Been wondering if I should weld my Harley muff to my adapter pipe to get rid of the exhaust leak once and for all. I'm wondering if I really need to weld it or if brazing would work fine? The muff is highly chromed and the adapter pipe is that aluminized steel that you get at a muffler shop.

Tia,
Ken

I'm not the person in this town who welded my muffler/header(I live where thumperclone is) but used same stuff as he did. Harley clamps (around $5 each) look nicer than car ones, though went with his idea to have them loose on the connector, in position to move/tighten them up later, using car clamps (can take them off pipe to then move HD clamps to replace them).

reason for using car clamps (not just because thumperclone overtightened one of his Harley ones, but it was a good example for me!) is you can really tighten them down &, as he told me, to get really good seal with hi temp perma tex (for same reason allow it all to sit for 24 hours before swapping out clamps & running bike.

I did ask a bike store here about welding (don't know why, it was after I did it with clamps & have no leak) - mechanic said he'd screw up a certain length of chrome on both muffler & header (sorry, can't recall how much), so a) check first & b)bear in mind you may need a looong exhaust shield to cover any messed up chrome.

also if you go welding route watch out for the welder screwing up & not welding header/muffler "in line" when he welds - some while back a welder here succeeded in welding up Kathe's massage table's adjustable length leg when he did some repairs to its bracket.  

sorry can't be more help, but hope this is some guideline to how not to get leaks. incidently, is leak @ connector or maybe where header goes into engine - to ensure less chance of leak I used a new gasket there when swapping out my muffler  (only cost about $4 & helps reduce one source of leaks @ least).

george

KenGLong wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:09:

Make sure you get the highest high temp. I think it's rated to 700 degrees. If it says exhaust on the package it's the right one. Let it dry 24 hours before running your bike. Also make sure the surfaces you put it on are clean.

http://www.holeshot.com/chemicals/permatex_prod.html