I find that muffs that fit tightly enough to be effective start to be painful if worn for an extended period. I will be buying a set of active electronic noise canceling headphones which will work better than typical shooting muffs. They act as music or radio headsets too. You can put in earplugs and crank up the volume to hear the radio and other sounds are really attenuated.
Pat
Pat, I bought a set of Howard Leight electronic hearing protectors to use when I deerhunt. You can turn up the volume all you want, or way down if you want. The areas I hunt if I see a deer, I typically have time to put them on before I shoot. So, I don't usually wear them for a 3-4 hours at a time like during an entire hunt. Although, they do help keep your ears warmer! These were a highly rated product for the price and you can probably google the reviews on them. Here is what they look like but I ordered mine from cheaperthandirt.com
Howard Leight Impact Sport Earmuff
Sorry, but haven't learned all the in's and out's of this site yet and how to post pic's. I had some camo tape left over from when I did my truck and so I put camo on them:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/kebo1957/DSC00791.jpg
Just for the heck of it, here's my truck, that's where most of the 3M camotape went!!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/kebo1957/DSC00726.jpg
Anyway, I want to thank you and everyone else who has offered suggestions on how to make my 790 run quieter. I think I have decided to start off with this "plan of attack":
First, I'm going to get a cheapy decibel meter. I think that Radio Shack has one for about $40 so I can see if what I'm doing really has any effect at all. I can hold it next to my head while pointing it forward on the tractor while running it at maybe 2000rpm to get a *standard* reading for a baseline. That's probably about the speed I will run it most of the time anyway
The next step is to start with the stock exhaust pipe. I was looking at the pipe last weekend and the straight vertical exhaust pipe has a triangular shaped bracket where it bolts to the muffler. It's made a lot like the flanges on a set of headers are made. The JD 750 I used to have was made with the usual square bracket so you could rotate it to one of four different positions. Since I want to leave the exhaust original (knowing how proud JD is of their parts) I will see if I can find a muffler shop that will make me one for a reasonable price, only this one will turn straight down. I will probably try it about 18 inches long or so at first, and have it turned to face the front of the tractor to direct the sound away from me. I will then take a reading like that and see what kind of effect this has on it. If it helps, great!
If not, then my third step is to get some header wrap tape and try wrapping the muffler with it. I know you suggested to build a box around it and fill it with sand but I want to leave it stock if I can, and besides that sounds pretty involved and I don't have metal working stuff at my disposal anyway. After I wrap the muffler with maybe one or two layers, I will take another reading and see what that does. If it helps, great!
If not, then my next step is to try and get something to line the hood and side panels with. I will price the leaded foam like you mentioned first and see how pricey it is, assuming I can find it. If I can't find it, I did find some material at the same place where I found the header tape wrap. They say it helps dampen the sound some. Anyway, once I get the hood and side covers lined with *something* I'll take another reading and see what that does to it.
If it's still louder than I want, I will then try adding a 2nd muffler to the custom made down pipe and see what I can do with that. The only problem there is got to be careful with clearance for the FEL!! Anyway, this is something I'm going to work on over the winter and take my time with so don't expect real quick feedback from me on it! Thanks again!
