exhaust baffles

[joewillybob]

Picked up a nice set of pipes for my 550 recently.They had been stored in a barn for years and, I believe critters stored their nuts etc. inside. Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove the stuck baffles? Cant' shake all of the stuff out, so, I need to remove the baffles. Tried penetrating oil for a few days but still no luck. Don't want to pull too hard on the crosspiece at the end of the baffle.Also would just install the pipe and try and vibrate the baffle loose, but I'm afraid that the debris may plug the exhaust before the baffle rattles loose. Thanks.

[pearljam724]

There are a few ways you can accomplish it. Some being stuck, are worst than others. I would suggest to first install the pipes and run the bike consistently for a few weeks with the pump turned up fairly high to saturate the baffles with oil internally. Plus vibration and consistent heat will help. When doing so, make sure the retainer bolts are not installed. This may help avoiding damage to baffles if you have to resort to other measures. I had a hell of a time with one on my 750 when I first bought it. The other three came out fairly easy. I tried everything I could think of with no success. Until I came up with the idea of clamping down on the cross bar with a set of vice grips extremely tight and wacking the vice grips with a hammer straight back toward the rear of the bike to avoid bending the cross bar. Clamp it as close to the end of the bar as possible. It came out slowly, but it worked with no damage. Try spraying in between the lip of the baffle and pipes with PB Blaster several times. It will help if the pipes are pretty warm too. The hard part is getting them to start moving, once you do it's not a problem. Be sure to spray deep inside the baffles as much as you can. That's where they are recessed and have to be lubricated if they are really dry and rusty. Because of the recess, it doesn't help to try to spin them. That will only bend the cross bars.

[Coyote]

it doesn't help to try to spin them. That will only bend the cross bars.

That's the ONLY way to get the stuck ones out. Grab the cross bar with vice grips. Straddle the vice grips with a large crescent wrench and proceed to try to turn it. Once it moves the slightest bit, you are home free. Continue to turn back and forth until you can move it about 90 degrees. Then with an assistant pulling on the vice grips for all he's worth, continue to rotate the baffle back and forth. Slowly and surely it will come out.
Willybob, I hope what you are hearing rattling around in there is not rusted out baffle plates. The 550's were infamous for this.

[mike1161]

Another trick I've had good luck with is to use a slide hammer. I have a blind bearing removal tool, and was able to hook up a heavy hook to it, and then with the pipe held steady, you can use the sliding weight on the tool to gradually break them free. I think the impact / vibration helps. But I also sprayed plenty of Liquid Wrench in there beforehand, too. Have to be careful not to bend the cross bar, though....

[joewillybob]

thanks for the advice. after soaking with penetrating oil for a week, I used a open end wrench inserted so that it contacted the crosspiece at both ends, then, used a crescent wrench to turn the baffle. Success! The crud making the noise was not nuts, it was these balls of greasy dirt. Don't know where that came from.