baffle repack

[Condor]

Anyone ever repacked their aftermarket exhausts? Specifically Bub's..., but I imagine they're all similar.. I picked up a set of Bub's from another member in the classy's. They were cheap and as described. The bodies are very nice, but the chrome tips are flaking chrome big time. They're now torn apart and sitting in the office. (see pics) [Gonna try to make a silk purse out of a sows ear here... ] The packing was gone other than a few tufts, and I'm not sure if the tufts are original material or?? I did find some universal fiberglass packing material at Cruiser Customizing that will probably work. The chromed tips look like they have corroded to the point that they will not come off the baffle flange. The tips are aluminum so I think it's probably galvanic corrosion. Any ideas on how to seperate them, or should I leave well enough alone and see if I can scrape the rest of the chrome off and polish or maybe paint??

[LilBeaver]

I have seen some that have scuffed the tips to smooth out the flaking chrome and then paint them flat black (just the tips). Normally I'm not a fan of flat black, but I thought on the pipes it looked pretty sharp.

And for a few bucks for a can of flat black (high-temp engine paint), you cant go wrong!

 

 

As far as repacking goes, I can't give any advice, but I am sure others will chime in soon enough.

[jrsc4excel]

I think if you take your time you could sand and polish those out. The fact that it will not come out might actually help you in that it will allow you to control the part better when sanding and polishing them. I have the LA chopper models and I repacked them with part no. 443494 from Dennis Kirk looking at the length of your baffles you might need to buy (4) of them though (2) for each side to have enough to cover. There are a bunch of videos on youtube that will show you how to do it. Otherwise just (firmly) wrap them (not tightly) with the packing material and secure it with masking tape or saftey wire. Wrap them with enough material to just allow you to slide them in to the pipe. You want it to be a firm fit to not allow to much exhaust to by-pass over the sides of the material or this will cause it to wear out guicker. Good Luck!!!

[Squidley]

Here you go Jack

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46275&highlight=Repacking+exhaust

[Condor]

Here you go Jack

 

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46275&highlight=Repacking+exhaust

 

 

That helped a bunch Brad... Imagine a member actually making a video....of Bubs!! I just got the tips to release their grip on the baffle. Lots of penetrating oil and a dead fall hammer. Bub is located just up the hill from me in Grass Valley. I called them, and apparently chrome pealing off the tips has been a problem. They are now going to a polished aluminum tip. Maybe I can shame them into doing something about these. They want $100 bucks a set, twice what other manufacturers charge. According to Mick these came off a 2006 Venture, so they're not that old. That flat black tip in the video looked OK, and with the black fins might look even better on my '99.

[Squidley]

Never a problem Jack, I have a set of Bubs that I traded Red Rider (Jeff) for the stock ones off the '99 project I have. I like the sound of the Bubs and wanted to try my hand at repacking them also. I will go with black tips on mine, looks like a set of Reiharts. Let us know how you make out with the factory

[hipshot]

jack.if it were me, and i REALLY wanted those tips off, i'd get them very hot with a heat gun.

after they are warmed up, stick 'em in a bucket of cool water.

do this a few times, and they should be a lot easier to remove.the water will have a sleight boiling effect, to help get the oxidation from around the tips.

 

or maybe not.

just jt:080402gudl_prv:

[Gary N.]

Jack,

I repacked my Bub's with some packing material I bought on e-bay. I put as much around the baffles as I could fit back in the can and they sound good. I put some HD fishtail tips on them to replace the bad originals. HD make a lot of different style tips that would probably work without a lot of work. I posted some pics a few years ago when I did it. I'm sure they're still on here somewhere if you're interested.

[Kirby]

I'm glad ya'll had this post. I'm gonna have to repack my RoadHouse mufflers in the no-to-distant future.

[Gary N.]

Here's the thread about installing the HD tips.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11648

[ablumny]

Imagine a member actually making a video....of Bubs!!

 

That was me. Yep those tips are a real pain to get off. I had to beat them hard with a rubber mallet. Sanded off all the remaining chrome, primer, high heat flat black and they looked great.

 

As far as re-packing. I first installed the Moose Products kit which included a screen that wraps the baffle before wrapping the fiberglass. I complained about the lack of reduced sounds. It was suggested to remove the screen and go with fiberglass only for which I did that. The grumble was much lower in tone. It was perfect; not ear piercing, not too soft. That lasted a month. I took them apart a third time to discover most of the packing had disinergrated already.

 

 

i went back to stock !

Good Luck

Andrew

[Condor]

The tips are off, and I found packing at Cruiser Customizing that looks like it'll work. The distence between the flanges is 17" and this stuff is 16" Close enough for government work. The tips are off. I'll let everyone know how it goes with Bub on Monday. I wonder what causes the chrome to flake off?? Expansion..contraction???

[Condor]

That was me. Yep those tips are a real pain to get off. I had to beat them hard with a rubber mallet. Sanded off all the remaining chrome, primer, high heat flat black and they looked great.

