I have a 1997 F150 4x4 4.6 and my exhaust is leaking so i took it to a shop and they tell me that all 4 of my cats are no good. The shop manager told me that he can remove all 4 cats and replace them with 2 cats for $400.00 parts and labor. Now my question is, is it legal to remove the 4 cats and replace them with 2 and is that a good price?

 

on my 95, i have 2 cats and I removed those, and bought 2 highflow catco cats off ebay for $35 a piece. Then i brought the truck into our local exhaust shop and they charged me $240 to put the cats on and run true duals.

 

yes it is legal if they are not functional. in reality you have 2 cats... and 2 pre cats... i dont kno if anyone knows the point of 4 but you can buy 2 catco or magnaflow high flow cats and put them in place of your "4" cats. 400 seems steep. if i were you i would look on ebay or something for cats. i bought 2 catco's for my gmc for like 35 a peice plus like 30 shipping... so about $100... had them welded in for like 50 bux.

 

Thanks guys i'm going to check e-bay first.

 

If your state has a visual inspection, then you can just gut the substrate out of the pre-cats, so it looks like they are still on there. Then, just replace the two rear cats with high-flows. Makes it look stock - here in CA the smog ***** will fail you if it looks tampered-with.