XF250 Rear breakline touching muffler

[El Jimador]

I figure this can't be good. I just noticed that the rear break line is touching the exhaust pipe. I have ridden about 75 miles over the last week. I'm sure it has already endured substantial heat.

The hard tube of the brake line forces the flex line in that direction. I might be able to bend that hard tube. It is pretty tight behind the vertical frame member. Any thoughts?

I apologize for not having the photo placement figured out yet.

Jim

[Adjuster]

Your right about that not being a good thing. You may have to remove, reroute and bleed the line. Bending may do it. You only need to be a few centimeters away. Definitely do not want it touching the muffler.


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[ripcuda]

Does it touch when you sit on the bike with the rear suspension compressed?

If so, yeah... create a gap. Ziptie or slight bend in the hard line.

Cheers!

[El Jimador]

Sitting on bike didn't help. The hard tube was pretty stiff due to contacting the vertical frame member about 2" back. A pry bar and some gentle coaxing got about 1cm of separation. I was scared to push it further than that.

Note the plastic on the exhaust and melted spot on the tube. I hope that will be OK. Those flex lines appear to be wrapped in SS braid, then in plastic tubing (partially melted) and then in spiral wire.

[The Thinker]

I agree with ripcuda, I think the only option is to carefully put a slight bend in the hardline. Just do it nice and slow with caution and it will be fine.

[Weldangrind]

Is there a banjo bolt that you can loosen, so as to clock the hose? Can you adjust the position of the master, by drilling new mounting holes?

[dh]

Here is a photo of my rear brake line; yours appears to be in the same position so my guess is yours has a pipe/muffler position problem. My stock muffler mounts were not aligned all that well (mounting bolts were all stripped)but with a little grinding they are now.

Have you tried loosening the muffler from the pipe and see if it wants to slide or twist away from the brake line?

[dh]

Hmm... At a second glance of your photo, your muffler clamp/bolt looks like it's about to fall off. Did you loosen or did the bike doing that on its own?

[Weldangrind]

Excellent observation, DH. Perhaps the exhaust can be manipulated out of the way.

[El Jimador]

Thanks for the suggestions, all!

dh,

Your pic helped me to see what it should look like.


Here is a different view of my muffler/pipe connection. The bolt is tight even thought it is skewed. I wonder if you have as much wadding/shim/bushing material in between as I do. I can't see your bolt so I'm not sure. I figure my clamp doesn't lay flat because of the extra diameter. I have enough gap to continue with my short break-in rides, but I'd like a better solution.

Weldangrind, I can bend the hard tube a bit more, but I am quite limited by its contact with the frame upright as it turns 90 degrees towards the front of the bike. There is just not very much room there. I could reroute the entire line as Adjuster suggested, but would love to avoid that.

Next step will be loosening and refitting the muffler/tail pipe. I haven't done that before , but I expect that I won't be bending that pipe appreciably. I am a weekend warrior blacksmith, but I fear that pipe would not look too good if I took to it with hammer and anvil.

Thanks again,
Jim

[dh]

I can't see the latest photo, but my muffler clamp ends do seem to fit a bit differently. As far as refitting the muffler, I bet you could get the space you need pretty easily without doing any harm to the muffler or pipe.

When I took my muffler off I found there are some spacers (1/4" x 3/8" steel tubing) tacked between the mounts on the muffler and the frame that were poorly placed. They were partially blocking the mounting holes and were causing the muffler to twist, putting a lot of pressure on the pipe/muffler joint. I cut the welds off the spacers which allowed the muffler to slip on the pipe without too much binding/twisting going on.