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Gibson Exhaust question

jremington59

Explorer Addict
Joined
October 28, 2009
Messages
1,933
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9
City, State
Watertown, NY
Year, Model & Trim Level
1997, 99 and 2000 5.0's
Mine came yesterday and the first thing I noticed was that the hangers were welded to the clamp and they were both pointed to the side. Both pointing the same way. All of my exhausts have the hangers pointing towards the back, one on each side of the muffler. So they preceded to argue with me which really pissed me off. After sending them a load of pics of the stock exhausts they "partially" admitted they were wrong by saying "yours must be different than most. So I made a temp hanger and installed the muffler, but when I installed the tailpipe it rubs the rear sway bar link, the shock and the back of the exhaust is touching the plastic side fender. It's about a foot lower than the heat shield and the bends all wrong. Thank god they were closed by then.

Does anyone else have one of these on their 2nd Gen V8's? I'm really hoping they mixed mine up with someone elses and they aren't this dumb. Cause that's the best word I have for this.
 



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Mine was the same way but the muffler wouldn't fit in my two door so I swapped it for a shorter manga flow. I wondered the same thing with the hanger thou. Every truck I've seen has the hangers pointing to the back so I don't know what happened with their design!
 






I have a Gibson on my 97...both hangers point to the side...ample clearance all around ...should add it's the 319992 cat back system

Bill
 






I have a Gibson on my 97...both hangers point to the side...ample clearance all around ...should add it's the 319992 cat back system

Bill

I had someone else tell me their 97 pointed to the side, but all of mine point straight back. I tried bending them around but they wouldn't go enough so I slid the drivers side hanger bracket around and got the one in and wired the other one up to the hanger. As for the bends in the pipe they are way off with this one. I'll get some pics tomorrow and maybe you can tell me if your's is closer.

Also, I have a regular drive I have to make that is about sixty miles round trip. I reset my controls and got 18.4 with the old exhaust. I drove it tonight with the new exhaust and it got 18.6 for the trip. They claim a couple MPG better with the exhaust. Did you notice a change with yours?
 






The reasons I went with the Gibson were it was cheaper than using OEM-style and the old system with resonator was completely rotted away. There are two styles for 97, the one I have where the muffler has a dual inlet flange and the later style with two separate inlets. I'm guessing the mufflers are different (2 different flange styles) but they are including the same back pipe as the earlier model which might have different mounting points.

Bill
 






Thank god I have the warrior shackles on there or the pipe would be pinched hard. It's already rubbing hard against the sway bar and the shock. It needs about another 20 degrees of upward bend coming off the muffler and the tip needs about the same pointing away from the quarter panel and downward a little, but I have to wait and talk to Gibson Monday before I can do anything. It isn't even up into the heat shield at all.
 

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Just took a peek under mine. It's real close to the swaybar and shock, can't see how it would fit with a coil over shock like you have...............

Bill
 






Four inches down from the heat shield there is nine inches between the shock and sway bar. If it was a regular shock it would be touching it. That's a reg shock inside of a spring and it's forcing the spring into it now. The shock and sway bar both veer outward as they go up. There's nine inches right now between the top of the pipe and the heat shield. My Dynamax has three between the two. This pipe isn't bent close to the shape of the shield.
 






Possible you got a tailpipe for a 2 door? It would be shorter and the bend would be in the wrong spot on a 4 door.....

Bill
 






I have a Gibson catback on my 1998 5.0 and it fit like **** as well. I ended up taking it to an exhaust shop and had them rebend the tailpipe section and also flip the muffler flange around 180 degrees - the way the flange was welded originally made the muffler hang extremely low. I couldn't just flip the muffler around because one pipe is a slip fit and the other had a ball flange. I'm not sure I would go with the Gibson again...
 






What did they do when you told them about it? Is there customer service any good? I'm in NY and they're in Cali so I'm probably looking at better then a week for them to get me another one.

