Stacks loosening ............. Fix

[judd]

I did the the Stacks and Pacs mod about 10 years ago now and my stacks have loosened since, with no way of tightening them anymore. They have rattled over bumps now for the past couple of years and I finally got around to doing something about it.  I used the Master Blaster system found here:http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/QEpacks.htm Thanx Mark T and Que Express

The problem I was having is the carriage bolts had pulled through the stacks rounding out the hole and there was just no way of tightening them anymore.  My solution was to remove the exhaust and fab some new mounts. I had to use a zip cutter to get one side off as the nuts would not loosen either, there was no way of holding the bolt from turning inside the pipe.

My mod pictured here was to drill a piece of 3/4 wide flat stock, insert 5/16 coated bolts and weld the heads thus preventing them from turning inside the pipe, I painted with high heat stove black to prevent rust, you could use all stainless, I did use some Stainless stock as well and used it in place of washers, I'm no engineer but (I think it will serve to clamp the pipe tighter) I used nyloc nuts to secure them and nyloc nuts and flat washers to hang them. I strongly recommend anyone doing the Stacks and Pacs mod to do this, it's a pain having to remove entire exhaust system just to do it over again.  She's all good now...............  

[Michvalk]

Good fix, however, I wonder if the nylon in the nuts will stand up to the heat?

[fudgie]

Nice! 

I had a issue of mine backing out loose. Would be constantly kicking the stacks forward to get them tight. Ended up putting in a small self tapping screw from the underside.

[judd]

Good fix, however, I wonder if the nylon in the nuts will stand up to the heat?

Good observation, you know, I thought of that but,  my way of thinking was, as long as they are sandwiched between the stack and the mount, they shouldn't come loose anyway, I may even loosen them off and put some locktite in there for good measure. The previous mounts had nylocs on the mount side and they stood up no problem.  I got 'em good and hot Friday I'll have to check to see if they've melted any.

[MarkT]

This is a known problem with the "Easy Glasspack Mod".  Cutting off the mufflers and slipping stacks over the stubs, and securing them (sort of) with carraige bolts, leaves a weak place where the headers and stack meet - they can flex and flop all over the place if the nuts loosen, with nothing to stop them but the rear mount bolts, which also has to hold the entire length of the stack.  No integrity to the exhaust system as a whole.  This IS NOT the method I use here at Horseapple Ranch. I use my version of Lamont's "Hard Glasspack Mod" where the original muffler can and mounting points is retained as a frame - no new weak flex points, and the exhaust is installed using the original mounts - not carraige bolts.