[Chips O'Toole]

I have a John Deere diesel garden tractor with a heinous muffler design, which has failed. Instead of paying $256 for another glorified certified-green...can...I am installing something else. I tried to attach my creative new muffler with a clamp, but it won't work, so a weld is needed.

Is there any reason why I can't MIG this? It's a lawnmower exhaust pipe, so it doesn't have to meet NASA standards. If I do MIG it, does it matter what kind of wire I use?

[Coldman]

Use 309 mig wire, no probs.

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[Chips O'Toole]

Thanks.

[tweake]

309 is the proper wire, but i doubt you will buy a roll just for an exhaust. the other thing is you should also use stainless mig gas.
however its a lawnmower, using whatever steel mig wire you have will work ok.

[BillE.Dee]

watch it close Chips. I just had to weld the muffler on my mower. I was mowing along and things got pretty loud, looked back and there it was ...DOL ... dead on lawn. the carbon inside also posed somewhat of a problem and the existing metal went PFFFFTT in a hurry. Good luck, and when you get done there, c'mon over,,,i have 4 acres to mow.

Bill

[Oscar]

You can MIG it, How well you want the weld to look/corrode is up to you. Regular mild steel wire will ultimately lead to corrosion as it will spread into the stainless eventually.

[Chips O'Toole]

watch it close Chips. I just had to weld the muffler on my mower. I was mowing along and things got pretty loud, looked back and there it was ...DOL ... dead on lawn. the carbon inside also posed somewhat of a problem and the existing metal went PFFFFTT in a hurry. Good luck, and when you get done there, c'mon over,,,i have 4 acres to mow.

Bill

I'll be over tomorrow at noon, and I'm also bringing a $1 million check from Publisher's Clearinghouse. Make sure I can identify your house. Stand out front in a pink dress.

On a more serious note, thanks.

My old muffler snapped off because of vibration, I think. It's very heavy. I'm wondering if diesel filth accumulated inside of it and made it more likely to break.

[Coldman]

A 2# roll of .030 309 off ebay would be $20 or less delivered. Handy to have. For the mower use c25 gas, don't bother with trimix. Muffler won't fall off again.

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[tweake]

My old muffler snapped off because of vibration, I think. It's very heavy. I'm wondering if diesel filth accumulated inside of it and made it more likely to break.

vibration is the biggest thing. they are not a car engine so vibrations are usually poor.
add in heat cycles and corrosion, fairly common for them to break.

[Chips O'Toole]

The tractor shudders a lot at low speeds, so it's no wonder the muffler tore off. When it happened, I started Googling around for info, and I learned that this happens a lot with this model, so it seemed stupid to replace the muffler with the same part.

Some guy on a forum replaced his with a car resonator and made the weld and everything look nice, but he had to cut a hole in the side cover of his tractor, and I'm not ready to do that yet.

I have stainless wire. I bought it to fix a mount for a nerf bar. I succeeded in using it to weld a broken corner back onto a cast iron motor base. That amazed me.

[Mike Westbrook]

J d has a bulletin for the yanmars to turn the idle up around 12-1400 where they smooth out still shut down fine and won't fling parts off at idle

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[Chips O'Toole]

Wow. Thanks for that info. I wonder if it's safe to engage the mower deck at that speed.

[noddybrian]

Only if the flux capacitor is fully charged !

All joking aside is it possible to use a cheap automotive flexible pipe mounted to the manifold to isolate the vibration & fit a muffler remote mounted to the frame somewhere ? not seen whatever model you have so unsure if this is practical - failing that if most of the weight of the muffler is hanging on the pipe can you make some stay brackets to support it ?

[BillE.Dee]

THANKS A BUNCH,,,Chips...the check bounced and this pink dress is really gaining attention in jail.

I found that the flex pipe on the muffler will work for a bit but it too will give up from vibration. Almost like that job Coldman was working on with the pram exhaust from the Cat engine. Some flexing is ok with the pipe away from the direct heat and vibrations..but .. being close might be a challenge.

[Chips O'Toole]

I don't think my current setup puts enough weight on the exhaust pipe to hurt it. If it does, hopefully it will just break the $86 exhaust pipe and not the exhaust manifold.

[Mike Westbrook]

Wow. Thanks for that info. I wonder if it's safe to engage the mower deck at that speed.

It's fine done a bunch cut the safety wire turn the idle stop in until it smooths out jam the 10 mm nut those originally had a 1200 idle but the injection pump delivery valves wear over time lowering the idle so slow you won't notice untill it shakes like a salt spreader vibrator at idle ..yanmars like to sing there good jap diesels

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[Chips O'Toole]

I got the pipes welded. It looks pretty atrocious, but it will hold. I made an obvious mistake. I wasn't sure what setting to use, so I opted for the higher of the two that I was looking at, and it was too much.

The wire I had on hand was 308L .025". I used argon. It was either that or C25.

I picked up a Titanium Unlimited 200 from Harbor Freight. I don't have 240 here yet, and my generator is in the process of recovering from ethanol problems, so it may be a few days before I can get the Lincoln running. I wanted to get one of these little welders anyway. Seems very nice for what you pay. It's nice and light. I may get a couple of little bottles for it.

I didn't pop for the warranty. I have a little knowledge of electronics, so I'm betting I can replace anything in it that explodes.

Unfortunately, while I was testing the pipe, the grill fell off the tractor, and I ran over it. When I set it aside, and got back on, the tractor wouldn't start. I figured there was some kind of safety thing that wouldn't let me start it because I had stopped it with the PTO engaged, but it turned out the battery had chosen that exact moment to die.

Now I have to see if I can straighten the grill out.