I'm sure I could take it to my friends garage and make it work. But the bottom line is when you pay this kind of money you expect it to be right. They argued with me for two hours regarding the position of the hangers even after I told them I own three of them and sent them pictures. I mean I was beginning to get upset with them. They should go buy a walker tail pipe and they'd see how they should be bent. Walker does a real good job but they quit making the cat backs for the V8's.

By the way, how long have you had yours?


I have a Gibson catback on my 1998 5.0 and it fit like **** as well. I ended up taking it to an exhaust shop and had them rebend the tailpipe section and also flip the muffler flange around 180 degrees - the way the flange was welded originally made the muffler hang extremely low. I couldn't just flip the muffler around because one pipe is a slip fit and the other had a ball flange. I'm not sure I would go with the Gibson again...
 






man, that sucks. maybe the easiest thing to do, if your set on keeping it (i'd return it and get my money back) would be to take it an exhaust shop and have them fix the bends on their pipe bender machine. you can't drive around with it hitting the shock and your sway bar that way. if you do go to the exhaust shop, i'd send Gibson the pics and have them pay for it.
 






man, that sucks. maybe the easiest thing to do, if your set on keeping it (i'd return it and get my money back) would be to take it an exhaust shop and have them fix the bends on their pipe bender machine. you can't drive around with it hitting the shock and your sway bar that way. if you do go to the exhaust shop, i'd sent Gibson the pics and have them pay for it.

That's what I'm hoping to do. A friend of mine has a pipe bender in his garage. Summit told me if they don't make it right to just return it. What I don't get is every Explorer 4 door V8 from 96 thru 01 have the same exact bend in the pipe. Add Mountaineer to the list to. I think I'll tell them to buy a 40 dollar Walker pipe and they'll have a template.
 






What did they do when you told them about it? Is there customer service any good? I'm in NY and they're in Cali so I'm probably looking at better then a week for them to get me another one.

I'm sure I could take it to my friends garage and make it work. But the bottom line is when you pay this kind of money you expect it to be right. They argued with me for two hours regarding the position of the hangers even after I told them I own three of them and sent them pictures. I mean I was beginning to get upset with them. They should go buy a walker tail pipe and they'd see how they should be bent. Walker does a real good job but they quit making the cat backs for the V8's.

By the way, how long have you had yours?

I didn't bother calling them about it so I couldn't tell you how their customer service is. I've had it about 5 or 6 years, it has held up well.
 






Good to hear it held up. I took mine to my friends shop today but he doesn't have the right bender for stainless. I sent them a not so nice email letting them know about this and if worst comes to worst I'll buy a Walker tailpipe. You know what Gibson says. "If you don't buy Gibson you're buying second best". I guess anyone can make a mistake, now we'll see if they take care of it. So I guess I should still reserve judgment.
 






Customer service seemed good after talking with the, but not sure about the logic. They had me send them a bunch of pics and off of them they're going to bend another one and send it three day air. I told them Walker has a 2.5 inch stainless pipe. I wonder if they're really bending one off pics or sending me the Walker, lol? Either way I have to give them props to this point for effort. I think they do one of these every once in a blue moon.
 






I wanted to do an update regarding the customer service from Gibson with the tailpipe problem.

I called them immediately regarding the issue and sent them pictures. They said they were going to 3 day air me a new pipe and hanger from Cal to NY. I thought to myself "yea right, I'll see them in a week or ten days if I see them at all". Two days later I came home and they were sitting on my front porch. They spent seventy dollars on shipping to get them to me immediately. I also got a 50 dollar in store credit from Summit. So needless to say I'm about as impressed with their customer service as I could be. And the best part is it sounds good with a nice growl and is stainless steel with a lifetime warranty. I've gained about two miles to the gallon and there's a clear difference in the power band. So along with the price and the customer service I would give them an A on this one and would recommend this exhaust for an upgrade..
 






Which one did you get? Gibson has four different part numbers - All 4 door, 5.0, 2/4 WD.

Thanks,
Dan
 






Which one did you get? Gibson has four different part numbers - All 4 door, 5.0, 2/4 WD.

Thanks,
Dan

jr's truck is a 4 door, 2wd 5.0L
 



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