Exhaust Donuts & Y Pipes....Step by step

[Murse]

I picked up oem stainless pipes and got copper donuts today. Going to Quebec for a weekend trip beginning of March so I took it to dealer for them to do a whole check on it and replace the exhaust and slides check timing chain etc etc.

 

[Iwankow]

A missing step?

Just finished doing my donuts the Danway, fantastic step by step, however... I ended up removing heatshield and unbolting muffler. This allowed for the ypipes and whole assembly to easily slide back and then reassemble. Haven't seen this mentioned in other posts. Worked for me!

 

[Murse]

Any good review on copper exhaust donuts?

 

[SugarCampApex]

I have a 2006 Apex GT with 8,000 miles. I noticed that it became very loud and idled very poorly so I knew
from reading on TY that the donuts were shot (and probably the y-pipes too). Here is my brief sequence of
disassembly and future notes. The hardest and most time-consuming part was the disassembly and reassembly
of the y-pipes to the exhaust pipe. I omitted some of the obvious stuff. I did not need to remove the
windshield or headlight pod or the flex pipes. It took us about 2 hours for disassembly and about 2.5 hours for re-assembly.

Disassembly:

1. Remove everything off the tunnel including: seat, taillight assembly, plastic exhaust covers, muffler
shroud, shroud over the gas tank, gas tank and then the access cover under the tank.

2. Remove the two rear bolts holding up the rear suspension. The sled was on a lift and we let the
suspension/track pivot to the floor.

3. The exhaust donut clamps were all loose and had worn holes in the y-pipe flanges but the bolts came out
without problem.

4. Loosen the two clamps at the joint of the y-pipes to the rear exhaust. (Note: order 2 new clamp bolts.)

5. The hardest part was to separate the y-pipes from the rear exhaust. It took a lot of wiggling and
tapping and and cursing but they finally came loose. One trick was to not remove the 2 bolts holding the
y-pipes to the bracket until the rear exhaust is loose. Lots of tapping on the muffler with a large rubber
mallet worked eventually. (Note: order 2 new exhaust gaskets per Port Yamaha Kevin's advice.)

6. The bolts holding the y-pipes were harder to remove so I heeded the advice and tapped the hex driver to
firmly seat it in the head and they came loose without stripping. (Note: order 2 new hanger bolts.)

7. Heeding advice from Kevin, I drilled out the 10 rivets that hold the y-pipe bracket in place. (Note:
order 15 rivets because extras are good.)

8. Slide the exhaust and y-pipes out.

Parts:

donuts with bolts (4) #99999-03989-00 (note the new
y-pipes (2) 8FR-14610-00-00, 8FR-14620-00-00
y-pipe hanger bolts (2) 92017-08025-00
y-pipe hanger rivets (15) 90287-47186-00
exhaust gaskets (2) 8FA-14714-10-00
Exhaust clamp bolts (2) 95187-08020-00

Re-assembly:

1. Intall the 2 exhaust gaskets into the exhaust pipes. Note that removing the old gaskets took some time.
I used a small screw driver and a hammer to separate the gasket from the pipe. I also expanded the flanges
of the exhaust pipes by bending them out a bit with a pliers to aid installing the new gaskets.

2. Dry-fit the new y-pipes to the exhaust pipe and note the tight fit.

3. Put the new donuts on the flex pipes and the clamps on loosely around them.

4. Attach the new y-pipes to the hangar bracket loosely with the two bolts and fit it in location under the
tunnel. It will take some manuevering to get everrything in position.

5. Fit the exhaust pipes onto the y-pipes.

6. Rivet the hanger bracket into place.

7. Tighten the donut clamps.

8. Tighten the hanger bolts on the y-pipes.

9. Tighten the exhaust clamp bolts.

10. Total assembly of remaining items including: access cover, gas tank, shroud over the gas tank, muffler
shroud, plastic exhaust covers, taillight assembly and seat.

11. Move rear suspension back into position and secure with bolts.

12. Finished.

 

[CaptCaper]

Nice right up. But It isn't clear why you drilled and removed then installed bracket hanger with rivets?
I did mine a few years back and didn't have to do any rivet work.
What is the reason for this??
thanks

 

[SugarCampApex]

Nice right up. But It isn't clear why you drilled and removed then installed bracket hanger with rivets?
I did mine a few years back and didn't have to do any rivet work.
What is the reason for this??
thanks

I had to remove the hanger because I did not remove the flex pipes. Because the y-pipes are "hooked" onto the hanger, they need to go forward to get unhooked. With the flex pipes in the way, there is not enough room to unhook them. Therefore, the bracket has to come out.

 

[CaptCaper]

Got it...thanks..good idea.

