bluegoatwoods
Well-Known Member
A week or two back my daughter took my wife's bike for a ride. The total was about 20 miles. The bike made it almost home and she pedalled the rest of the way and said "Daddy, mom's bike quit running."
Turns out that a lot of stuff vibrated loose and fell off. Among the stuff that fell off was the guts of the muffler. It's somewhere in the grass along the side of the road and I'm not bothering to look for it. Maybe I should've. Mighta gotten lucky. But anyway I figured I'd just order a new one. But there is the time issue. Don't like waiting. And since I had nothing to lose I decided to try to do something with what's left of the muffler I still have.
One part of the fix will be a little hard to explain, but you'll get the idea I'm sure.
I'd upload photos, but my kids have destroyed my camera. (And this and that, but that's another story)
I went down to Lowe's and bought a muffler for a garden tractor. It's cylindrical, about 4 in. long and less than 2 in. wide. It mounts to the tractors exhaust by 3/4 in. pipe threads. Muffler has the female half of the threads. Also bought a pipe nipple, same size. Total cost was 5 bucks or so.
I took the exhaust assembly that came with the engine and cut off the muffler right at the top end. Where the bent tube enters the muffler.
I then put the nipple in a vise and made two length wise cuts with a sawzall about half-way. The cuts might be viewed as "X"-shaped. So one end of the nipple is now, in effect, four tabs. I bent these tabs out, slid in the exhaust tube from the kit and clamped these four tabs down around it. There was still gaps this way, so I sealed the gaps with exhaust system sealer.
The new muffler now threads onto the end of the nipple sticking out of the chrome.
And it is so loud that I don't think there's any difference between it and no muffler at all. So I pulled it off and stuffed some stainless-steel wool in it. Definitely a bit better. So I then stuffed in more steel wool to the point that blowing through it I can tell a definite difference in air flow.
Now the bike is just as quiet as with the stock muffler. It sounds just fine.
And this muffler has a narrower profile than the stock one. There is no clearance issue between this muffler and the pedal at all. Plenty of room.
I suppose I'll still order a new muffler. But now I can do it when I feel like it.
There's no big rush.
Turns out that a lot of stuff vibrated loose and fell off. Among the stuff that fell off was the guts of the muffler. It's somewhere in the grass along the side of the road and I'm not bothering to look for it. Maybe I should've. Mighta gotten lucky. But anyway I figured I'd just order a new one. But there is the time issue. Don't like waiting. And since I had nothing to lose I decided to try to do something with what's left of the muffler I still have.
One part of the fix will be a little hard to explain, but you'll get the idea I'm sure.
I'd upload photos, but my kids have destroyed my camera. (And this and that, but that's another story)
I went down to Lowe's and bought a muffler for a garden tractor. It's cylindrical, about 4 in. long and less than 2 in. wide. It mounts to the tractors exhaust by 3/4 in. pipe threads. Muffler has the female half of the threads. Also bought a pipe nipple, same size. Total cost was 5 bucks or so.
I took the exhaust assembly that came with the engine and cut off the muffler right at the top end. Where the bent tube enters the muffler.
I then put the nipple in a vise and made two length wise cuts with a sawzall about half-way. The cuts might be viewed as "X"-shaped. So one end of the nipple is now, in effect, four tabs. I bent these tabs out, slid in the exhaust tube from the kit and clamped these four tabs down around it. There was still gaps this way, so I sealed the gaps with exhaust system sealer.
The new muffler now threads onto the end of the nipple sticking out of the chrome.
And it is so loud that I don't think there's any difference between it and no muffler at all. So I pulled it off and stuffed some stainless-steel wool in it. Definitely a bit better. So I then stuffed in more steel wool to the point that blowing through it I can tell a definite difference in air flow.
Now the bike is just as quiet as with the stock muffler. It sounds just fine.
And this muffler has a narrower profile than the stock one. There is no clearance issue between this muffler and the pedal at all. Plenty of room.
I suppose I'll still order a new muffler. But now I can do it when I feel like it.
There's no big rush.
