I am looking to purchase a new add on exhaust system for my 2004.5 Polaris Sporstman 500HO. I am considering the ATV stealth and the Benz Silent Rider. I will be using my sporstman to hunt this next fall and I am looking for input on amount of noise reduction, ease of insatallation. maintanece and price. Looking forward to hearing input from those of you who may have used either of these systems. Thanks for your time, Ride On! Goodyz71

 

About a year ago I helped my neighbor put a second muffler on his Sportsman 500 HO. We went to a Midas muffler shop and purchased a baffled (not straight through) muffler for a small car. It measured 14" long, 6.5" wide, and 3" tall. It had 1.5" inlet and outlet connections. We removed his stock muffler/spark arrestor and modified the 1" outlet tube to accept a piece of 1.5" steel flex pipe by welding a steel 1"x1.5" tubing fitting to the muffler. The steel flex slipped over this adaptor perfectly. We used a 1.5" muffler clamp and re-installed the stock muffler. We mounted the new muffler up under the rear deck with steel straps we made by hand. The 1.5" steel flex was bent to form a 90 degree elbow into the new muffler. One more 1.5" muffler clamp at this connection. On the discharge end of the new muffler we added a 90 degree elbow looking down to deflect the hot gasses toward the ground.

Man! It really works great. All you can hear is the valves clicking on the engine. The Polaris engine is notorious for the loud valves. The typical bub-bub-bub-bub sound of the 500 HO is completely gone. The installation only took two hours and was easy. Of course we planned ahead and made sure we had all the right parts before we started. From the rear you can hardly see anything. In fact it looks just like some of the original frame under the rear deck. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a sneaky machine.

I just bought a new ATP 500 HP in October and now that hunting season is over I plan to do the same to mine.

Good luck.

 

Thanks Swizzler, Thanks for the info, do you remember about how much you had invested in doing everything yourselves compared to purchasing one of the two mentioned over the counter silencers i mentioned? Thanks again and good luck this next hunting season! Ride on! Goodyz71

 

Yes I do. I'm sorry I didn't mention it. That is another great benefit to doing things yourself. The muffler was $23, the little adapter fitting was about $2, and the flex pipe was $4. So for $29 and a little time we ended up with an excellent second muffler.

 

This is interesting. I saw a picture in Dirt Wheels of a setup someone did where they somehow added two small lawn mower mufflers to the 'exhaust circuit' and claimed it was GREAT - and at some ridiculously low price.

But the comment about "Valve noise" is my concern. On our 400's, it seems to me that the majority of noise DOES come from the engine, and not the exhaust. So I wonder about the value of paying upwards of $200 for the Stealth Exhaust if my motor makes most of the noise anyway. Any thoughts? I like quiet, and I'm even willing to PAY for quiet, but how do you quiet an engine short of shutting it down, which defeats the purpose of owning it? :-)

 

I got an idea. park your quad and walk around or sit in the bush. Guaranteed cheapest way to make the least amount of noise.

 

Yep...there's one in every bunch ain't there?

I'm planning on buying a Stealth or Benz too. I don't intend on ever "road" hunt from my 500HO but it will get me somewhere near where I plan to hike to and I'd like to do it with the least impact possible.

 

My buddy has one on his Polaris 700(Benz muffler) and he did not think it was worth the money. I have ridden it and it really isn't much quieter than my stock A/C TRV 500. I bet a small car muffler would be better but wonder the impact on the motors output with more backpressure. It may also need rejetted on the carb?????

 

Well, I finally got around to putting one on my own ATV and I <u>LOVE</u> it. Like I mentioned in my post above, I used a tiny car muffler that is not a straight-through flow but a baffled one. It installs easily and is almost out of sight when looking at the ATV from the rear. Painted everything hi-temp flat black and it looks good. I'd post some pics but I don't have a camera that works.

The only thing that you can hear is the valves. And they're pretty loud.

I have tested it over and over again and I don't notice any change in preformance. If anything there may be a little bit better mid-range power. But it may be just my imagination.

I would highly recommend a home-brew silencer upgrade like this to everyone. Even you Kodiakowner. Although a loud exhaust is probably necessary to overpower your mouth.

 

Sorry swizzler but I dont agree with you. We have shot more Moose/ Deer with a quad or trike engine running for that matter than without. If anything, it makes them curious and then they want to come and see what all the noise is about.

Dont beleive me? I dont give as Rats A$$. Me moose tastes good this year.


For you future naysayers, We ride our quads to where we want to hike. Then we walk around or find us a good spot and get our freezer fulled up with tastey steaks.

Sometimes you just see them when driving your quad to your walking spot, thats all. Would you pass up a whitetail that scored just under 170 points after deductions if you were driving your quad down the trail to your walking spot and he stood there looking at you for 30 seconds, after you took out your 7mm? I think not. My dad sure didnt and he will be a nice mount on the wall.

But, good for you on saving a few bucks by making a silent muffler on your quad. Swizzler, I'll keep my muffler the way it is and take a few bucks and put them in the freezer while I am at it.

Happy hunting.

Swizzler, just not too sure why you singled me out thats all.