 

As far as re-packing. I first installed the Moose Products kit which included a screen that wraps the baffle before wrapping the fiberglass. I complained about the lack of reduced sounds. It was suggested to remove the screen and go with fiberglass only for which I did that. The grumble was much lower in tone. It was perfect; not ear piercing, not too soft. That lasted a month. I took them apart a third time to discover most of the packing had disinergrated already.

 

 

i went back to stock !

Good Luck

Andrew

 

Thanks for the video Andrew... Was that packing you used fiberglass?? I wonder what they use for auto glass paks??? I'm going to give the stuff from Cruiser Customizing a shot... However I'm not getting rid of the OEMs...

[ablumny]

Thanks for the video Andrew... Was that packing you used fiberglass?? I wonder what they use for auto glass paks??? I'm going to give the stuff from Cruiser Customizing a shot... However I'm not getting rid of the OEMs...

 

Yep fiberglass. The Moose kit comes with three materials, screen, fiberglass then some kind of outer heavier material. In the end I just used the fiberglass but for me, they are still too loud!

 

If possible it';d be great to hear your after you pack them them....

[Condor]

This whole project has been a real learning process. Here's a couple of sources for packing plus a nice write up on the how to's and why's.... After reading the how to I may root around to find better materials. I don't want to go thru this again for a long while.....

 

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/187/4059/ITEM/FMF-Four-Stroke-Premier-Multi-Layer-Silencer-Packing.aspx

 

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/187/4165/ITEM/Moose-Racing-Fiberglass-Muffler-Packing.aspx

 

http://www.motorcycle.in.th/article.php/About-Exhaust-Muffler-Packing-Materials

[First_N_Last]

I have BUBS

 

for me...

 

I drilled the rivets & removed my flaking tips - ground the chrome off - painted them with furnace black.

Then I removed all the disintegrating fiberglass & installed 8" universal baffles in them.

Reassembled them & 10,000 miles latter they sound just like they did when I first modified them & the black tips look great.

 

Johnb

[Condor]

Just a little update... The chrome that was starting to flake came off easily, but the stuff that wasn't flaking was a PITA. So I took the tips down to my local polishing shop to see they could do. The attached pics are the result. Still searching for some stainless wire. The packing's easy to find, but the screen is proving to be a challenge. Anyone know of a source?? Thought I'd check with a local food service equipment supplier.

[Freebird]

You know, when Bub's first starting making the mufflers for the RSV, they had polished aluminum tips. People complained and wanted chromed tips so they started doing them in chrome and then the peeling problem started. Those turned out nice.

[Condor]

You know, when Bub's first starting making the mufflers for the RSV, they had polished aluminum tips. People complained and wanted chromed tips so they started doing them in chrome and then the peeling problem started. Those turned out nice.

 

Yeah, I called Bub and they said they're going back to the polished aluminum because of the flaking. They quoted me $110 for new replacement polished tips. The buff cost me $40 bucks. I think I won one???

[hipshot]

they turned out really nice, Jack.

glad you found a "cheaper solution".

just jt

[eusa1]

i have the bubs on my 2nd 2003 venture and they have near 200k on them now. i went through 3 sets of the factory chrome tips from bub because they covered two sets and told me the 3rd set was "new and improved chrome"... so i bought them... well ..nope the chrome still sucked.

i took an old set of tips down to the local chrome shop and they told me the problem with the chrome peeling was due to the lack of a copper pre coating before the chrome plating....

so they machined the mounting surface down to a smaller diameter to allow for the extra layer of copper and tripple coating of chrome... and they have lasted a 2 seasons and still look great.

i have used the moose brand packing wrapped VERY tight !

in 2 layers (as thick as i could fit into the pipe)

and it last about 50k before it starts to get louder.

 

mike

[BradT]

The buff cost me $40 bucks. I think I won one???

 

Well worth 40 bucks. Nice job.

 

Brad

[Condor]

I'm coming down the home stretch. I have the Bub's completed and ready to be installed. I went with a stainless steel screen over the baffles and a ceramic instead of fiberglass packing over the screen. The ceramic/stainless screen combination sounds like it may solve the problem of the disappearing packing. There was just a few tuft's of the fiber glass left when I disassembled them. Before changing them out I plan on taking a video/sound bite of the OEM's with 47K on them, and then the Bub's for comparison. It's gonna be interesting.....

[Riderduke]

I'm coming down the home stretch. I have the Bub's completed and ready to be installed. I went with a stainless steel screen over the baffles and a ceramic instead of fiberglass packing over the screen. The ceramic/stainless screen combination sounds like it may solve the problem of the disappearing packing. There was just a few tuft's of the fiber glass left when I disassembled them. Before changing them out I plan on taking a video/sound bite of the OEM's with 47K on them, and then the Bub's for comparison. It's gonna be interesting.....

so where did you end up getting the materials?

[Condor]

so where did you end up getting the materials?

 

The screen came from http://www.mcmaster.com/

And the Ceramic packing I picked up off Ebay.

They would have cut it to size and sold direct, but I figured that what they had listed would work and went with the auction. It was a little thick at 1" but I found I could easily peal off about 1/4" to fit the baffle space.

The corroded tips were polished out by britex a local parts polishing shop. They also cleaned up the baffles of rust in their bead blaster.