Has anyone ever upgraded the muffler on their lawn mower?
- Thread starter slacktide_bitog
- Start date
Put some zoomies on it.
They could, but would raise costs. I suspect regular lawn mower sales are very competitive, many being sold at big box stores that tend to stock the lower priced offerings. It is possible an extra $20 muffler could price them out of quite a few sales.
For Honda generators, I think it's mostly about Honda's packaging around the engine that makes their quiet line so quiet.
I have a 1999 model year, 21" Honda mower with the first of the GCV160 engines on it. It's the 'cheaper' steel deck, single speed self propelled model. It is amazingly quiet for a push mower. I think I paid around $379 for it back then. I don't use it much anymore and the cable is ripped out of the gearbox for the self propell, but she still starts right up.
manicrodder
$50 site donor 2022
Flowmowster!
I had a Toro Recycler 22" (B&S 190cc) that had the blade brake, I was surprised to find out how much louder it was with the blade engaged. It was actually pretty quiet when the blade wasn't spinning from what I remember.
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- May 28, 2014
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And faster too...Flowmasters make everything sound better
Bingo!
70-80% of the noise coming from a walk behind lawnmower is generated by the blade and it's cutting action.
Having said that, B&S does manufacture a large flat semi rectangular trapezoidal shaped baffled low tone muffler for many of the flatheads. It mounts with 2 shoulder bolts and a gasket (a separate item) at the exhaust outlet. Use the engine model number stamped in the cooling shroud (NOT the model number on the lawnmower deck) to find the correct muffler (and gasket) for your engine.
They also manufacture a exhaust deflector. It mounts on all of their mufflers at the 4 holes next to the exhaust outlet. You can mount this to your current muffler to direct the exhaust towards the front of the mower which will quiet it down for the operator slightly.
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It's kind of a waste of time/money. A different muffler may change the exhaust note, but most of the noise comes from the engine internals and the spinning blade. Some deck designs can allow for quieter running due to the airflow, and in the case of the Honda GCV engines having a timing belt cuts down on the valvetrain noise.
I’d like to know where I can get some tuned headers for my v-twin mower. 
Our neighborhood kinda works on the “who just mowed“ method. One person on the block will mow in the morning. By the evening, or the next day, everyone else starts theirs. It’s funny because no one will mow until one person actually starts on his lawn.I like for my neighbors to hear me mow my lawn
Haha, they actually can sound pretty good, there was a guy who was bombing around the streets on a riding mower that was geared up with some more open exhaust and when I heard it around the corner I thought it was a harley until I saw it.I’d like to know where I can get some tuned headers for my v-twin mower.
This is the absolute truth. A bigger muffler makes a different sound mostly a deeper note and more tolerable but the parts clanking inside still make it loud.
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