ATV silencer

[fishing is hot]

Does anyone have any experience with this ATV silencer? It looks like it would be better than the ones with flex tubing and it is less money. I would like to install one on a Honda Rubicon

[Dave]

You're in luck, I've tested one, and it was tested on a Honda Rubicon. The "flex tube" silencer you're talking about is probably the ATV Stealth. Anyway, here's what I thought.

Also, shoot me an email at [email protected] and I can send you some pics of it mounted on a Rubicon.

The Silent Rider aluminized steel exhaust add-on is an additional muffler that attaches to the stocker muffler system of most four-stroke ATVs. The system consists of the muffler, a muffler adapter and some clamps for mounting.
The first piece of the Silent Rider system is the muffler adapter; which joins the Silent Rider muffler to the ATV’s stock muffler. This adapter can either be the weld-on type (included) or the bolt-on type, which is about $22 extra. We elected the easier install and used the bolt-on adapter. After removing the stock tailpipe from our Honda Rubicon’s muffler, the three original bolts were used to bolt on the Benz muffler adapter. A gasket is also included to seal any exhaust leaks between the stock muffler and adapter. We encountered a problem with the alignment of the mounting holes on the adapter, however. We had to redrill the mounting holes of the adapter larger, to accommodate the misaligned hole locations. We can’t speak for other model applications but for the Rubicon model, Benz should address this minor problem with the bolt-on adapter.
Next, the Silent Rider is unlike other “add-on” silencers in that instead of clamping the silencer onto the exhaust adapter, the Silent Rider system press fits onto the muffler’s adapter pipe. With taps from a piece of wood and a twisting action, the Benz Silent Rider slipped onto the adapter pipe snugly and easily. Now, two rubber-lined clamps are included in the system, which secure the Silent Rider to the rear rack tubes or ATV frame tubes. The metal hangers on the Benz Silent Rider can be bent by hand (we tapped them into place using a piece of wood) to make fastening alignment easier. Mounting the Silent Rider was indeed easy and fast. It took about ½-hour and that included redrilling the adapter-mounting holes.
Since testing took place during winter, it was easy to spot small leaks of exhaust vapor exiting from between the bolt-on adapter and stock muffler. A little retightening (being careful not to break the small mounting bolts) of the bolt-on adapter took care of this leaky observation. Noted from the manufacturer and observed by us was the awful smell of the paint being baked on as the Silent Rider got warm. The tone from the Silent Rider was lower than that of a stock Honda Rubicon exhaust. The Silent Rider did make an already quiet Honda Rubicon exhaust quieter. No torque or top speed decrease was noticed when trail riding, either. The Silent Rider stayed securely mounted, too. With the Silent Rider installed, your quad’s length with increase about 5-inches. This may create a problem for some owners if limited space is available when you haul the machine.
Overall, the Benz Silent Rider looks and tests to be a quality product that will benefit some ATV owners looking for a quieter presence on the trail. The standard heat shield it also a nice addition but still be careful around a hot exhaust. The $149 price tag isn’t extreme and that includes shipping as well.

[This message has been edited by Dave (edited 01-07-2004).]