Installed V&H today

[mikesth]

I think I know what causes the rear cylinder welding cracks. I found it very difficult to put the muffler on after loosly mounting the Rear header pipe. Struggled with it for an hour fileing the inside coupling of the muffler even though it felt smooth, then filed on the header and then lubed it with oil, then took the header off and tried to put it all together , then thread it in. No luck, I could never line up the muffler mounts back by the left bag. I think THAT is the binding that folks have experienced is because of this inability to fit correctly and it is forced...the solution, a hacksaw sawing 1" off the end of the header pipe and then file burrs - took all of 10 minutes to finish up.

I'm very pleased with the sound. I will break it in slowly as we are spending more timeteaching the wife to ride her new bike, but this was an easy one if I hadn't been so stubborn. If you encounter the same problem, it's a simple fix,,,

[vroc13091]

Congratulations on your new sound.

My solution:
Muffler expansion tool either at a muffler shop or a manual one from Harbor Freight. I expanded the muffler and it slid on and the muffler lined up with the rear bag bracket. No binding at the muffler where it clamps to the header pipe.

Still had five cracks in 90,000 miles though. The extra patch welded over the welded crack seems to be holding now (25,000 miles so far).

Harbor Freight Manual Pipe Expander

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=37352

[soldierboy3502]

Speaking of V&Hs, my 99 nad already had them on but I noticed that only one baffle was in the ppe while the other was not. I have the other baffle and can install it back in but since my scoot is scooterized, can I run the pipes without baffles? THe previous owner said no cuz I would need to get re-jetted. But then again, I've heard otherwise. Help?

I've heard of people cutting 1" off the pipes & evidently this works.

I did not, but I did taper the ends of the pipes with a little grinder & I removed projections of the seam welds inside the muffler inlets with a Dremmel MotoTool & little grinding stone.

My pipes had a significant burr all around the pipe ends, which (to make matters worse) was heavily chromed over. I did a set for my buddy & the seam welds inside the muffler inlets were really bad. We spent 15 minutes with a Dremmel just grinding those down.

I guess these pipes sell so well that Vance & Hines simply never bothered to do anything about this issue. I know many have complained of it.

[dogdoc]

had much trouble slidding both my V&H mufflers on too. Until I discovered the slagged weld inside the mufflers. Dremel tooled it down and greased the header pipe and slid right on. NO cracks here yet and hope none ever.