My friend has a MIG welder, and he told me that he will be able to install a whole exhaust system for me if I get one.

Question is, not that I don't trust him, but he is kinda new to welding. How hard is it it weld your own exhaust on?

Also, how do I detach the exhaust from the header? Do I need to cut, or is there something holding the exhaust to the header together?

 

Why weld on at all?

Buy a stainless steel cat-back from any number of companies and bolt it on yourself. Then you get a new exhaust with a life time warranty and it will take you about 1-2 hours to do it.

KC-10 FE out...

 

Yeah I'd agree bolt on is way easier. I just put the Banks Monster Exhaust on my 05 and it was worth every penny. It only took me and my brother 1.5 hours tops to install.

On your other question don't cut your exhaust off your headers you should be able to unbolt the flanges.

 

Agreed. I forget how the original came off, probably plasma or torched but now all I have to do is slide and clamp onto existing. Cut off where it needs to be and your set. Once the old one is cut off, installing the new one takes minutes, like 15-20.

 

Wait, so a WHOLE exhaust set-up is bolt on? Like a Magnaflow or Flowmaster exhaust kit? If so, this would be great news!

But now my question is, how do you assemble the tubes together, and make them hold? Is there a bracket that holds the tubes together, because that is what I thought you had to weld?

 

Its very easy. All the tubes and muffler bolt together. The hangers are already welded onto the new system.

 

i always weld my exuast, those u bolt type clamps rust all to hell, loosen up on there own all types of stuff so intsead of this hassle i always weld my systems, but that is just me i want it to be as strong as posible, good luck

 

X2 Here I ALWAYS weld my exhaust systems. If your buddy is new to welding, have him throw a few beads on some scrap stuff from a muffler shop so he gets the feel for it and doesnt burn a hole into your stuff, which is easy to do if you have your machine cranked up too high, then putting an exhaust on should be cake. Buy yeah cat back systems are all bolt on, FYI

 

Keep in mind that relatively few folks are set-up to weld a stainless steel exhaust system like a MagnaFlow, etc.

Also, for what it's worth, if you order a stainless steel cat-back system, it will come with stainless steel clamps that should last for the life of the system. And if you're interested in doing "one better" than the clamps that came with your system, do what I did and spring for some stainless steel band clamps from NAPA. They run about $10.00 each, are superbly built, and let me tell you -- WHEN THEY'RE ON, THEY'RE ON! In fact, I would venture to say that I would PREFER them to a welded connection!

Here's a picture of what they look like installed:

 

Thanks everybody! I'm going to go ahead and use those Band clamps

Another Question:

My truck is a 2001 CrewCab with the ShortBed. I don't want an extra long exhaust, or too short , obviously.

So my question is, I was looking at #15609 on hottexhaust, and it says it's for EC/SB and Magnaflow.com says it's for CC/SB!

 

Those band clamps are nice! never seen those before, too bad theres no NAPA stores in El Paso that I know of.....

 

those band clamps work great for that sort of aplication but my buddy had them on his chipped diesel and they do losen and let the exhaust slip. But he also has like 700 lb ft of torque to so.. lol i am having my local muffler shop custom build mine. 3" single with flowmaster delta force (race mufflers). should make some noise

 

I've got mine clamped together and i've got no issues with it.

Took me about 4 hours to do it, but i work slow when i work on cars. So far it's taken me 6 days to replace a motor mount on a car....

 

That's what I'm going to do. Those clamps are just like the one the factory had before the muffler. I think I'll replace all of them. The u-bolts all leak a little bit.