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Haha yeah I totally feel that last guys pain. Basically had the same experience but with less coffee and more swearing.
V&H were helpful but said the pipe may not have been opened enough out the factory. Im going to try a pipe expander to just open them up a touch more.
Im just kinda annoyed with myself that Ive rubbed the coating all off the frame where it mounts. As I said, its hidden so nobody will ever see it, just sucks on a new bike and I know its there!
As an update, I took them off, reseated them with a mallet and board and the upper one is definitely too tight as it barely clears the mounting holes on the exhaust hanger. Its not just the flange thats too tight, the opening is actually ok, its just way too narrow further in. They header barely clears the cuts in the flange and had I not checked for a gap Id have probably figured theyre seated and had an exhaust leak.
Also, the included clamps just keep tightening... I didnt even get it tight and I had about an inch and half of bolt showing.
The overall quality seems really high and the finish of things like the end caps is nice. Also very pleased with the sound and performance, just a bit disappointed with the quality control on the tolerance for fitting.
I had a set of these on my last Heritage. The top one went on lickity split. The bottom, not so much. I was able to get it on with lots of WD-40 and a rubber mallet. The problem I ran into was with the crappy mounting bolts used to attach the mufflers to the muffler brackets. I twisted the head off of one of them before I even got a chance to torque it to spec. This led to having to order a whole new lower muffler bracket and tear all of that apart, reinstall the new parts, and have to remove and install the 300s AGAIN. What a pain in the *** that was. All the other slip-ons I've run for the Heritage came with the muffler gasket. I would much rather mess with that thing and a looser fitting pipe than trying to hammer the 300s on there with no gasket personally.
I also wasn't too thrilled about the muffler clamps they sent.
Yep, a lot of that rings true. The included bolts arent great.
Im considering getting a new muffler bracket too after the mounting point got chewed up trying to force the muffler on but as you say, that would involve taking off the mufflers and reinstalling which is something I never want to do ever again.
I have a set of three expanders and unfortunately, whilst they are usually great for this, I couldnt get it to expand the tight section of the top muffler.
An inch or so of the opening was ok, it was right inside the flange almost where it joins the muffler body that was too tight and I couldnt get it to open up.
Yeah I spoke to a buddy yesterday who has fitted a couple sets on M8s and hes not had any issues.
I might speak to V&H about exchanging them to see if another set is better. It would be good to know if I ever need to take them off/put them back its not going to be a nightmare. I dont mind a bit of a struggle but for me its the risk to the rest of the bike of slipping with tools or a mallet if Im fighting them on and off each time.
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