Man, Copehagen, do I feel stupid. I didn't even notice that your were from the Detroit area. I'm in Southfield but still only 15-20 minutes away. Thanks a lot for the offer to come and check out your truck, I appreciate it.

However, I decided to pull the trigger on the Off-Road kit today. I had been calling around talking to (dare I say) Dealership service and parts guys that sell Roush stuff and they all agreed with what you guys have been saying. The Off-Road kit is by far the most popular choice and is loud & throaty when you put your foot into it but very reasonable in the cab when cruising. So I ended up ordering the Off-Road kit from a local dealership for $425. And I guess I must have been blinded by the Roush light or something because I also bought ($245) and installed the Roush (Air Raid) cold air intake kit today! Supposed to get my exhaust tomorrow afternoon so I hope to be all modded up by the weekend. After that I have to give my poor wallet a break! I'll be interested to see how the two kits work together and how the sound/volume turns out. I bet I end up being happier than a pig in sh*t!

JCSXJ, I'll be sure to check back in after I get the exhaust installed and let you know what I think.

By the way, is there something about using a shackle bolt for one of the exhaust hanger mounting points that makes this install kind of tricky? I was planning to do it myself in the driveway with hand tools and some jack stands but if it's sketchy I don't want to screw something up. Thanks again for all the input. I don't post very often but these forums are great!!

 

Yes, you need to support the rear of the truck so there is no weight on the leaf springs before removing the shackle bolt or very bad things will happen (they don't specify this in the instructions either, which is potentially dangerous). They may have updated the instructions since I bought my kit, but be aware of that.

I actually figured out a way to mount the hangers sort of backwards to avoid having to remove the shackle bolts and it worked fine - everything lines up perfectly. If you end up having problems, I can post up a picture of how I did it.

You won't be disappointed with the off-road, it's awesome. Isn't it nice having Roush based in Livonia? Ordered today, here tomorrow

 

I appreciate that man, can't wait to hear what you think about it.


Good luck with the install, hope everything goes smooth.

 

I have my ROUSH off-road side exit sitting at home right now. However classes are still in session here at Fresno State, so I won't be visiting home until early next week for Thanksgiving break. The Roush off-road will be replacing a bassani SI/SO. I hope to have this done by next week I will post pics and sound clips when the job is done. These trucks are quiet as it is so I personally would go with the loudest system possible, even with no muffler they are fairly quiet. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

I've still been having trouble with the Roush website so I can't load the installation instructions to see if they talk about the shackle bolt thing. I'm not sure if I have a tall enough jack or enough blocks to prop up the back of the truck. I would hate to have nasty things happen while I'm under there. It sucks though because the Dealership will want an hour of labor to install it which is about $88. And, no offense to any mechanics out there, but I'm a little leery to just go to a muffler shop to have it installed. Not sure why, I just am. I guess I need to read the instructions, look and my skills and tools available, and decide if it's something I think I can handle or not. Thanks again to the people on this forum for pointing out this potentially dangerous piece of the installation!

Copenhagen, if I get stuck I may hit you up for a picture of your workaround. Thanks.

 

I just snapped a few pics to show you what I did....I don't want to upload them into my gallery so if you give me your email address, I'll send them to you. Or, if you don't want to post your email address in here, just email me and I'll reply to it. The same for anyone else that wants to see what I did.

 

Well, I had the day off today so I went and picked up my exhaust. The guy at the parts counter has a sweet Mustang GT and told me where he had his exhaust work done. So I cruised over there and they got me in and installed my kit. I decided to just have a shop do it so I didn't get myself into trouble.

What I had him do on the rear hangers was instead of removing the shackle bolt and placing the hanger on the inside between the head of the bolt and the shackle hanger, I just had him put it between the nut and the shackle hanger. It seems like the exhaust hanger ended up in the same place either way. Copenhagen, does this sound familiar?

Overall, the Roush kit looks nice. However, if you stand behind the truck and look you can notice that the tips aren't perfectly parallel to each other. The guy pointed it out as he was installing it and really took his time to get it lined up the best he could. It seems like the passenger side pipe that connects to the tip needs a little more bend in it toward the center of the truck. He offered to heat it and bend it but I was leery of that so I'm just going to run it a little off kilter. It's not a show truck after all.

