hello, and thanks for reading. I was in an accident where i went off the road caused by black ice. My exhaust pipe is cracked and bent close to the muffler. I was wondering why do these pipes shoot out the side of the truck at the rear wheel in the first place? and what concerns should i have if i just cut the damaged pipe off close to the muffler, say about 12" from the muffler?

 

I used to have an Expedition where I had the exhaust dumped right after the muffler. Go ahead and cut that pipe off, and go to your local auto parts store and get a curved piece of pipe so it will shoot the exhaust toward the ground. It will actually help with your exhaust sound since the sound will be bouncing off the ground. I think one of the reasons they have exhaust exiting the side or the rear is to prevent exhaust fumes from building up under the truck. But I haven't heard of any problems with people that have their exhausts dumped just after the muffler.

 

I had dual exhaust on my S10 dumped over the rear axle. The only thing about dumping it is that you get a lot of sound resignation through the bed. I believe in some states you have to have the exhaust over the axle to be legal. I believe it is that way in Texas, but I just never got caught. But if you have to do a smog test, you might get screwed!

 

In Virginia I passed the smog test with my dumped exhaust. Where your pipe exits will not change the emissions of the vehicle - only the noise. And if you still have the cats and a muffler, dumping the pipe under the truck, out the side, or out the back will not result in that much of a sound difference.

 

just dump it, it will probably sound better.

 

I would dump it if that's all you're planning to do. However, this is a perfect opportunity to head down to the exhaust shop and throw a Magnaflow on there.