2011 RTV Muffler

I noticed a slight rattle coming from the rear of the RTV muffler the past few weeks. I have been in a hurry in everything I've been doing here on the farm since we've been heavy in the A.I. program and had put off a close inspection. Well, that is about finished and the rattle had gotten so aggravating that I put on a glove and just wiggled the tail pipe while I was thinking about it. Much to my dismay, I saw that one side was completely loose yet the bolt was still on and tight on the tail pipe bracket. After removing the tail pipe, I found a fatigued , broken out place where the mounting hole was.
I remember expressing concern about these new mufflers being thinner that my '05s in a thread about the differences in my '05 and '11. It also doesn't have a drain plug like the '05.
Well , my brain started thinking about welding a patch back there and then I said to myself "hey you have a warranty !" I was a little concerned about having removed the arrestor but then heck , that was in the tail pipe and nothing to do with this. I called my dealer , told him about the break out area and he said he would order a new muffler under warranty. I sure like hearing that!! All of you with the mufflers out of the thinner metal like on the 2011 model, check for cracks behind that tail pipe bracket before the warranty goes out!! My temporary wire tie keeps the muffler pipe from rattling quite so bad while I wait for the new muffler to come in. Good Luck and check for cracks in that expensive thing !, bordercollie

Good thing you caught the problem before the tailpipe totally broke off and got lost BorderCollie.
I wonder if there would be a way of reinforcing the new muffler so it could not fatigue and break again?
I am curious what a new muffler will cost when it is replacement time.
The noise running without one at all would probably be nerve wracking too.

That's the truth Cheerio Kid. I put a screwdriver in the temporary wire and wound it tight but will make a great effort to keep my eye on it. I tried running it without the tail pipe but that is just too much racket. I gave a look up inside there without the tail pipe and it looks just like baffles at a couple of different places with a pipe alternating. I heard that they cost $4-500. I do not know for sure.- but anything over a hundred is toooo much for what's there. I do think it would be easy to weld a piece of plate on the rear and patch it . I will probably have to turn in my defective one ,but if I don't, I may experiment on it. bordercollie

$4-500...Ouch
That is a sizable piece of tailpipe Kubota chose to attach to the muffler with just the 2 bolts. Seems like it could be shortened to reduce the flexing stress on the mount.
Hmmm...
Now that I think about it...
I took the hack saw to my spark arrestor screen to eliminate the plugging problem but now I am wondering if maybe by removing that mass (from inside the muffler) it has taken away the counter balance effect. In other words the tailpipes full weight is now put on the 2 bolt mounting plate.

Shhhh CK. I don't want to void my warranty. The metal is just too thin back there anyway to last as long as it should be expected. I will keep ya'll informed when it all comes together. Notice also the 3 little tack welds holding on the front pipe going to the manifold. One looks like a surface puddle to me. Oh gosh, it looks like I did that blob . bordercollie

Yah..
I modified.
But I know you would never do something like that.

bordercollie....

It's the weight of all that extra MUD that you're lugging around that's pulling it down....Me, it's snow but when the muffler gets hot, it just melts and falls off.

Know what you are talking about however..Similiar problem on one of my other Kubotas used (F3060) in my snow clearing enterprise..Metal is just to thin..

CK . Kanook that is not just mud. I sprayed Fluid Film up and under the bed , springs, tubing, etc and so it is nice and "filmy" under that "compost." I do see problems with this muffler in the future though at least for a heavy user like me. I had 299 hrs on it when I talked to the dealer Friday .I will start heavy use again this Spring when I use the weed roto wiper. bordercollie

When you get the new muffler, consider keeping the old. If this new replacement should start to give out once out of the warranty period, you could quickly take the old one to a muffler shop and using the piping on both ends, pop something new (and heavier) in as the muffler. You then have a "hot" (pun intended) spare to drop in.

I wonder if Kubota isn't slacking off a little on quality? I noticed a big difference in some of the parts lately as opposed to 5 years ago.

yea i could a;ways fix that up for ya. i see whats the problem though. it seems from the pictures they have the muffler mounted to the frame and not the engine . if they are gonna mount it to the frame they need to put some rubber bushings on it to compensate for the engine movement other wise it will just crack over and over again.

