wow, what a ridiculous pain in the rear. my short shots (07 nightster) came with the stock "cheesegrater" baffles and were way too loud for my (and my neighbors') taste, so i decided to install the v&h quiet baffles. what shouldve been as easy as "loosen retaining screw, remove old baffle, install new baffle, tighten retaining screw" took THREE HOURS. here's why:

1. the retaining screws are behind the ceramic heat shield on both pipes, so you have to slip the heat shields back to expose them...

2. ...except you *cant* slip the heat shields back because of their funky shape, so you have to completely remove them...

3. ...which you cant do without removing the pipes altogether.

so instead of an easy slip out, slip in, i had to remove both heat shields after uninstalling both pipes from the bike. oh, and since the shields partially obstruct the header bolts, putting the pipes back on the bike was no less of a headache.

whyyyyyy didnt vance and hines leave a screw hole/window in the heat shield so we wouldnt have to deal with all that???

(rant over)

oh, and i had previously read some old forum posts mentioning as much, so i kinda knew what i was getting into, but holy smokes what a royal pain.

for what it's worth, the quiet baffles do seem to be slightly quieter, but not incredibly so.

 

Interesting. Why exactly did you have to remove the exhaust to remove the shields? I have taken mine off and pit them back on several times, and never once did I remove the exhaust.

 

believe me, i didnt want to, and tried to avoid it.

the upper exhaust's heat shield wouldnt fit past the ribbing of the engine case, so i had to remove (or at least loosen) the upper exhaust in order to have enough wiggle room to get the shield off. the bottom pipe i was able to leave attached. (actually, i had already started unbolting the bottom pipe when i realized i didnt need to. the heat shield slipped off a lot easier for that one.)

getting the upper pipe back on was pretty horrendous. i tried attaching the heat shield to the pipe first, then reinstalling the pipe, but then i couldnt see the header bolts to tighten them. (by "see" i mean get to with a wrench.) then i tried putting the pipe on and attaching the heat shield after, but ran into the same clearance issue as i did taking it off. ended up having to do a combination of the two. seemed *way* more complicated than it should have been.

i dunno. maybe i was missing something obvious, but it was a mess no matter which way i tried to do it. and even if i was goofing things up, i think having a screwhole in the heatshield wouldve made the whole project a 15 minute job.

 

Yeah, I put the quiet baffles on when I had the sportster. The heat shields just pop off after removing the 4 screws. The baffle slid right out. The whole job couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes.

 

I know you've already put it back together. But if you have to take it apart again. Take the stock fasteners off the shields. It leaves the little raised tab inside the shield. Just buy some big hose clamps, run them underneath that same tab and just wrap them around the exhaust and tighten them down. It makes removal and reinstall take about 5min each.

 

not sure what the stock ones looked like, or if i had the stock ones or not (pipes came with the bike)... the ones on mine were slatted metal rings; to tighten them, the retaining screw's threads would fit into the slats. (typical hose clamps, i guess.)

appreciate the info, i just dont know how i couldve done it any easier on my end. it was a matter of space/geometry more than anything. i tried numerous times at numerous angles to remove the upper shield without removing the pipe, to no avail. i dont doubt you guys know what youre talking about, i just wasnt seeing the trick this weekend. :/