De-baffle

[Jdawg8]

Finally....baffles out. Started between ten and eleven this morning. I took several breaks, for my sake as well as the exhausts. Baffles out at 5 p.m. I had the baffles "loose", if you can call it that....lol, the other night. Pulled on them with needle nose, vise grips, and channel locks, to no avail. Vise grip on baffle, another pair of grips on the grips that had the baffle, and hammer.......nothing.
Since I had the exhausts off of the bike, I would hold the pipe on the inlet and let the exhaust end hit the floor. Seemed like there may have been a little movement, but still pretty snug. I put the wooden plug back in and hammered it until it drove the baffle back in to the original position, and maybe a little further in. Dropped the baffled end back on the floor, and here it came. Pulled it our the rest of the way with the grips.
I would say to anybody doing the de-baffle job, after you drill through the weld, and the baffle doesn't want to slide out, put the wooden plug back in and drive it home with the hammer. It seemed to loosen it up. Not sure how it would work with exhaust still on the bike though.

[Loafer]

That's a good tip, thanks for sharing.

[Jdawg8]

I know there have been plenty of posts on the subject of the baffles. The baffles seem to pop right out in most of them. In order to possibly save others some time and frustration, I felt I would post my experience. Instead of tugging and pulling and wondering why the baffle won't come out, maybe a quick driving the baffle back into the exhaust with a hammer and the plug will help speed the process. Maybe I am posting the obvious, but I hope it helps another rider.

[schoeney]

I did mine while pipes still on bike. It was hard work but only for about 30 minutes. After I broke through the weld I grabbed baffle end with vice grips then put an adjustable wrench around the vise grips. Twisted until they broke free. I also pounded the vice grips (away from the bike) with a hammer a few times.

[Jdawg8]

I figured that I had it easy Schoeney, with the pipes off of the Nomad and in the vise. I, too, grabbed the end of the baffle and pounded away from the bike (same direction as if they were on the bike), and nothing. I couldn't twist them either. Again, I think it would have speeded things up if I would have tapped them towards the bike to help break the carbon or little bit of rust that may have been holding it in. Just happy to have it done. Now to get the bike back together and ride this summer and maybe paint next winter.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Getting a slide hammer from the parts store is the way to go. You put up a deposit and when you take it back you get your money back. After fighting with my baffles for several minutes went and got the slide hammer. They came right out after sliding the weight a couple of times.

[Top Cat]

Mine came out with very little problem.
I may have missed it jdawg, what year is your Nomad?

[Jdawg8]

I have a 2002 Tim. I know that had a lot to do with it as well. Ten years of carbon and 30k + miles. I don't blame them for not wanting to leave home....lol. Like I said a couple of times, I thought they would be easier to remove since I had them off of the bike. Time to get it back together. Just wish I wasn't working so many hours. Too tired to get with it when I get home, and there is always something else that needs to be done. Life.

[rolfe]

So anyway after looking at all the information out there about the De-Baffling. I went to the Depot and Picked up a short chair leg sawed it as a plug. Purchased the Bi-Metal Drill Bit.
Of course not telling my wife , out in the garage Drilling the likes out of the Tail pipes , Smoke and Metal Grinding, Stop and Go Drilling Binding. When all of a sudden my wife walks out into the Garage which is not attached to the house. In her Horror she's saying what in the world are you doing in a panicked voice. By this time the Smoke and Metal Smell is quite how should I say it overwhelming. I simple turned around and said Not To Worry Honey just working on the bike. She just didn't grasp the concept of De-baffling. this was about 2years ago.

[Jdawg8]

So it's been awhile since removing the baffles, and I really like the results. It has a nice tone without the obnoxiousness,(if thats a word), of so many bikes I have heard out there. Not so much noise that it gets annoying on a longer run. Just my humble opinion.

[fammdw]

I did mine last weekend. It was a pretty simple mod. I spent more time waiting for my two cordless drill batteries to recharge than the actual baffle removal. I'd say total time was around five minutes of drilling per side.

Right after the removal:



Painting the inner tubes with flat black high heat paint to cover the cut marks:



Finished job:



I'm actually quite happy with the sound I got out of this. I doubt I will bother with aftermarket pipes. I also cleaned the throttle body with Amsoil intake cleaner. Much better than Seafoam in my opinion. I didn't even have to scrub the tubes. The spray alone cleaned them perfectly. My performance has increased a great deal. Not sure if it was the intake cleaning, baffle removal or both.

Now if I can just squeak by with this rear tire for the rest of the summer, I'm going to put on some Avon Cobras next spring.

[Top Cat]

I don't know how many miles you put on in a season but from lookin at the tire in your pic it wouldn't last me more than a month.

[blowndodge]

thanks for throwing your 2 cents worth in Gene.........er.......Tim..

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by blowndodge

thanks for throwing your 2 cents worth in Gene.........er.......Tim..

Just trying to up my post count buddy.

[galax83061]

I swear those look the same as the Vaquero exhaust. I wonder if i used a bigger hole saw i could get some results. I already drilled inside the pipe through the 2 walls and its kinda louder but not much. Whats kinda funny is when I warm the bike up the exhaust gets louder.