Muffler Install

[NHBAGGER]

Anyone found a wrench that makes it easier to get to those muffler bolts?

[1dn5up]

If your talking about the 4 at the very end ……. NOPE !

Box wrench - open end wrench - a good fatty

[rhino 2]

If your talking about the 4 at the very end ……. NOPE !

Box wrench - open end wrench - a good fatty

Sometimes you can find a thin wrench in one of those tool kits/rolls that come with Japanese Bikes/Atv's...You know the kind once you take the tools out you can never get them back in the roll....There are times i think its revenge for Jimmy Doolittle.

[Jack Klarich]

I have used a 1/2 Inch distributor wrench in the past

I also have a Snap on Tools G M rear shock wrench that works in a pinch

[cubalz]

I think that is why many end up removing the body to replace the mufflers. Those bolts can be a real bear.

[Mykneesbehurtin]

What I have done in the past is to loosen the clamps on the mufflers then remove the muffler bolt towards the front first, then take a plastic mallet and tap the muffler as far forward as it will go. Then using a stubby ratchet box end remove the last bolt. I have seen where you can take short pieces of threaded rod and using red loctite install them into the mufflers then use nuts instead of the bolts, seems the nuts would be easier to start.

[Jack Klarich]

What I have done in the past is to loosen the clamps on the mufflers then remove the muffler bolt towards the front first, then take a plastic mallet and tap the muffler as far forward as it will go. Then using a stubby ratchet box end remove the last bolt. I have seen where you can take short pieces of threaded rod and using red loctite install them into the mufflers then use nuts instead of the bolts, seems the nuts would be easier to start.

I put studs in my 15 and 17 mufflers, it made it easier getting the mufflers off the next time. Once the studs are in the mufflers you add a flat and lock washer before the nut, it places the nut up higher and is easier to remove than fighting a bolt out

[DK Custom Products]

Like has been mentioned. I first loosen the slip-on clamp up front, so I can move the muffler back and forth for best access to those bolts.

I use a ratcheting wrench when I can, and then a low profile open end wrench when I can't. It is irritating, but for me easier than pulling the body.

Kevin

[ISP-FL]

I have found that if I get the back bolt pretty tight then tap the muffler forward, making it easier to get the wrench on the front bolt, it makes it pretty simple to really get the front one tight.

[Wmitz]

I have done this several times, lol. Loosen the clamps, take out the front bolt, loosen the rear bolt about a turn to two at most, slide the muffler off. When installing use a little lube on the support plates to slide into the rubber cushions. My hands don’t work as good as they used to, so starting the bolts in tight areas were a real pain.