 

[FlyinA]

2007 Apex GT with 3100 miles, took it apart today to replace donuts. Only 2 of them showed slight wear, the other 2 were perfect. Everything was tight and no damage to Y-pipe or anything else. I'm the original owner and the only one who works on this sled, so they've not been done before.

I wondered why the donuts looked so good and I have a couple of theories. First, I think donut wear is related to heat (assuming the sled was assembled correctly in the first place). I don't ride much in marginal snow conditions so there's always plenty of snow in the tunnel to keep the engine and exhaust as cool as possible. Also, the owners manual says not to use fuels with over 5% ethanol (top of page 6-2) so I've always used premium gas. Around here, the premium has no ethanol but regular and mid grade have at least 10%. Could those using fuel with 10% or more ethanol see higher exhaust temps, effectively roasting the donuts out? Especially if running hot on warm days or in marginal snow?

Also, the periodic maintenance table in the owners manual (chart at top of page 8-2) states that the exhaust gaskets should be tightened (and replaced if necessary) every 2500 miles. PITA for sure, but I wonder if one can completely avoid Y-pipe problems by following that schedule. Seems that if the donuts stay good, the clamps should stay tight and the Y-pipe should not get damaged, barring a crash of some kind.

Finally, my sled has an updated part number for the exhaust donuts. The new donuts weigh noticably more than the old ones, and they come kitted with a stainless steel flange bolt to ensure that the exhaust clamps don't come loose due to bolt erosion (rust).

The instructions on this forum were very helpful, so I hope something above can help others as well.

 

[CaptCaper]

Thanks for this info about the updated gaskets. My 07 Attak I had bought new and didn't notice noise but at 4500 miles or so I took it down and noticed some were and the lip on the flanges starting to chip. It will happen no matter what one does so it's good you did yours. I bought another 07 AttakGT with 821 miles on it this winter. I may tear that down at say 3k or 2500K to put the new dounuts in as a precaution.

2007 Apex GT with 3100 miles, took it apart today to replace donuts. Only 2 of them showed slight wear, the other 2 were perfect. Everything was tight and no damage to Y-pipe or anything else. I'm the original owner and the only one who works on this sled, so they've not been done before.

I wondered why the donuts looked so good and I have a couple of theories. First, I think donut wear is related to heat (assuming the sled was assembled correctly in the first place). I don't ride much in marginal snow conditions so there's always plenty of snow in the tunnel to keep the engine and exhaust as cool as possible. Also, the owners manual says not to use fuels with over 5% ethanol (top of page 6-2) so I've always used premium gas. Around here, the premium has no ethanol but regular and mid grade have at least 10%. Could those using fuel with 10% or more ethanol see higher exhaust temps, effectively roasting the donuts out? Especially if running hot on warm days or in marginal snow?

Also, the periodic maintenance table in the owners manual (chart at top of page 8-2) states that the exhaust gaskets should be tightened (and replaced if necessary) every 2500 miles. PITA for sure, but I wonder if one can completely avoid Y-pipe problems by following that schedule. Seems that if the donuts stay good, the clamps should stay tight and the Y-pipe should not get damaged, barring a crash of some kind.

Finally, my sled has an updated part number for the exhaust donuts. The new donuts weigh noticably more than the old ones, and they come kitted with a stainless steel flange bolt to ensure that the exhaust clamps don't come loose due to bolt erosion (rust).

The instructions on this forum were very helpful, so I hope something above can help others as well.

 

[FlyinA]

It will happen no matter what one does so it's good you did yours.

I agree completely and have no regrets about doing the job despite not finding much wear on the donuts. If it's in the periodic maintenance chart, skip it at your own peril, IMO.

 

[Dave50Mod]

I have a question I assume when taking the muffler and pipe assembly off the center bolt to hold the pipes and the muffler up on the center of tunnell witht the rubber grommet somehow fell on top of the track and was laying there i didnt notice this til i was reassembling but i dont know how it is suppose to go does anyone know how that rubber grommet and metal clamp go?? Thanks In advance

 

[CaptCaper]

There is rubber pieces that covers the mounting bolt holes on top of the tunnel. And there are donut rubber gromments that hold the muffler down. They take the vibration from the muffler.

 

[actionjack]

The clamps in the middle that you access under the rubber grommets only hole the front end of the silencer mid pipe to the Y pipes. The exhaust system is hung on the bracket in the front under the gas tank and is made rigid at the back if the tunnel with the 4 bolts anti vibration grommets at the silencers.

 

[Dave50Mod]

This is the rubber and the bracket the rubber was setting in the hole to left and the bracket was sitting on the track.

 

[Srxspec]

The rubber grommet came from the muffler I would say, not sure on that bracket.