Respiratory health warning!!!!! Fairly urgent for all of us and our kids.

[tri again]

So I got some FMF muffler repack from the local bike shop.

Bothered to get the 'correct' the right stuff for a change.

$10 bucks I figured I 'd make it up some how and since I rarely do anything right, it seemed like a good idea and a bit of a splurge.

I deserve it, right? followed THE DIRECTIONS, not that that mattered,
repacked, fired the trike up, let it settle into it's new mixture, backpressure etc.

Walked up to it 1/2 hr later after idling so perfectly .....

MF!!!!!!

Packing with the FMF fibregalss, my gloves where covered with sparkley fiberglass.

I goosed the throttle not believing that it idled perfectly for so long and it blew fibergalss sparkeles EVERywhere!!!!!!!!

so I turned it towards the sun bass ackwards of course, so I could see, revvved it up and I SWEAR TO GOD
there was a cloud of fiberglass particles reflecting a cubic foootage area the size of a basketball court.

Couldn't run into the wind fast enough. DiD NOT want to breathe that crap. and chased everyone else into the wind too.

Let it idle for anOTHER 1/2 hr since it was running so perfectly, wanting to see if it would calm down, or get hot and 'coagulate', or something...ANYthing to make this project makes sense.


Let it idle and get hot some more, hit the throttle and it puked a HUGE cubic footage of fiberglass sparkles into the wind that blew back on all of us and no way to run with the way the wind was shifting
.

(breathe deep!)


so some one went to the local hardware store, got some stainless steel pot scrubbers
and a couple copper 'teflon fry pan' scrubbers , ripped out the FMF fiberglass packing,
put it carefully into a garbage bag, blew everything off with the compressor,
repacked the muff all with stainless potscrubber AND copper wool,
and refired it up and got the work done we need to.


I am so aggravated right now I stopped what I was doing came inside and posted this so no one else wastes their $$ repacking mufflers with the correct factory approved FMF packing material.


Unless you'all don't mind everyone around you,AND the people riding behind you breathing microscopic airborne fiberglass dust for no reason, figure something else out.

I really only noticed this because the sun was screaming and it was easy to see. (HUGE cloud of fiberglass particulates)

(safety first)

..and STILL really aggravated that someone would sell this toxic (*&^%$#)

AND this whole mfg approved procedure wasted 1/2 of one of the last perfect sunny days before winter sets in.


Just so you know, we have a destination resort here and we take happiness and safety very seriously.rom weddings, funerals, benefits and concerts, we have no choice but to be very serious about making things work and have adopted a Zero tolerance for BS.

..a couple pix to give ya'll an idea of what we do in our 'spare' time.
Typically 8-18,000 people perday and we like to keep things a nice and safe as we can.

sn - I have about 130 yards of creekbed that I keep mowed and it is such the perfect half pipe, say 15 feet wide and 3-4ft deep.

Great way to test trikes before we haul them to the Oregon Dunes.
I guess all the aggravation and work is worth it somehow.



Let's hear it for trying to do things right, and if anyone knows the number of the ceo of this company, pls feel free to have the owner call me at home .

I could really use a laugh and a description of why they think this is not a bad idea.

541 935 4206

Citizens for a better planet.com

[greenhuman]

I have been told by my fibreglass pool building friend that fibreglass shards are not harmfull to people unlike asbestos. I hope he is right.
Not good like you said breathing it in when you don't have to just in case.

[Xpress]

Fiberglass is harmful. It can shred your lungs, and cause bleeding.

[cosmohawk]

I repacked a white bros exhaust can not that long ago using some universal muffler packing material...and it didn`t do anything like what you just mentioned. Man, that`s just weird and wacky. Sounds to me like you got a bad batch of fiberglass. It shouldn`t do what you described. I`ve had it blow out in pieces before, but never in a cloud of glass fibers.

Yeah...don`t breathe it in fir sure.

Kinda like I learned the hard way by not wearing eye protection while using Easy-Off oven cleaner. One eye full of blood from a tiny droplet of the stuff which is super basic and dissolves human tissue on contact.

Be safe out there people. Like they say...you ain`t got nothing if you don`t have your health!

[greenhuman]

Your'e right about the health and safety thing.
I had a friend who worked at a brewery and he fell in a giant vat of beer and drowned.
When the boss contacted his wife she asked if he suffered. The boss said he didn't think so because he got out three times to go to the toilet.

[tri again]

Thanks for listening.

This story is the god's honest truth.


We all ran into the wind and chased the kids when we saw the sparkles.
It was a HUGE cloud and virtually inescapable.


I truly thought it would calm down or quiet spittin' lung imbedding sparkles into the air but we shut it off and repacked it with stainless pot scrubbers and regular steel wool.
since day light was burning and we HAD to get some work done.

We got it running like a typical 250 and ran thru our chores before it got too dark.


Thank god it wasn't asbestos...which hangs in your lungs for EVER and causes cancer by virture of the fact that it irriitates lug tissues and NEVER goes away.


I'm also sure that insoluble fibreglass fibers inhaled are no where near as dangerous if you believe that.!


sorry for the bad news re: fiberglass repacking, but seems like we all have better things to worry about.

If anyone finds a phone number for FMF, I'm just the guy to complain and initiate a recall on their stoopid crap .

One of the most ridiculous things I have EVER encountered.

(still aggravated , I guess)

[bigbadktm]

i bought some off brand packing for my KTM's fmf silencer a while back and did not experience that. you must have gotten some garbage roll. i have never heard of the steel wool and pot scrubber method though, good to know

[Bretmd94]

lol I'm a plumber and have had to crawl under houses through absolute messes of fiberglass insulation. It sucked and yeah I coughed up some crap all day but it wont kill you. It really wont hurt you besides the discomfort. If it did cause anything like cancer we would know because people work in and around it everyday. Your fiberglass packing is fine. The loose stuff will get blown out in the first ride.

And realistically, the exhaust fumes are more harmful to your body. You should probably keep your family away from any gas powered vehicles.

[Dirtcrasher]

I recall my Supertrapp fiberglass having a finished and unfinished side (Or I'm nuts......), I believe I faced the smooth side out and had no issues. Maybe their stuff is crap??

[shortline10]

I recall my Supertrapp fiberglass having a finished and unfinished side (Or I'm nuts......), I believe I faced the smooth side out and had no issues. Maybe their stuff is crap??

Nope your not nuts steve LOL I have some packing also that has a stiff/smooth side to it .

[Yamaha_Rules69]

I used some FMF packing not too long ago, and did a number of my machines. I re-packed my 200x, tecate, yz 250, kx 250, and tri z. I didnt have that happen with any of them, and I was watching it to see if anything would blow out after the fres pack initial startup. I used the 4 stroke packing, because it was $2 more than the 2 stroke I think, but you got twice as much. I agree with a lot that was said above, and think maybe you got a "bad batch" Hopfully you can get to the bottom of this!

[wisconsinite]

i also repacked a silencer this summer with the store bought fiberglass (moose brand i think it was) no glass came out the back that i saw. didn't quiet it down as much as i had hoped. and as dirtcrasher and shortline10 said above, it had a "smooth" and "rough" side, but the constructions did not say which side to put towards the baffle. i think i put the smooth side in.

[NINJA]

This why I ride 2-strokes, all that unburnt sticky oil out the exhaust keeps the fiberglass packing stuck together so it can't give me cancer while I left it idling for half a fuggin hour!

[scooterroo]

never had this problem with any packing, and i have recently redone the silencer on my blaster and on my cousins quadracers. and i used fmf packing, works great.

[TommyBoy1971]

Joe, what the heck do you do with fairies??