65747-94 I believe of something they call a Dyna Lowrider.I removed my new aftermarket mufflers & removed the bushing & these pipes bolted right in with no problems.I used a little rtv around the inlet.

As for the difference well at idle they were just as noisey but a nicer deeper sound.Around town they were quiter I would say 20% quieter.At highway again a little better than before but not much.They are definitely built well though.I also have to say the Harley service/parts man was great.He went out of his way to help & even came outside to make sure they would work.Maybe I 've been wrong about these Harley guys.
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Today I bought some Harley mufflers part number 65747-94 I believe of something they call a Dyna Lowrider.I removed my new aftermarket mufflers & removed the bushing & these pipes bolted right in with no problems.I used a little rtv around the inlet.

As for the difference well at idle they were just as noisey but a nicer deeper sound.Around town they were quiter I would say 20% quieter.At highway again a little better than before but not much.They are definitely built well though.I also have to say the Harley service/parts man was great.He went out of his way to help & even came outside to make sure they would work.Maybe I 've been wrong about these Harley guys.


Yup.. the old school Harley dudes are dying away... Any product has the extreme loyalists...



I have a CX & Harley....My buddy is a Parts Managers at the Harley dealer & rides a Kawasaki !!! ( they do not pay well enough for him to buy one !! LOL )



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These should work !!

Replacement muffler generic jc whitney





Dont worry I have 54,000 on mine & the engine case has yet to be cracked open !! ( fingers crossed)...
Has anyone ever tried the Dunstall pipes that are in JC Whitney??? a buddy put them on his yam 650 street tracker and they really sound good!!
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First time ever messing with a MC exhaust.

Got H-D dyna lowrider mufflers '07 for $65 incl. shipping from that certain auction site. Like everybody else, I cursed getting the old ones off, but jiggling them does work - and it makes it easier if you remove the h-box chrome heat shields, loosen and move the muffler clamp out of the way, and chisel out what you can of the old asbestos ring, chances are you'll have to break it up anyway to get it out, and it doesn't make sense to reuse.



I fit the new ones up without sealing, tightened down the clamps. They look great, but the brackets are nowhere near where I need them to be. Bummer. So now I have to fashion something. The something can't be flat - it has to have a step in it. I'd really rather try to get the muffler mounts in toward the back wheel rather than sitting right on top, which I think is fugly.



Seems there were a few links to pics where people had fit up Harley mufflers to GL bikes. There's one old page ref'd above but the links are broken.



I did take it for a short ride with the new mufflers just hanging off the H-box clamps. Leaks a little
but sounds just awesome. I have to replace my H box anyway, and I have a nice one ready to go on, once I have everything else figured out.



Took it to a local custom bike shop (first time I was ever in one) the guy said he'd make my brackets, 2 hours labor, $150




I'm thinking maybe bolting (or better yet, welding) a flat L-shaped mending plate to the bracket on the muffler, then bending the other leg to reach the original bolt hole.



Once this gets done I'll post pics.
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