Mounting the exhaust gasket

Is it me or the gasket?!

I've ruined two gaskets now. The first one was actually meant for a Kawasaki, but somewhere I read that it should also fit the GRiSO, and since this was more easily available, I decided to give it a try. It nearly fit...

I then ordered an original one from Stein Dinse and put much effort into mounting it carefully. Got it more or less nicely onto the end of the pipe, but some how felt that I was pressing my luck slightly. This was confirmed when I tried to slide the muffler on, - I couldn't get it on without damaging the gasket, even when using oil, prayers and swearing.
How the hell do you do this?

I've now gone back to using my "temporary" substitute, a version made of aluminium. Which works fairly well.
But I would still like to know how you manage?!

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Have u tried an universal pipe expander. I found mine at a Napa parts store. It's taken most the fight out of stock exhaust reassembly.

Gootzibird13 wrote:

Have u tried an universal pipe expander. I found mine at a Napa parts store. It's taken most the fight out of stock exhaust reassembly.

No I haven't, but that would of course be an alternative...
It seems however, to be a little "overkill" when mounting an original gasket, shouldn't be necessary, I mean...

It all depends on the situation. Myself I have always overtightened my clamps a bit past spec, to avoid any exhaust leaks. The tremendous forces that are achieved by the clamps themselves will alter pipe diameter. The muffler itself has come off on each tire change for example. So in my case, to avoid trashing gaskets, that's how it was resolved.

Gootzibird13 wrote:

It all depends on the situation. Myself  I have always overtightened my clamps a bit past spec, to avoid any exhaust leaks. The tremendous forces that are achieved by the clamps themselves will alter pipe diameter. The muffler itself has come off on each tire change for example. So in my case, to avoid trashing gaskets, that's how it was resolved.

Yes of course, logic. I tried to open up the pipe a little to make it slide over the gasket, but only at the opening.
Guess I have to get/make myself a new tool...
Thanks a lot for the enlightenment

I "think" my early model GT rt side exhaust,was intended to seal with clamps alone,idk.

I got tired,of trying to seal exhaust leaks at the joint,with a variety of shim material,clamps etc;

On the big river;I found a neat(altho bulky) thin,stainless steel,external sealing,exhaust reducer,clamp set up.

It aint pretty,but it's tucked up securely,relatively out of view.

fwiw

Well, that's also an alternative.
As mentioned I made a gasket out of a ring made of aluminium, about the same size as the original gasket.
The ring just slips over the pipe and is just thin enought for the mufflet to slip over the ring again.
The idea is that aluminium is expanding more than alloy steel when heated, and will thus seal when the pipe gets warm. That is also why the circumference of the ring is cut, leaving a distance of a couple of mm between the two ends. The ring will close and seal when the heat expands it.
Don't know if this is understandable, but it works in practice.