ROCKERDAN
OCD Sledhead
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
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- Huntsville Ontario & Niagara NY
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- Snowmobile
- '18 RTX 50th "Winder"
how would adding RTV make clamps looser?....
I will still bottom out the clamp with the RTV....im talking about smoothing some on each side in hopes it may make the donut last longer...
I think if you put RTV into the clamps,and it cannot fall off,then it should stay put....been running ultra copper on all exhaust connections for many many years....and it usually falls off due to oily surface on pipe and no clamps....this may just stay put..
and if it falls off then its no worse or different then NONE at all....as long as clamp is tightened down to bottom.
talked to a few people and all of us seem to think grinding down is NOT a good idea and may cause breaking of Y pipe flange easier....
I think the tighter this joint is,the easier you will break a pipe....the looser it is,the sooner the donut wears out....either way its a crappy design!....lol
Dan
I will still bottom out the clamp with the RTV....im talking about smoothing some on each side in hopes it may make the donut last longer...
I think if you put RTV into the clamps,and it cannot fall off,then it should stay put....been running ultra copper on all exhaust connections for many many years....and it usually falls off due to oily surface on pipe and no clamps....this may just stay put..
and if it falls off then its no worse or different then NONE at all....as long as clamp is tightened down to bottom.
talked to a few people and all of us seem to think grinding down is NOT a good idea and may cause breaking of Y pipe flange easier....
I think the tighter this joint is,the easier you will break a pipe....the looser it is,the sooner the donut wears out....either way its a crappy design!....lol
Dan
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
Dan, if your donuts were leaking, you'll probably find the clamps are loose when installed with new donuts.
I think what is required is to make sure the clamps won't spin easily when the muffler is moved to the right position so the pipes are sitting flat to each other.
I agree you probably don't want the clamps extremely tight though. The pipes are very thin, especially once they've worn through a set of donuts.
As far as RTV, personally I wouldn't use it here. These pipes run much hotter than most exhaust connections do. The donuts are at just about the hottest location possible, much hotter than at the head and much hotter than farther down the exhaust system.
If you want to try RTV, I'd first make sure you are happy with the donut clamping without RTV, then unbolt them and add the RTV. Ultra-Copper might help to keep the clamps from rotating and pipes from wearing, but I wouldn't rely on it keeping its shape and keeping the donuts tight very well at those temperatures.
I think what is required is to make sure the clamps won't spin easily when the muffler is moved to the right position so the pipes are sitting flat to each other.
I agree you probably don't want the clamps extremely tight though. The pipes are very thin, especially once they've worn through a set of donuts.
As far as RTV, personally I wouldn't use it here. These pipes run much hotter than most exhaust connections do. The donuts are at just about the hottest location possible, much hotter than at the head and much hotter than farther down the exhaust system.
If you want to try RTV, I'd first make sure you are happy with the donut clamping without RTV, then unbolt them and add the RTV. Ultra-Copper might help to keep the clamps from rotating and pipes from wearing, but I wouldn't rely on it keeping its shape and keeping the donuts tight very well at those temperatures.
AttakDog
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Both of you, Rex and Dan, bring up very good points. The Ultra copper does burn off after a time, I've seen it on my old 2 strokes. But if your bottomed out on the clamp it can't get any looser. If you have used (original) pipes I think you'll find that with the stock clamp spacer (not ground down) you can be loose still because of previous wear. I wish we had a good definitive answer on this problem buy I think it's an experiment in progress...
LJ 452
TY 4 Stroke God
When you guy's pull your exhaust next time push down on the header pipes at the end. Mine at least the only one that wore through the Y-Pipe only flex's down a little until it bottoms out. It will seem like it's hitting someting on the bottom but it's just the flex tube maxing out. I wonder if this is why none of the other pipes were damaged on mine. As I said before if you ride rough trails and ride them hard I think this is really going to be a problem. The other type of "high risk" riding may be top end, WFO runs. I don't know, I'm sure the exhaust gets pretty hot durring those radar runs which would breakdown the donuts quicker. Dan I'm sure you can answer that question. 
If this is the case se are kinda screwed, as the Y-Pipe mounting isn't really adjustable, the motor can't be moved or my clutch alignment will be off. I would think there has to be something that can be done. Just not sure how simple it's going to be. One thing is for sure the tunnel needs to be triangulated from the steering post. This would eliminate flex and reduce the rocking motion the entire exhaust system endures.
I'm going to be reassembling mine today so if anyone wants pics of anything while it's apart, nows the time.
If this is the case se are kinda screwed, as the Y-Pipe mounting isn't really adjustable, the motor can't be moved or my clutch alignment will be off. I would think there has to be something that can be done. Just not sure how simple it's going to be. One thing is for sure the tunnel needs to be triangulated from the steering post. This would eliminate flex and reduce the rocking motion the entire exhaust system endures.I'm going to be reassembling mine today so if anyone wants pics of anything while it's apart, nows the time.
favarcat
Expert
On the first one we did, we could tighten the clamp until it bottomed out. But the clamp was still loose on the flange. Some has to be ground off. This is with the original pipes with new donuts. I will have 1 new y-pipe Monday, and will see if it is tighter than the old one.
