Morning guys, I hate to beat a dead horse, but here goes. i am done with burning my right leg so I have decided to get a de cated head pipe. I dont what to get a tuner, I am just looking for a cooler ride. I have Vance & Hines slip-ons, everything else is stock. Will I have to remap the ecm? has anyone that has done this had any performance problems? I hate to void my warranty but my leg has had it. Any input is appreciated. Thanks, Jim

 

Not unless you want to . Your motor is going to appreciate you.

 

One word no ride it have fun.

 

Do you HAVE to have a retune? No.
Could you gain some power and lose some more heat? Yes.

Your engine was tuned to run within epa specifications. Now that you are making your bike happy by eliminating all the government mandated restrictions, why not let a competent tuner put the icing on the cake for you? Even if he only manages to get you a few hp and tq, I guarantee your top end will gain many more miles of happy running with a richer mixture. Overkill? Maybe. Or maybe not.....

 

You might take a look at this post.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...-cat-post.html

Ride Safe

David

 

Mufflers and no cat, I would say yes. AT LEAST xIed's. I ran with mufflers and SE air cleaner with the cat in place and the bike was hot, pinged and did not run well. 299.00 PC V made all the difference. These things are really lean from the factory and the stock system just doesn't make enough adjustment.

Bill

 

Bill has answered your question perfectly. Either do this or get you a tuner and have it tuned period. Your bike will run cooler and have more HP and TQ.
I'm as honest as I can be on this and would not steer you in the wrong direction at all. I hope you get it fixed and have fun and be careful!!!!

 

Jrdfatboy; well, here's my two cents...I just purchased a 2013 se ultra, waited til I got 1000 miles on it and put a decatted pipe on that I purchased on eBay. The furnace is now gone and I have experienced NO ill effects after putting on another 1000 miles. I have been told by several mechanics as long as it doesn't hesitate on start offs, pops back through air cleaner or have decel popping then a tuner is NOT necessary(most won't need one). Stop and think about it, the o2 sensors are BEFORE the cat and these bikes have to have some various in fuel air mixture as they are shipped all over the USA with different altitudes etc and they are ALL the same except for California. As I was told...if it runs good, no need for a tuner.Again, JMO.

 

Clear this up once again.
You will not void your warranty because you made a change to your bike. If and I say IF they can prove your mod caused the problem they can reject that claim only. It just does not happen that often and is hard for them to do.
Contrary to what the internet say. Hd exhaust is a good system that complies with the law. The scavenger system provides both HP and Torque . When you remover the CAT you alter the back pressure and exhaust flow. That effects both the tune and the bike performance.
It will run with the CAT knocked out. But Not as well as it should unless you make up for it.
Just gut the Cat and ride , you will not lose much heat you will lose Torque and mileage.
As for 02 sensor issue that is all a bunch of BS the 02 sensor don't care only way or another if the cats are in or out They are mounted in front and they do not cross talk. That was another aftermarket scam to they and make a buck off you.
We have gutted enough of them to know how it effects them.
Gutting the headers is a low cost short cut that works but does not produce the best results.

 

Removing EPA required items can void the warranty. If you call H-D customer service they will tell you that removing EPA mandated items will void the warranty. Will the dealership doing repairs to bike report this to H-D, most likely not.