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I recently installed a rush head pipe and some Vance and Hines Slip on exhaust on my 2015 Road King.
During the install, I really did not want to go to the Harley dealer, And I ordered some James gasket square cut exhaust gaskets on Amazon. I thought they looked a little thin, and they went in incredibly easy. However, I continued with the install anyway. I initially had that classic ticking sound for an exhaust leak. Sure enough; slight leaks at both heads.
torqued then way past the required amounts (but not enough to snap the head bolts).
anyway, let finally sucked it up and stopped by the dealer to buy some oem cone gaskets. I currently have them in the freezer, but I can see the differences in the meat of the gaskets.
tl;dr version - buy the cone OEM gaskets if you are using rush headpipes.
8" Printing Press Shaft bearing changeouts required us to have a Red Devil Blower blasting the bearing with heat while we wrapped dry ice around the shaft for a while. When it was ready, the bearing would just slip right on. When it came time to take the old ones off, we had to use a die grinder to cut through the outer race and then almost all the way through the inner race without hitting the shaft, then smack the cut groove with a fat steel chisel once or twice and it would pop loose. Sounded about like a .22 cal. gun shot. Slide it right off and start the heating/cooling process all over again.
This is one of those questions that has an "it depends" answer.
I used the cone gaskets on my 2001 stock 88 Dyna because I could never get a good seal with the flat gaskets with any of the exhaust head pipes I installed. However, when I used OEM cone gaskets on my current 95 build with the SE racing heads, the Rinehart head pipes seated too far out with the thicker gaskets, and the new flange nuts kept coming lose. I could see the thicker gaskets could be the problem so I swapped them over to the SE square gaskets and that did the trick.
During the install, I really did not want to go to the Harley dealer, And I ordered some James gasket square cut exhaust gaskets on Amazon. I thought they looked a little thin, and they went in incredibly easy. However, I continued with the install anyway. I initially had that classic ticking sound for an exhaust leak. Sure enough; slight leaks at both heads.
torqued then way past the required amounts (but not enough to snap the head bolts).
anyway, let finally sucked it up and stopped by the dealer to buy some oem cone gaskets. I currently have them in the freezer, but I can see the differences in the “meat” of the gaskets.
tl;dr version - buy the cone OEM gaskets if you are using rush headpipes.
FWIW....
You can tell which gaskets will seal better for a given head pipe collar....
While there are always exceptions, the general rule of thumb is:
If you have a head pipe with a conical/tappered collar, that fits into the head... use the OEM style conical gaskets for best seal...
If you have a head pipe with a flat/square collar, that fits into the head.... use the flat (or square cut) gaskets for best seal...
As mentioned, you can use two crushable flat gaskets on a conical collar head pipe with success, but I personally don't see the need to use a flat gasket over the tapered gasket in these cases. i have not had issues with the tapered crush gaskets unless you over torque them....
Sometimes a square head pipe collar will require two flat gaskets, or the use of two snap rings behind the head flange, to be able to tighten the bolts enough to get a good seal... The better head pipes won't usually need this, but I have seen two occasions where it was necessary for a good seal on a "bargain" head pipe.
Last edited by hattitude; Jan 11, 2020 at 01:19 PM.
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Another victim of square cut exhaust gaskets...
