I finally got my 33" longtails yesterday after waiting 2 months for them, first I shoulda went longer.

Now my concern. The rear stock exhaust flange was to thick to get a good bite so I bought some chromed flanges like samson has, what ever the brand, and that helped tremendously. But I can still only get the rear most nut so snug slightly and the top nut to crank tight. Even with using a 1/4 drive universal socket and 1/2" socket I just can't get the damn thing to get on the nut. It is pretty tight, is it safe to assume that with it tight that when I tighten the top nut it'll torque the bottom nut? Or is there something I'm missing?

Also, alignment is a little off, 1/2" or so but I think I can fix that by fiddling with the crossover pipe, normal?

Lastly each join leaks, I didn't use high temp silicon thinking I wouldn't need to but I guess I do. the biggest leaker is the cross over to head joint by the jug, I can't get a socket allen in there to save my life.

Any tips guys? Need to get this done tonight/first thing in the morning for a ride I'm going on.

Help please

 

Well, I had the same problem with the rear head pipe and flange nut. I had to bend an open end wrench and get to it from the left side of the bike.

When I installed mine I had the bike sitting perfectly upright and left all bolts loose. I started tightening from the front and worked my way to the rear leveling and squaring as I went. You will have to use High temp RTV at all slip joints to prevent leaks. Apply a layer to the female side of the joints so that when you slip the male pipe into it the RTV stays inside the pipe. That is pretty much the norm with all exhaust systems. As far as the allen head socket on one of the clamps, have you tried flipping the clamp around?

 

Well I got it on and lined up decently, I used high temp RTV copper at the slip joints on the left side, right side wasn't leaking so I left well enough alone.

I took the clamp for the crossover pipe off and replaced the bolt with a shorter one to reposition the clamp so I had easier access to it, I just hope that I don't run into problems with the heat shield.

I ran it for a minute to check for leaks and I think its leaking slightly at the flange, I used a crows foot to get to it and it was as tight as I could get it, so I'll try bending an open end wrench and snug it more if I can. If not f it.

Lastly I am leaking at the slip on joint for the left side, I RTV'ed it and it has set but it's still leaking a decent amount. Will that go away once its ran for a while and carbon can build up? The reason I'm asking is cause the clamp bolt is now stripped and in order to fix it I'll have to cut the bolt carefully to pull it off and hope I don't cut into the pipe. I could try a screw extractor first I guess.

What a pain this has become.

 

Sorry to hear of your problems. Mine went on fairly easy except for the rear lower flange nut. Back off of the top nut and see if the lower one will then tighten up any more.
The leaking slip joint will not stop any time soon. Best bet is to pull it apart and apply a far amount of High Temp RTV Silicon to the inside of the female pipe. Then slide the male pipe into the female and get it all tightened up before the RTV dries.

 

Well I got the stripped screw out by hammering in a torx bit and tapping on my ratchet. I ended up pulling the slip on and re-RTV'ing it so I'm just waiting for it to set up to see if that helped. I'll need to get another bolt as I stretched the stainless steel one I had, so I'll replace with a chromed one.

 

Man, you guys had a hell of a lot of problems with your install. I feel very fortunate. Mine went right on, flanges seated properly first time. I did not need any RTV, my pipe joints did not have (and still do not have) any leaks.

Perhaps because my bike came with dual exhaust from the factory, things were located in such a way that there were no clearance issues. Again, I feel very fortunate to not have had install problems like you experienced. I'm glad to hear that you finally got all your issues sorted out.

Ride safe.

 

I wasn't expecting this much of a hassle, but it's done and waiting on the RTV to set up to see on road results. Left pipe is about an 1/8" to a 1/4" farther out than the right but unless you knew you wouldn't notice. And I can't move that pipe in any more with out breaking the joint on the crossover pipe so it is what it is.

Looks good though and sounds good so worth it

 

I am not saying all systems need RTV. Mine might have worked just fine without it. If you have been around bikes most of your life and installed very many exhaust systems then out of habit more so than necessity you use it on all of the slip joints the first time you install the system so that you will not have to go back and do it when you discover a leak.

 

The RTV stopped the leaks I think. I don't feel air moving anymore, but not to sure if it is leaking or not. The exhaust pulse out the back feels a little weaker on the left than the right side, my thoughts on it is the turn of the crossover pipe is slowing down the force on the left side so I guess it should be ok.

 

To tighten the flange nuts I used a flex extention for my socket. No need to bend wrenches.

They sell them in various lengths.