Rush 1.75" slip-ons, that is.

Let me preface this by saying this is my first Harley (bought new in the beginning of the year) and my first attempt at making it SOUND like a Harley by installing a slip-on muffler.

The mufflers were extremely well-made and felt substantial. It didn't come with any instructions, so I cruised the Vance & Hines site for instructions for their slip-ons. (But in actuality, one can easily figure it out with no professional motorcycle certification....yes, it's THAT easy).

However, the only problem I had was removing the stock mufflers from the headers (so yeah, it's not THAT easy). The best way was to remove the headers altogether (the guy at dealership said that you can get away by just loosening the two nuts at the cylinder head....I didn't find that to be). If you're going to remove them, don't forget to disconnect the (O2 ?) sensor wire.

Some tips: Remove the front heat shields and headers first, then move on to the rear and do the same. Installation is, of course, reversed.

When I fired my bike up for the first time, I knew that I had made a wise purchase. THIS is the way a Harley is supposed to sound !

Note: (1) I could've went with the 2.0", but the Rush rep said that if you want your bike to remain stock (which I do), the 1.75" is the best compromise between sound and performance. When I took it out for a test ride, it never exhibited the dreaded decel pop.
(2) No wonder the stockers are so silent. When I got them off and looked through one side of the muffler, I didn't see any daylight at the other side !

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. And if you're going to ask me what the hell took me so long to change out the exhaust, here's my response:



I'll be back. Going to listen to a V-twin concerto in "R" Minor.

 

Why did you have to remove the headers to put on slip-ons?

Rush make a nice sounding exhaust, got the 2.5s on mine

 

The Rush mufflers are top quality, and the 'tone' is nice a deep, about the same as the older 'for off road use only' Screamin' Eagle 2 mufflers.

Rush also makes different size internal baffles, and it's easy to swap them in and out depending on your needs. For what it's worth, the larger diameter the baffle the larger/louder the exhaust tone.

I talked with a guy up at Gail's HD in Grandview MO and they have been selling the Rush mufflers for quite a while. He told me that tests have shown that if you use anything larger than the 2.0" baffles on the newer bikes with EFI you would need to have a 'download'. If you stay with 2.0" or smaller it's not required..

Anyway, enjoy...

 

I love it when somone doesn't do the same old monkey see monkey do thing AKA V&H pipes, what you just did will make HP and Torque than 90% of all the systems out there.
Next time you are pulling stock mufflers off loosen all the clamps then use a good penetrating oil at the muffler/pipe connection and give it 10 minutes to soak in and it makes muffler removal way easier.

 

I do enjoy my rush slipons....

 

about time you make that bad boy sound like a harley!!
Ride Safe

 

I tried the method of loosening the 2 nuts at the cylinder head and getting the stock mufflers off that way, but they wouldn't even budge.

So I did the next best thing by removing the headers altogether so that me and my g/f (my neighbor help with the rears because my g/f wasn't strong enough) could get better leverage.

Trust me, I didn't want to remove the headers, but sometimes you have to take "the long road" in order to get it done right without damaging any other components, imo.

 

I kept flip-flopping between the 1.75 and the 2.00 numerous times, but from what I understand, the bigger the baffle, the less backpressure you get and consequently, the less performance you achieve.

I wanted something that was a good compromise between sound and performance while still keeping the bike stock.

I really do think that the 1.75 was the way to go.

 

I hear ya there. It seems that every other bike has V&H, so I thought I'd try something a little different.

I was inspecting the stock mufflers and they have slits located at the lip. I think the dealership must have special tools that they insert in this lip and spead the metal a bit to facilitate the separation.

Anyway, I'm sorta glad I removed the whole thing. At least I know that I didn't bend or damage anything while horsing the thing off the headers.

The install went quite smoothly, the bike performed flawlessly, so I know in my mind that the job, while it took longer, was done right.

 

Like you, I went with the straight cut as well. Good choice !