So I finally got fed up od my V&H "quiet" baffles not being quiet and decided to fit some Smartpartz Hard Kore baffles. I have an 06 FXDB and bought the V&H slip ons in 06 when they'd only just started making them which might explain some of the slight fitment issues I'm finding.

Anyway I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who's fitted these to this year of bike or come across the same issue.

I took out the V&H quiet baffle, drilled the hole to attach the Hard Kore baffle to it and reinserted the whole lot into the muffler. The HK baffle is the perfect diameter to slip neatly into the end of the muffler but when reinstalled it doesn't get as far as going into the end of the muffler meaning there's a gap all the way round. I will drill a new hole in the V&H baffle a little further along to make the fit tighter but it will still have a gap between the end of the muffler and the HK baffle and the HK baffle will not go all the way into the muffler. With the baffles assembled as they are currently (using the original hole in the muffler) the heat shield will extend beyond the end of the HK baffle so it will look ok when reassembled. But to me it would seem logical to drill a new mounting hole further away from the end of the muffler to attach the baffles so that both baffles slide in about another 3/4" and the HK baffle is completely inside the end of the muffler. This should force more of the exhaust gases through the HK baffle instead of coming out through the gap around it. This assumes that there's enough clearance inside the muffler to push it all in another 3/4".

Has anyone else come across this, and if so what did you do?

 

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I haven't installed them in mine, but when I was trying to quieten my exhaust last I looked at them fairly in depth. Do you have a pic of how they look attached to the baffle alone? From memory I believe they should be snugged all the way in which should cut that gap out?

Sorry, want to keep your thread alive, one more pic would help. On the other side I hope these work for you. I re-packed my quiet baffles with different packing, also added thunder torque inserts, it all helped but not enough for my tastes!

 

Here are some pics of what I mean. Seems like yours are not snugged up against the baffle end hence the gap and protrusion? Also, while you were in there, did you re-pack the cloth around the quiet baffle?

 

Thanks for the reply. The HK baffle did need to be snugged up to the V&H baffle and I did that. The main thing I was interested in was, even with the 2 nice and tight together the whole of the wider part of the HK baffle would still be hanging out of the end of the muffler although it would be inside the heat shield which is about 1.5" longer than the muffler.

Anyway I drilled a new hole so that the V&H muffler and the whole of the HK muffler were completely inside the muffler and it looks right now.

Just got it all back together and went for a ride. It definitely has a very different sound now but I'm not sure whether it's any quieter.

 

On the plus side, I have the first generation Fuelpak fitted which makes it pop and spit when decelerating but these baffles seem to have stopped that.

 

yeah, the install you did is the right way, guess you just needed to do what you did. I almost bought those then realized I would get the same effect with the TTI and if they didn't work could maybe sell them. I think the net effect is somewhat deeper in tone which bothers less but actual volume is maybe a couple db less. Couple that with the quiet baffle which also lowers by only a couple db's it doesn't make what I would consider an impactful difference.

You can also look into different packing materials for your baffle such as steel wool. I found that all of the above made a nice difference overall and I probably would have been happy including the ear plugs for wind noise and the exhaust but in the end I recently decided to change exhausts. Life is too short for me to be constantly annoyed by my exhaust lol!

 

I'm a bit like you in trying to quieten it a little without much success.

Previously I tried to make my own quiet baffle or db killer by inserting a 5" piece of generic drag pipe baffle inside the V&H quiet baffle. I used a sound meter phone app to see if it made any difference. Both the versions, with and without my home made baffle gave a reading of 95db from about 2' away. Today I used the phone app again with the HK baffles in and it reads 95db again. No idea whether it's just a useless app or they all give the same amount of noise.

Having said all that I don't find the noise offensive, just trying to stay the right side of the neighbours and the law.

 

Ha! Yep same here right around 95db. On the highway the wind drowns out much of the exhaust noise which is right below my ears. On normal roads it can get to me at times. I do like the tone and the rumble. Sometimes I hear other exhausts that seem even louder than me and I catch myself wondering what the heck is wrong with me, must be getting old or something. I'm looking forward to having better performance and reasonable sound volume with the new system but not as stoked on the appearance. The throwbacks that I have now aren't around my area much and I think they look great. Oh well.

Good luck hope you find the right mix!