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Took the Road King for a bit yesterday afternoon, and all was good…until it wasn’t.
I have the S&S Duals Headers w/V&H Hi-Output slip-ons. About 4-miles from the house, I noticed some odd exhaust sounds…so pulled-over to investigate.
The ‘crossover’ Pipe that goes under the frame had cracked/broke and the muffler-side of the break had been dragging on the road. I did a roadside fix to prevent further damage from dragging by tying the forward part of the Pipe to the passenger peg with a shoelace and nursed it the rest of the way home.
Searching The Googles afterwards didn’t gain me a lot of useful info. The broken pipe WAS a replacement part offered by S&S, but doesn’t appear to be available any longer for order…and, being it was a Saturday, there weren’t any options for calling and getting more info.
Pulled the broken part off the bike this morning.
Looks like there are some ‘stress cracks’ around where the factory S&S welds…and from carbon build-up, it sorta looks like it may have been cracking/weakening for a while.
Anyway.
Not really much I can do today. Just hoping I can avoid buying an entirely new Header system by either:
1. Going to my local exhaust/muffler shop tomorrow and see if their (self proclaimed ‘Welding Wizard’) guy can put this back together and possibly reinforce the entire structure.
2. Talking to S&S and maybe finding a replacement part.
:Going to my local exhaust/muffler shop tomorrow and see if their (self proclaimed ‘Welding Wizard’) guy can put this back together and possibly reinforce the entire structure" ... Sure it can be repaired ... Adding a "bridge" (reinforcement ) will help too
Last edited by Uncle Larry; Mar 31, 2024 at 10:14 AM.
Usually the new welds won't hold because the metal has become brittle but maybe if they reinforce it like Larry said...
That’s my concern too.
The ideal situation is if S&S can get me a replacement part.
BUT.
The complication with that is, according to S&S’ website there was a revision to this Header system that changed the mounting method for that crossover pipe. The revised method seems better, as it doesn’t involve the ‘straps’ (see above photos) that are welded to to pipe - instead, it uses a ‘clamp’…along with a different bracket to hold the clamp. This will require me to buy the clamp & bracket and immediately modifying it so it will fit with my Frame Stabilizer.
Anyway. Hopefully I will find a solution tomorrow. The easiest path will be re-welding the current pipe. But the replacement & modification is also something g I think I could do without too much trouble.
The ideal situation is if S&S can get me a replacement part.
BUT.
The complication with that is, according to S&S’ website there was a revision to this Header system that changed the mounting method for that crossover pipe. The revised method seems better, as it doesn’t involve the ‘straps’ (see above photos) that are welded to to pipe - instead, it uses a ‘clamp’…along with a different bracket to hold the clamp. This will require me to buy the clamp & bracket and immediately modifying it so it will fit with my Frame Stabilizer.
Anyway. Hopefully I will find a solution tomorrow. The easiest path will be re-welding the current pipe. But the replacement & modification is also something g I think I could do without too much trouble.
Will see how it all goes.
IIRC, that OEM crossover pipe on both my 2012 bagger and 2016 bagger had slip-on clamp securing that crossover pipe.
I have seen a few aftermarket headers that use brackets/mounts welded to the head pipe, eventually develop cracks at the weld between the bracket/mount and head pipe.
It seems that S&S has made a change to a slip-on bracket, like another popular vendor made to one of their head pipes that had a welded mount until cracks started to develop.
I had the same issue with an exhaust I bought, and the vendor immediately sent me a new head pipe with the new clamp system.
It would seem that a welded bracket clamp/mount, on a rubber mounted engine exhaust header, isn't the best design for an exhaust clamp in that application.
IIRC, that OEM crossover pipe on both my 2012 bagger and 2016 bagger had slip-on clamp securing that crossover pipe.
I have seen a few aftermarket headers that use brackets/mounts welded to the head pipe, eventually develop cracks at the weld between the bracket/mount and head pipe.
It seems that S&S has made a change to a slip-on bracket, like another popular vendor made to one of their head pipes that had a welded mount until cracks started to develop.
I had the same issue with an exhaust I bought, and the vendor immediately sent me a new head pipe with the new clamp system.
It would seem that a welded bracket clamp/mount, on a rubber mounted engine exhaust header, isn't the best design for an exhaust clamp in that application.
Yep. That’s kinda what I was thinking.
Newer design seems to allow for a bit of movement/flex.
New design. Bracket to Oil Pan w/clamp around crossover pipe. Original design. Rigid mounted crossover to bracket to Oil Pan.
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Exhaust ‘crossover’ Pipe snapped…
