My exhaust is falling apart

[J_C]

nevermind

 

[tjsxplodr]

Nevermind what?

 

[huntman58]

Okay from the pics you already have a muffler with clamps best and cheapest thing to do is measure the length of the muffler and get one the same size ( long) you most likely will have to use new clams as I find the old ones tend to break on me but there cheap.

for the rocker the Idea I gave you was based on cheapness and buying time fact is as much time as you need as all you have to do is keep it sealed with the truck bed liner paint and you should be good to go and if it dose get an opening its easy to fix even if you need a touch more foam shave it down to shape prime it and then bed liner paint it again. I live on a SSDI income and that is supporting a family of 4 for all rights (oldest son helps out a bit) wife go's to collage full time and well that is the end of our income but for student loans from her schooling. so how to do cheap and keep it running that my name of the game and at over 220,000 miles now I think I have done okay doing it . I have owned this truck from 1997 on and when I bought it, it did not have 65,000 on it!

I also lived in Idaho and know how little they pay for most jobs there as my one son still lives there and fights to stay on his own ( dam divorces any way) so for me I tend to look at cheap first before any thing other just to let ya know. know about the running gear being up to the task for trails well that all depends on the trail as even a full built rig can break down but the ex is a very capable rig in its own rights but with a little help it only becomes better but now if there is other problems with it already then that needs to play into it but you can do what I am I am looking down the road say 4 to 5 years that’s when I hope to have another auto and then can turn it to trail use but tell then slowly as I find cheap parts I grab them for that day and If I end up selling the truck then I will sell the parts also. just some thoughts to help you stay running and not worry so much and still dream of a better tomorrow!

 

[tjsxplodr]

Thanks. Yeah, I'm not going to worry about it. I will figure something out. I've worried about it way too much already since I found the holes Monday night.

 

[J_C]

Nevermind that I was asking why you needed to replace the muffler because I only remembered you mentioning something about doing the replacement while you did the rest that seemed bad, posts before you indicated the muffler was where the noise was coming from, then after reading back I saw the post mentioning it.

I would weld a panel on personally. Maybe the rest rusts, but maybe not having the huge hole decreases water slushing through the area. If you get that rust converter on as much possible the rest may last until you are ready to do the more extensive off-road mods you were thinking about, cutting it all away, plus if the day came that you decided to sell it instead, it'll sell better with a painted patch panel than big holes... but patch panels don't need to be done before winter, it is an idea for the future.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Yeah that's right. Though I won't sell it unless I have to. I'll figure it out come spring. For right now I'm going to attempt to get as much rust off and spray it to protect it.

 

[Anime]

Hey, the rivets aren't a bad idea! you could rivet some sheet metal to the hole, then use the spray undercoating to seal it. That saves you the hassle of making the metal fit it perfectly for welding, you just bang on it to fit as you drill and rivet.

That way, the sealed up hole keeps the snow and wet out.

On the other hand, if you want to just cut out the rust, spray the undercoasting on, and put the skirts back on, that should do for now as well, and even though the snow and rain will get in the hole, it will also let it drain out.



As for the muffler...hm. It may actually be a worse job to try and seperate the muffler from the pipes depending how much they are crushed with the clamps. You might get lucky and be able to spray some WD-40 or penetrant in there and be able to bang it off.

If it's a 25-26 inch long muffler, the Thrush will be shorter and you'll need that piece of extension pipe on the front or back to make up for it. The good news is you don't need to worry about hangers since the rear pipe has the stock-type welded to it already. Is the hanger welded to the pipe or is that where it's making the clanging noise?

Before that though, does the heat shield come off the muffler? Maybe you can grind off the spot welds of there are some holding it on and see if that takes care of the noise?

I would hate to advise you to do work replacing the muffler if it's in good shape otherwise and is the same S-flow design as a Walker/Thrush/Dynomax. Hell, it might even be a Walker muffler thats on there. Maybe you can see a stamped part number on it to check.