The sound/volume is not as loud as I expected. Even the mechanic was surprised! It's seems like it's going to be plenty loud for me but remember I wanted it to still be civil in the cab. At idle I can't even hear the truck running in the cab, just like stock. Obviously, when you pull away from a stop it rumbles and you can hear it in the cab as you go up through the gears. For reference, it's not enough to drown out the radio when I have it at 3 full bars of volume. At a steady speed cruising the noise in the cab is similar to stock. I haven't had it out on the highway yet to really run it up through the gears and listen to it at highway speed/rpm but I'm guessing it will be fine.

So the only think that was funky with the kit was that he couldn't get it lined up perfectly and he also wasn't thrilled with the clamps. In fact, when he was horsing on it trying to get it lined up better one of the joints came apart. He fixed that with tiny tack welds at all the joints after I was satisfied with the alignment.

I'll add pictures to my gallery tomorrow and check back with any further thoughts on how loud it is after I drive it for a day or two. Thanks again for all the input and all the offers of help, pictures, test ride, etc. !!!

 

That's EXACTLY what I did

Man, that sucks about it not lining up correctly....I was able to get mine perfect

It will get louder with time.

 

Here is a link to my gallery that shows the rear of the truck and the finished alignment of the tips. Take a look and let me know how bad you think it is. Thanks.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...128&anum=15136

 

They look fine to me.....unless I'm missing something :o

 

Mine is.

 

Did you install the Roush intake as well? After reading through endless threads on this site, I think I've decided to go this route (Roush intake and Off-road exhaust). I'm curious if ordering the kits through a local dealer would be cheaper than say ordering through Woodhouse. Any thoughts?

I was also wondering how well those clamps hold the joints together on the pipes. If I wind up getting this kit, I figured I would install it myself with the clamps initially, but eventually take it to a muffler shop to have them weld the joints. Has anybody had any problems with leaks? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Well, after only a week of driving here is my report. By the way I do have both the Roush CAI and Off-Road Exhaust.

The loudness of this exhaust is very tolerable in the cab. It seems like 1800-2000 RPM is the line in the sand. Over that and you can hear it pretty well, under that at steady throttle and it's pretty quiet.

I've only put a 1/4 tank of gas through it since the mods and my mileage has gone from 13.4 to 12.9 (according to the computer). That is 100% city driving with a lot more idling and revving to check out my new sound! I expect my mileage to at least return to the previous level or in fact increase. Also, keep in mind I have a CrewCab 4X4 with 34" tires on it.

The clamps...I plan to get under the truck and hand tighten everything now that it's been hot/cold and make sure everything is tight. I have some moisture leaking out at two of the joints currently. So that must mean that exhaust is leaking as well. Not sure if it's the style of clamp or just not tight enough. But with the tack welds at least nothing has come apart on me.

Finally, for the cheapest prices, it turned out for me that a dealership was cheapest. Take a look at the first post in this thread for what I spent. Cheaper that anything I read about on these forums and I didn't pay any shipping. Ordered and picked up my intake the same day and got my exhaust the next day by noon!

I'll check back with MPG updates and anything else I find of interest. Thanks for all the discussion on this.

 

Did you get the tips lined up yet? I had to mess with mine to fine tune everything a few times before I got it to look perfect. I really like my Roush Off Road exhaust. By far the best upgrade for me so far.

 

I can tell it's off only b/c you pointed it out, but if you hadn't said something I prob wouldn't have noticed at all.

This is the same setup I have on my baby, and I love the look of it as well. I'm sure you've heard this before and I'm beating a dead horse, but like you, mine was kinda tame when I first had it installed, and in fact I was somewhat mildly disappointed. That was about 400 miles ago. But boy now I've got to tell you that it is now truly coming into its own and sounds the way a truck should sound. No drone whatsoever, and minimal growl at highway crusing speeds, but it is def packing some punch!