Stock muffler teardown

Has anyone ever carefully cut apart the stock factory muffler on something like the Kohler command?

I'm thinking that these mufflers do a pretty good job of making it quieter.

So taking one apart carefully, might reveal how we could make our own, only beefier, and quieter.

If I had an extra one, I might give it a try, but I don't want to take apart the one that is in use. It's more important right now to have the stock one on there. For me, this project would take the back burner to a whole slew of other things I have to do before I consider building a new exhaust.

Hoping someone else has carefully cut one apart, and can post some pictures.

as far as i know, its just mesh in there. also depends on what kind of muffler youre talking too though. usually we just straight pipe all our stuff. lol

Later today I can cut one apart and post pictures if you want

craftsmancole wrote:

Later today I can cut one apart and post pictures if you want

Excellent! Thank you!

Google   

It's all about packing material and restriction without restricting really.

https://www.google.com/search?q=muffler+cutaway&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nmxZU57LM4Kp4ATy-4FI&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=772

Thunderdivine wrote:

Google   

It's all about packing material and restriction without restricting really.

https://www.google.com/search?q=muffler+cutaway&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nmxZU57LM4Kp4ATy-4FI&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=772

Looks like I dont have to cut one apart now.

craftsmancole wrote:

Looks like I dont have to cut one apart now.

That's not a standard muffler.

I'd like to see the guts of a standard, square muffler.

But I DON'T want you to feel like you "have" to cut one apart. Seriously. It's not like I'll use the information immediately. LOL

Angchor wrote:

craftsmancole wrote:

Looks like I dont have to cut one apart now.

That's not a standard muffler.

I'd like to see the guts of a standard, square muffler.

But I DON'T want you to feel like you "have" to cut one apart. Seriously.

I can still cut one apart I have like 10 of them laying around that I don't need

I could cut some up too, I saved a bunch of stock stuff that I'll probably never use. Most mower mufflers just go through a baffle with some holes in it. The bigger ones might be a little more intricate.

i wander if this will help you
http://www.jackssmallengines.com/strapmod.cfm

Don't know about others but Briggs are like this

I'd like to see the inside of a mower muffler too.

Here is a muffler from a briggs 12.5 hp vertical shaft engine on a simplicity 4211.


Two baffles and some off set tubes. Much more elaborate than I was expecting for a lawn mower. Pretty much like the inside of a car muffler.


Basicly you just want to have places for the sound to be trapped and dissapate while allowing a relatively free flowing path for the exhaust gases.

I took and ran my muffler backwards and removed a baffle and it sounds better but not straight piped. got some low tones at idle and somewhat loud at WOT.

mr.modified wrote:

Two baffles and some off set tubes. Much more elaborate than I was expecting for a lawn mower. Pretty much like the inside of a car muffler.

Thank you, thank you!!!

That is exactly what I needed.

I kind of expected it to be a bit more complicated than most were thinking it would be. Because these little mufflers do a surprisingly good job of deadening the sound.

Now, when the time comes, I'll have some idea of how to go about copying them, but making it beefier, and possibly quieter.

Thanks again!

This muffler off a Briggs 12.5hp flathead was loud like a straightpipe. Now I know why...


Replaced it with one like mainemudmower drew on the first page.

Does anyone know of a way I can quite my mower down? My neighbors will put up with all of my crazy toys aslong as they are quite. My mower is loud as heck and they dont like it   

i dont know if you can do this with mowers im sure you can but awhile back i had a atv. i would drive around A LOT and neighbors were getting a little annoyed so i got sos pads or steel wool whatever you want to call it stuffed it in the muffler. then took a window screen and a hose clamp stuck the window screen over the exhaust pipe and then stuck the hose clamp on the pipe to keep the steel wool from flying out it worked kept it very quiet and made my neighbors happy.

Craftsman1998 wrote:

i dont know if you can do this with mowers im sure you can but awhile back i had a atv. i would drive around A LOT and neighbors were getting a little annoyed so i got sos pads or steel wool whatever you want to call it stuffed it in the muffler. then took a window screen and a hose clamp stuck the window screen over the exhaust pipe and then stuck the hose clamp on the pipe to keep the steel wool from flying out it worked kept it very quiet and made my neighbors happy.

that is a great idea! i was thinking the other day (a rare occurrence) and i realized that i need something I can drive without scaring the little kids. this looks like an easy solution!

1997 Murray wrote:

Craftsman1998 wrote:

i dont know if you can do this with mowers im sure you can but awhile back i had a atv. i would drive around A LOT and neighbors were getting a little annoyed so i got sos pads or steel wool whatever you want to call it stuffed it in the muffler. then took a window screen and a hose clamp stuck the window screen over the exhaust pipe and then stuck the hose clamp on the pipe to keep the steel wool from flying out it worked kept it very quiet and made my neighbors happy.

that is a great idea! i was thinking the other day (a rare occurrence) and i realized that i need something I can drive  without scaring the little kids. this looks like an easy solution!

I will have to go and pick up some steel wool and test that out oneday soon

The key to performance and quietness is volume.  Looking at the vast array of mufflers, you will notice that the larger the muffler, the quieter it generally will be.  And the better it will work for performance, being that it can deaden the sound with baffles, but not create excessive back pressure.  Larger passages = better flow.  

High Performance mufflers are sort of an oxymoron.  But Glass packs have always been the Go-To for hot rod boys since they're a straight through muffler that sounds good because the packing eliminates most of the high frequency noise.  They provide a good low rumble when putting around the yard, but they will also give up a good healthy bark at WOT.  This is what I'm running.

Angchor:  If you have room, a small automotive muffler would work great for what you're looking for.  You can grab a pile of 'em from any garage.  My garage has 3 of them right now in the scrap pile.  Too bad you're so far away lol!

edit: Also, with a larger volume muffler, you can have a much smaller outlet. Reason being that the pulses will smooth out inside the muffler and don't require a large opening to let out each pulse. So instead of emitting large abrupt pulses, the muffler will emit smaller smoother pulses, more like a whisper compared to a pop.