[old white truck]

When your header pipe and your muffler are very attached to each other and don’t want to separate no amount of external pressure can break them up without destroying the relationship.



It is odd; not 2 weeks ago I took off my header and did not have any problem. Last night when I was pulling these apart again, the muffler gasket stuck to the header and refused to budge. The back half of it was stuck in the exhaust pipe. Since the gasket material is soft and friable the only way to seperate the pipes was to destroy the gasket.



The good news is that I got to see how the gasket is made (brillo pad covered in binder/insulating material) the bad news is that it required a trip to the Yamaha dealer and $15 for a new gasket.



My only suggestion to others would be to attempt to rotate the pipes before pulling on them. I believe that there is less chance of destroying the gasket if you can break it loose rotationally.



See if you can guess which is the old and which is the new:

Part number 3YF-14714-00-00

 

[lizrdbrth]

A little antisieze compound on the header pipe helps keep the relationship more casual.

 

[mrbracket]

LMAO! antisieze keepin it casual.. Ha Ha Ha... That's what she said....

 

[srs713]

LMAO! antisieze keepin it casual.. Ha Ha Ha... That's what she said....

Anti-seize, the pre-nup of the mechanical world.

 

[cololevi]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and just bought a 2003 TW. I noticed it popping on decel and found that the exhaust baffle was completely warped and not sealing properly. So I have the following parts on order: exhaust baffle, exhaust gasket and muffler gasket.

In preparation for the new parts I decided to remove the exhaust system. Unfortunately the muffler is stuck to the pipe and does not budge at all. I have no problem ruining the gasket so long as I'm able to get the muffler off. Do you have any tips? I have no idea if I can hammer this off, or how to go about it. Should I just try to get the baffle and gasket on the header side and not worry about removing the muffler (not sure if that's possible). This is my first bike since I was a kid, so I'm a bit new to all this. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[slowmod]

took me a whole day to get mine apart. even with acetylene. (cleared some stuff back and protected other stuff with heavy-gauge aliminum foil, also there was no gas in the carb). it's hard to get heat to the actual pipe; take the bolt right out of the clamp and bend the clamp back to expose the pipe.

i would suggest leaving the header bolted to the engine, and shim up the front and side between the header and the engine to take out some wiggle. protect the clearcote finish on the engine. i seem to recall putting a ratchet strap around the whole engine somehow so as to snug up the header onto the shims.
unbolt and attempt to rotate the muffler. vice grip onto the muffler _mounting flange and use that (or a bar stuck into the bolt hole or vice grip jaw) to hammer on - shock the muffler towards the rear of the bike. be mindfull of the aluminum engine head, but the header flexing and snugged shims will absorb a lot of hammershock. if you can get a buddy to twist as you hammer...

in the end i also peeled the muffler part of the pipe back a bit at the joint and worked a screwdriver in to break the bond.

have fun...

 

[TW-Brian]

Hi Cololevi,

Welcome to the forum!

It just so happened that earlier this evening I pulled the muffler off of a 1987 parts bike. Here is what worked for me:

-Remove the two mounting bolts securing the muffler to the frame.
-Use a long bolt, a length of metal rod, or a long screwdriver and insert this through the rear mounting bracket on the muffler. This will allow you some leverage to apply some torque to the muffler.
-Using caution, as the muffler mounting bracket will bend surprisingly easily, use the bolt to gently twist the muffler back and forth as viewed from the rear of the bike.
-Don't force it. Just try to move it back and forth until you are able to feel it break loose and rotate a little. Once it breaks free, then pull back on the muffler as you continue to rotate it back and forth until you are able to pull the muffler free from the header pipe.

Like I said, this is what worked for me tonight. If you are not able to free it up this way, you may want try some penetrating oil on the joint and repeat this approach after allowing the oil some time to work.

Hope this helps,

Brian

 

[cololevi]

Thanks! I was able to get it off by twisting. My gasket was ruined like the OP's, but no big deal.

 

[Mr.Paynter]

...

-Using caution, as the muffler mounting bracket will bend surprisingly easily, use the bolt to gently twist the muffler back and forth as viewed from the rear of the bike.
-Don't force it. Just try to move it back and forth until you are able to feel it break loose and rotate a little. Once it breaks free, then pull back on the muffler as you continue to rotate it back and forth until you are able to pull the muffler free from the header pipe.

...

Brian

This was absolute gold and worked a treat in less than a minute after I'd been monkeying about for half an hour.
Thank you sir!