VANCE & HINES QUIET BAFFLE FIX
I have V&H Long Shots on my 07 Heritage. I wanted to quiet the exhaust down some so I bought the V&H Quiet Baffles. They did drop the noise level about 2 Db and lowered the pitch of exhaust sound some as well. While quieter and smoother in 5th and 6th gear, they still had that annoying mid-range snare drum hammering sound at lower speeds in 3rd and 4th gear. After trying every kind of homemade lollipop contraption know to man, the real fix was stupid easy. I bought on Ebay a pair of 2x4 drag pipe mini-baffles for $10 with free shipping.. The V&H pipes are 2.1/4 inches, the mini-baffles are 2 inches. leaving the Quiet Baffles in, I mounted the mini baffles using the end cap screw to secure them in place. It was a perfect fit, took 2 minutes to install. Now the low speed mid-range hammering is gone, the excessive exhaust scavenging crackle and pop from the Screaming Eagle Stage One download is 95% eliminated, the lurch between gears at lower speeds is gone, and the bike starts on first fire up so you won't burn up your starter. Smooth to ride and shift, nice and quiet, more like stock and I didn't have to replace the exhaust. In retrospect, I bet I could have left the stock V&H baffles in and with the mini baffles in place and I'm sure it would sound awesome. And at $10 a pop for the pair, you could cut down or bend the baffle teeth to suit your sound needs. Cheap and it really works !

 

When you say, 'after trying every kind of homemade lollipop contraption know to man', did you try the DK Custom Products Thunder Torque Inserts?

The TTI's are a patented design that increase exhaust gas velocity and scavenging improving the low and mid range performance and smoothing throttle response along with helping prevent reversion of fresh air back in the exhaust system. The Thunder Torque Inserts will deepen the tone of the pipes removing the bright raspy overtones.

You can use the TTI's with baffles out or baffles installed; baffles in and a TTI installed will improve performance and quiet the exhaust. Baffles out and TTI's installed will provide more of a performance increase and a deeper tone to the pipes. The TTI's are available in both a 'W' model and a 'Q' model.

With baffles and the 'Q' model installed you will get less sound volume especially at cruising RPM and under throttle, the 'W' model will generally give a bit deeper and louder sound all the way through the RPM range and under throttle. The 'W' model will give a bit better increase in torque than the 'Q' model as well.

Thunder Torque Inserts come in 3 sizes, you can see fitment information HERE

This video gives a comparison of the tonal differences with the TTI's on the V&H Short Shots:

 

Nice write-up! It should be noted that this job is a bit more difficult with pipes that have been run for a while and are all carboned up. You'll need a significantly stronger hook than what is pictured. I broke 2.... Did mine on the bike, don't see it as much harder that way, certainly not enough harder to justify pulling the pipes.

Another tip; if you're having trouble getting the quiet baffles in due to the fiberglass, get a little package tape and tighten up the wrap a bit. The tape will burn off quickly.

 

I got a used 2013 Sportster 72 last month. It came with short shots, quiet baffles, and hard kore quiet baffle inserts. The bike seemed very quiet.

I took the baffle inserts out and it didn't get that much louder. The bike came with the original baffles so I put them back in.

I think it sounds great. It's loud but not earsplitting. My neighborhood ran over to say "You fixed your pipes!" He liked them.

I wouldn't mind if the tone was deeper. I was stopped in traffic on a bridge and the exhaust bouncing off a concrete barrier sounded really bad ***.

I'm happy with the short shots as is. Plus I could use a stock program on the Dynojet Power Vision I got. I had been trying to autotune to the bike with the quiet baffles and making little progress.

 

I ended up with Big City Thunder baffles in mine. Removed the 'tinny' sound that the stock and quiet baffles had.

 

I've read a lot of good reviews about those. Did they reduce the volume? I like the volume right where it is, but if I got a deeper sound that would be nice.

 

No, volume about the same, maybe a tad louder. Hard to be sure, real close.

 

DK Custom Products Thunder Torque Inserts will give you what you're looking for; improved low and mid range torque and they will deepen the tone of the Short Shots. That bright raspy overtone is removed and the pipes will have a deeper resonance to them Run them with W158's and baffles removed.

Check out the video I posted earlier in this thread.

 

I swapped the stock baffles for the quiet ones in my Short Shots too. Did it on the bike, wasn't bad.

Removal:
Removed heat shield, used a pair of needle nose pliers. I put the pliers IN the end of the exhaust (after removing the set screws) opened them and used the handles to turn and pull - came right out super easy.

Install of quiet:
I used some twine (like kite string) to wrap the fiberglass tightly around the quiet baffles prior to install. They slide in pretty easy. Used the needle nose pliers again to spin and line up the set screw hole.

Very happy with the new sound. With the stock baffles my right ear would be ringing even after a short ride (AND I wear a full face helmet). With the quiet baffles, it's a lower tone, and the ringing stopped.

It's only a few decibels difference, but if I'm not mistaken decibels are exponential.