Any suggestions on a source for a small engine muffler?

[Brian Elfert]

I bought a riding mower that has been re-powered with a different engine. The new engine required a different muffler that was welded together by someone. The muffler is completely broke and needs replacement. There is no off the shelf muffler I can just buy and it will work.

Any ideas on a retail place I could go to that would have a variety of small engine mufflers to look at?

[David Weaver]

What is the new engine?

[Wes Mitchell]

I've had decent luck with NAPA for small engine parts in the Twin Cities. If you know the distance between the bolts they may have a way to look it up in their books.

[Brian Elfert]

The replacement engine is an Onan Elite 140 (E140H). There is an original muffler for the engine I can get, but I'll be up over $125 if I go that route. The muffler on there is a Nelson, but it appears Nelson no longer makes one quite the same. Someone had welded the muffler to the exhaust manifold. I am planning to cut the welded part off of the exhaust manifold and then put a clamp-on muffler on what is left. The pipe appears to be 1.25" OD.

I was going to get a muffler from Napa, but it isn't stocked in the local warehouse. I'm going to try Mill's Fleet Farm this evening.

[ray hampton]

it will be more work for you but the pipe can be bigger if you want to weld it on

[Lee Schierer]

The pipe appears to be 1.25" OD.

If there is enough pipe to thread you can use a pipe coupler and a screw in muffler from Briggs & Straton.291026

[Brian Elfert]

I was looking at the screw-in mufflers, but none appear to be big enough for a 14 HP motor. Most are 3/4" with a few 1".

I'm hoping the muffler shop has 1.25" pipe to make me a custom pipe to work with the muffler I found.

[Brian Elfert]

The muffler shop has no 1.25" exhaust pipe so they can't help me. It looks like a 1.375" exhaust pipe should barely slide over my 1.25" pipe. I ordered a 1.375" exhaust pipe since nobody seems to carry that size either. I am going to use a tractor muffler. It might look ridiculous with the tractor muffler, but I spent $50 instead of $150+ for the original Onan parts.

[Mac McQuinn]

Did you check with any small engine repair facilities in your area?, they typically have a lot of used stuff lying around.
Mac

[Mike Lassiter]

if you have a muffler shop around close you can get them to expand the inlet ID of whatever muffler you want to use that would let it fit right over the pipe you need the muffler to go on. That's how they make exhaust pipes. Expand the end of one pipe to fit over a pipe of the same size. You could probably eliminate pipe completely and just use the muffler.

[Brian Elfert]

I need the exhaust pipe to get the exhaust out from under the hood so I can then attach the muffler. I tried a small engine shop and they had no real interest in helping.

[Jerome Stanek]

Have you tried a motorcycle shop

[David Weaver]

I need the exhaust pipe to get the exhaust out from under the hood so I can then attach the muffler. I tried a small engine shop and they had no real interest in helping.

Back in the day, we had a lot of folks who cobbled together an exhaust like you're describing and just ran it out of the engine cover and had the muffler on the outside. I always thought it looked cool when I was a kid.

[Brian Elfert]

Back in the day, we had a lot of folks who cobbled together an exhaust like you're describing and just ran it out of the engine cover and had the muffler on the outside. I always thought it looked cool when I was a kid.

This is what I am doing. The riding mower has about a six inch wide section that is open all the way around the engine. I am going to run the exhaust through that area and then use a small tractor muffler aimed upwards. I ordered the extra stuff I needed from Amazon because I thought it would be here Friday. It turns out my stuff isn't scheduled for delivery until next week. So much for two day delivery with Prime. I have no immediate need for the mower. I do need to move it to storage for now, but I want to get the muffler issue taken care of first.

[Brian Elfert]

My stuff arrived from Amazon today. It only took me about 30 minutes to put everything together. The problem is it is still LOUD! It quieted down a fair bit at idle, but at full throttle it could wake the dead. I used a tractor muffler from a local Farm and Fleet place. Picture attached.

I'm not sure what to do now. I checked with the local Cummins/Onan dealer and the parts for the original Onan muffler would cost almost $200 with tax! I might try a small engine service place, but renting a trailer is $30 each way. I don't want to throw more money at this if the problem is something in the engine and not just the muffler.

[ray hampton]

your muffler are TOO close to your seat , move it two feet toward the back and the sound will also drop

[Brian Elfert]

While I do agree the muffler is too close to the seat, it is no closer to the seat than the original muffler. I don't see how moving the muffler a foot or two back would help much. It is so loud at full throttle that the neighbors would be calling the sheriff about the noise if I tried to mow the lawn.

[Brian Elfert]

I ended up buying a Vanguard 18 HP engine and replacing the engine in the mower. The new engine is much quieter. I am still having some minor electrical issues and I have to hook up the the choke yet. I'm not sure if I put the electric clutch on properly so I need to fix that also. I almost think it might have been better to pay the $600 to have the shop do the install. I spent about $100 on renting a hoist and various parts.

[Bryan Rocker]

Did some searching and you are right, the muffer, 155-2917 is around $150, however, I was able to get a parts listing and you might be able to use it to find what you need, I would suggest searching for a scrapped Onan and take it off there. Here is the link to the parts manual.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDsQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lozeman.de%2Fgetfile.php%3Fid %3D2463%26type%3Dregister&ei=aOmwU8rwJdKzyATFz4DoAg&usg=AFQjCNGi8ydT3Lx_AwKheKgdGAX6GB4hJg&sig2=c_jla6Df6vtIeMS0TgvYcQ&bvm=bv.69837884,d.aWw&cad=rja

I used to work on them when I was much younger, if the repair shop you went to wasn't interested try finding a dedicated onan repair site.

Bryan Rocker

[Brian Elfert]

Did some searching and you are right, the muffer, 155-2917 is around $150, however, I was able to get a parts listing and you might be able to use it to find what you need, I would suggest searching for a scrapped Onan and take it off there. Here is the link to the parts manual.


I can actually get the muffler for $100 from the local Cummins dealer. The problem is you also have to buy the bracket, exhaust manifold, and gasket which brings the total to around $200. I tried to find a scrap engine to pull the muffler from, but everyone says the E140H was junk and there are not many out there. Most Onans I found are the two cylinder models instead of the single cylinder model.

It is a moot point now since I re-powered with a Vanguard engine. I talked to several shops and they all thought I was throwing money at an engine that was still going to be noisy with a new muffler. They also said the single cylinder Onan is junk.

[ray hampton]

will you let everyone know how the new motor work at cutting your grass

[Brian Elfert]

I think I may have broken the electric clutch during the re-power process so I might not be mowing any grass for another week or two. The shop I got the engine from is going to take a look at my clutch for me.

[Brian Elfert]

I got a replacement clutch this evening so I might be able to mow this weekend. The clutch is slightly different so I might have to have 1/4" machined from the hub on the other pulley on the shaft. (My friend has a milling machine.)

[Brian Elfert]

I got everything put together except I have to run the choke cable. The new electric clutch fit fine after I reversed the drive pulley and moved the spacers on the shaft around. I had an issue with the engine dying when I engaged the electric clutch, but it turned out I had hooked the ground to a stud that goes to the magneto instead of a ground stud. It works fine after moving the ground. I should have everything 100% back together and cleaned up by this evening.