Peanut said:

yea i could a;ways fix that up for ya. i see whats the problem though. it seems from the pictures they have the muffler mounted to the frame and not the engine . if they are gonna mount it to the frame they need to put some rubber bushings on it to compensate for the engine movement other wise it will just crack over and over again.

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I wonder why they changed the mounting method from the way it was on the old style muffler?

Huh? Eh?? They will never see that kind of money from me for a muffler. It only cost $240 for one for my 1988 Case backhoe. Only reason I went to Case is because of the tailpipe being on the tilting hood. That is just crazy pricing when I can replace a whole exhaust system on my truck for that price.(minus the cat)

Cheerio_Kid said:

I wonder why they changed the mounting method from the way it was on the old style muffler?

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don't know how the old ones was made don't have a rtv . but i take it the old ones must have had a buffer or something to take the vibrations from the engine moving.

Peanut said:

don't know how the old ones was made don't have a rtv . but i take it the old ones must have had a buffer or something to take the vibrations from the engine moving.

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I bet you are right Peanut.
I spent some time this afternoon looking at the muffler mount on my RTV1100 and I can see that the muffler itself looks mounted sturdy enough but that tailpipe definitely could use some additional support.
Maybe BorderCollie remembers what her old one had for support.

I looked for a picture of the '05's muffler and only found one slightly showing it. It mounts to the engine/transmission also . It is the thickness difference of the muffler metal that concerns me. The pictures show a little bit of the difference in style.The first two are of the 2011 and the last picture is of the '05. The welds on the old muffler look to be complete around the pipe and has a " recess" on each end of the muffler with ridge similar to a barrel. bordercollie

I put on the new muffler this morning . There is a warning about torquing the bolts where it attaches to the engine and the mounting bolt at it's base. It says the area where the four bolts mount to the engine manifold should be carefully torqued to specs or it can crack there. I did that to 20 ft lbs but check your manual as it might be different. I also went on and put on the complete spark arrestor. There is a hole in one of the inner muffler "baffles" that the end of the arrestor slides in. When you take out your arrestor to clean it, you can feel it slip in when you go to replace it. When I have problems with soot , I may still have to adapt as in dremel, screen , length remaining the same...... bordercollie

@bordercollie - I've been really happy with my 2011XT but I have a question for you. When moving mine has always had a little buzz or whining sound compared to my 2005. It kind of sounds like an auxillary hydraulic pump. Since it does it while under way I can't pin it down. I don't think anything is wrong and it's not annoying, just different. Does yours make that same noise? Thanks

doggman said:

@bordercollie - I've been really happy with my 2011XT but I have a question for you. When moving mine has always had a little buzz or whining sound compared to my 2005. It kind of sounds like an auxillary hydraulic pump. Since it does it while under way I can't pin it down. I don't think anything is wrong and it's not annoying, just different. Does yours make that same noise? Thanks

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Hi Doggman, I am sorry for the late reply - it was a long cow working day day till 10p. I did notice different sounds when I first got the '11 but haven't noticed a whine lately . I do have a little buzz coming from the air intake's rubber squeeze "valve" when the air gets by. I will listen more closely and report back.
I also get a little aggravated at the squeaking coming from the roll bar. I have tightened the nuts and bolts there to no avail . It seems to be flexing a tad when I stress the frame like going over a dirt pile or in a ditch. I am keeping a close eye on all the welds . Do ya'll have that squeaking? It was never like that on the '05 of mine. When I added my homemade console , I think it helped with the squeaking because it acts like a stabilizer there between the side bars and the front. bordercollie

doggman said:

@bordercollie - I've been really happy with my 2011XT but I have a question for you. When moving mine has always had a little buzz or whining sound compared to my 2005. It kind of sounds like an auxillary hydraulic pump. Since it does it while under way I can't pin it down. I don't think anything is wrong and it's not annoying, just different. Does yours make that same noise? Thanks

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Doggman, I got to thinking today of a buzz sound that I did notice when I first got the '11. (I had forgotten about it) I heard this noise that was somewhere between a vibration and a buzz. It was the seat belt mechanism . It will vibrate at a certain pitch when the conditions are just right. I put my hand over on it and that was the sure enough the source of the noise. I will try to think on this and see if I can come up with anything else I have just become accustomed to. bordercollie