So I get into the garage this morning and do a quick look around the bike. The left slip-on looked a little crooked, so I turn it and the muffler clamp was obviously not tight enough. I break out the socket and start cranking... Not getting tighter... Crank a little more... CRACK! [sm=headbang.gif] Fricken bolt breaks! POS stupid **** clamps! [sm=badbadbad.gif] I wasn't about to ride to work with a broken clamp, so here I am at work, pissed off and the weather is BEAUTIFUL today... Gonna be in the low 80's...

You buy a expensive bike and HD sells these POS clamps. Anyone got any good replacement clamp ideas????

 

That sucks. I'd blame the substandard hardware before the clamp. Can you remove the broken bolt and head to Home Depot and get a good stainless bolt?

At least your muffler bearings didn't go out! That's a real hassle.

 

I had sort of the same problem with my muffler clamps. It looks like you had SE slip ons installed. I had Rineharts put on before I picked it up at the dealer.
One of mine was also loose. The shop manual says to use new clamps each time you remove or istall a new exhaust muffler. If you had your work done at the dealer they may not have used new clamps.
They didn't use new one when they did mine.
I replaced both of my clamps and all was fine.

 

Ahhh, the old stainless steel bolt replacement routine, eh???? Good idea.


I replaced my muffler bearings last week, along with my piston retreat springs. [:-]

 

It is not the hardware,looking at my setup,when the clamps are continually over tightened the pipes get a little smaller each time.Eventually the slits in the end of the muffler come together making it impossible to ever get it to stay in place.Break out a hack saw and make the slits wider problem solved for a while.

 

Stainless boltswill take even less torque before they snap. Like BlueShift said the clamps need to be replaced after each use and torqued properly. The clamp itself stretches the first time it is used and after that no matter how tight you try to get the bolt the clamp will not hold properly..............BG

 

Good info guys. Sorry for the mis-info CK.

I haven't run exhaust that needed clamps for a while. [&:]

 

chuck...here's the fix....go to the local hardware or hydralic hose store....buy a T-BOLT clamp....it will not break....it does not have that worthless piece in the center.....chuck the stock ones.....use copperseal after cleaning the pipes and slip ons....tighten the snot out of it

 

Yep. They get hot, which makes them brittle. I got my replacement at Advance Auto Parts and it has lasted longer than the original. I keep switching mufflers between the stock ones and the ones I got off ebay and drilled out. Must have done the switch 10 times or more and at some point one of the original clamps popped.