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I find the look of the
stock Marauder pipes (post 1999) to be very complimentary to the overall
looks of the Marauder. So besides not wanting to spend a couple hundred
dollars on aftermarket pipes that didn’t do much for me aesthetically, I
decided to remove the baffle assemblies from my stock pipes. I’ve been
very satisfied with the results. I didn’t have to adjust anything and the
sound the first time you start it up is like a Huey coming over the hill.
It looks fast even when it’s standing still!!!
Step 1 in adding a little more sound to the stock Marauder pipes:
A little bit louder
now. I drilled 6 evenly-spaced ¼” holes thru 2 layers of metal. It
gives a little more sound than stock. Fairly easy to do.
If you want to remove the baffles and
really get a lot more sound volume and better looks, proceed…
Two very similar methods of removing the baffle are shown here – the
primary difference is the price of the tool used, ease of removal and time
spent.
I
recommend buying the "Aggressor" 2 1/8” hole saw (manufactured by
BLU-MOL, sold at Home Depot for about $28). This saw/mandrel is made of
hardened tool steel for cutting metal and is able to cut thru the hard 3rd
disk. I used a cheaper 1-piece hole saw (for drilling holes in wooden
doors), but this approach requires a lot of hammering and bending since
the hole saw is unable to cut thru the 3rd disk.
To perform the
baffle-ectomy, start by drilling out the 3 rivets and removing the chrome
disk that covers the baffles.
The next step is
cutting thru the disks using a 2” or a 2-1/8” hole saw Use lots of
3-in-1 oil (or similar) to lubricate the metal and drill bit as you
drill. The actual baffle is shown in the photo below.
This is what you get
when you use the more expensive hole saw - No pounding of the disks/plates
is required! Home Depot - 2 1/8” hole saw called "Aggressor"
manufactured by BLU-MOL. Made from tool steel for cutting metal. The saw
and mandrel cost about $28, but literally gets the job done in 40 minutes
taking your time and you don't have to do ANY hammering.
The 3rd disk is
made from a different metal than the first 2 and is tougher to cut thru,
but let the saw do the work – Important point here is that the 3rd
disk is not attached to the inside wall of the pipe like the first 2
disks, so let the saw do the work and don’t push too hard or you will push
the baffle down into the tube and you will have to use the brute force
methods described below!!!
When you have cut thru
the 3rd disk, take the long-nosed vise grips, twist back and
forth a couple times and it pops right out. Repeat with the other pipe
and you’re ready to start it up!! Get ready for a beautiful sound!!
Read the following section on using the cheaper hole saw, and you will
easily see how much easier it’s going to be to use the first method with
the $30 hole saw.
If you go with the
cheaper hole saw, cutting thru the first 2 layers/disks is step 1. The
3rd disk is a much harder steel and you won’t be able to cut into it with
the less expensive hole saw. The 3rd disk requires persuasion
of a different type! (This is where the disk crunching happens).
The 3rd
disk is not attached to the inside of the pipes like the first 2 disks,
but it is a larger diameter than the hole in the end of the exhaust pipe,
so the 3rd disk must be made smaller in order for the baffle
assembly to be removed from inside the pipe. See photo below:
I used a few different
tools for this task.
First, I made sure I
had the other end of the pipes backed up by something that wouldn’t bend
or scratch them. (I took my pipes off, you might be able to do it with
the pipes on the bike, but there is a lot of pounding involved! I laid
the pipes down on a rug/blanket and put a wood block between the wall and
the other end of the pipe. I used a crowbar and a hand sledge to start to
bend the 3rd disk. The top pic shows best how the 3rd
disk would bend over on 4 sides.
From that point I used
a big cold chisel/big standard screwdriver to start on the 4 corners of
the 3rd disk going down. Another tool that worked well was a
6” section of cast iron pipe with about a 2” diameter from Home Depot (I
forget the actual diameter, but you want the outer diameter of this pipe
to be just a little smaller than the opening in the end of the exhaust
pipe). I slid the pipe down inside the exhaust pipe and started banging
away.
One last tool was a
needle nose vise grips. I’d use this to grip the baffle’s pipe and pull
it out of the exhaust pipe. Sometimes the baffle would get jammed from
the pounding needed to bend over the 3rd disk, so I’d stick
something into the baffle’s pipe and use the leverage to loosen the
baffle.
When you get the baffle assembly out of the pipe, there is one more baffle
in the pipe, but there is no way you can remove this one. It can be seen
in the next photo. It looks like it’s near the end of the exhaust pipe in
this picture, but it’s actually about 8-inches inside.
I think the
“open-ended” pipe looks much better and it definitely sounds better as
well!
Here are a few
testimonials:
“I finally got around
to pulling (ripping) the baffles out of my '02 rauder the other day. WOW,
that was the exact sound I was looking for. I knew I had it right when my
girlfriend, mom, and sister said it sounded like I had exhaust problems.
My dad is wondering how to make his 81 goldwing sound that way. I was told
it would take about 30 minutes, more like 2 hours to rip em out. I like
the look of the stock cans, but wanted more sound. It still runs great.
Thanks everyone here for all the great info on such a great bike”
“I and two others I
know of have done this mod with stock everything. Nobody has re-jetted or
changed anything in their carbs. Mine seems to run fine after 75-100 miles
like this. I figure I have saved a ton, because I don't want aftermarket
pipes anymore and I don't seem to need to re-jet.”
“Wahoo! Nice sound and
still fairly quiet at idle. Crack it and you have some noise.”
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