My next door neighbor has a sportster. He drilled out the mufflers and it sounded great. But I have heard lots of bad stories about drilling as well. Anyone have any success drilling them out?

 

Come on, you own a High Dollar (HD) machine and you want to save a couple of dollars and make it sound like something cheap? Did you also know what HD stands for? Hundred Dollar. Thats what a friend told me after I purchased my first one, and it has been many Ben Franklins since then. Money does buy some quality.

 

It'll sound,run and perform like CRAPPPP!

 

Try it and let us know how it turns out. Stock mufflers are a dime a dozen.

 

I can't speak for 08 mufflers, but I opened the weep holes in my 06 ElectraGlide mufflers from the small stock size (about 3/16") to 5/8" in gradual stages.I found that thereare twobaffle caps per muffler. The rear one is the only one easily accessible with a drill, and opening it does not make much if any difference in the sound. The forward one is about midway in the pipe. I got to it with a piece of rebar ground to a point on the end. It was easy to punch a hole the size of the rebar in it.

My conclusions. 1) The sound from opening the caps part way is a big improvement over stock, but not as good as a set of aftermarket slip ons. For now I'm happy with it, but could see myself going to aftermarket slip-ons after I get some other mods taken care of.2) Soundwise, fromthe above comments and from previous posts on this subject, I think it would be a mistake to open the caps any wider or knock them out entirely.3) Opening them this much has notadversely affected how the bike runs. 4) Who knows what the EPA has in store for us. I considered this angle before tampering with them. Right now at least, stock touring mufflers are plentiful on ebay at fire sale prices. If the government doesn't like my handiwork, I'll pick up a set cheap.

 

I didn't want to mess up my originals, so I bought a cheap set of
stockers on ebay and drilled those out. Didn't sound that great.
Ended up buying S&S Ovals.

 

How do like the S&S ovals. Did you get the quick setup?

 

cycle shacks are loud and really cheap