 

[tjsxplodr]

The muffler is toast. It's rusted completely through, there's a nice gash on it about 6 inches long. I pulled half the heat shield on the bottom of it cuz that's what is making the rattling noise. All total the muffler WITH its pipes is 25-27 or so inches, kinda hard to measure it. The muffler itself is only 22 inches. The cat pipe goes in on what I call the 'left side'--if you are in the vehicle, its facing the left side. The tailgate pipe as I call it sits in the middle of the muffler. The hanger in the rear is welded on the bottom.

I'm getting a guy to give me an estimate on what he will charge me to do the sheet metal panels just on the holes. If he can do it for relatively inexpensive, I'm going to have him do the panels. If not, then I will do the work at home, get the rust in the front as good as I can, then put the plastic skirts back on for the time being, that way, I won't have to deal with that part of it come time to change the panels for the trail rig I want. I'm not thinking rock slider rig, just a trail rig, we have tons of mountains here, and lots of desert with trails on them.

Rivets? What kind of rivets?

 

[J_C]

Plain hand rivet gun rivets would work, but if you don't have or can't borrow a rivet gun (~ $15+, maybe less for junk at Harbor Freight) or rivets ~$5+ yet, you may be halfway there towards paying someone to weld it instead... and yet, a rivet gun is handy to own for future projects.

An inexpensive example, http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 then you'd probably want at least 20 or more rivets in total for both sides, maybe more if the hole has grown much larger than in the prior pictures. The better you get the metal to fit the fewer you'll need but for rusty areas, better to have a few extra in it, in case some of the metal gives way later.

Best to use rivets of the largest diameter the rivet gun you buy will take (linked one only goes up to 3/16" which would work, more expensive guns can do larger), and at least 1/4" grip length, the distance between the outside of the outer panel and the inside of the inner panel while holding it down trying to put the rivet in.

It might be easier to use 1/2" grip length if there is some scaly rust still but that's awfully long just to joint two pieces of sheet metal, if you can get a pack with both grip lengths with enough pieces of each length it might be ideal. An example, (REMOVED) but they have assorted size packs too but I couldn't tell what sizes were in them.

EDIT: I linked the wrong pack of rivets, I meant these: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...Id=-1&catalogId=10053&N=10000003 90001 502127 but your local HD may have something else like 3/8" (0.375) reach, you'll have to eyeball the panels and decide the reach you need if not buying a large assortment pack.

 

[tjsxplodr]

I've got a gentleman who is going to come to my house and weld the holes shut for me. We are most likely not going to get the front inside of the panels very well, but at least the holes will be covered. I will also see if he can cover the small holes that the skirts fit into.

 

[Anime]

Sounds good.


A new muffler it is.

Keep in mind my previous other "direct fit" muffler suggestion earlier in the thread;

Rockauto: They have a closeout on the 91-92 Explorer Walker Quiet-Flow muffler (part #22592) for just $36.79 (regular $67.79) and the converter to muffler pipe (part #43470) for just $11.30 (regular $22). There's always 5% off coupons as well, plus no tax.

That's about $50-60 for a direct fit muffler, with a new pipe from the cat to muffler so you don't have to wrestle with it or bother with whether or not the old pipe fits. Still need a gasket and new clamps.



Otherwise the Thrush and pipe will be hard to beat, probably under $40 all in for muffler, extra pipe, and 3 clamps plus tax.

Plus the hassle of wrestling the old one off the rusted pipes while it's still under the truck. With a hacksaw, you can saw off the muffler by sawing into the pipe ends, but be careful not to saw into the pipe under that. Saw diagonally, making a tab, then pry it up like peeling the muffler pipe off the pipe underneath, and it will eventually break free, even if rusted and crushed from the clamp.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Yeah 40 isn't bad at all. ill probably go that route.

I sure hope that plugging the big holes with sheet metal will keep the rust from going up the rest of the body. That's mainly why I decided to do it. If the rust starts going anywhere else I might as well find something else.

 

[huntman58]

Just use the naval jelly and a wire brush the best you can then spray the rust converter paint in there good and heavy and then have him seal it up.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Ya I will try my best to get as much as I can.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Here's some pix of the progress:
Left side, with sheet metal on

Right side with just the rust reformer on, no sheet metal yet.

 

[Anime]

Looks great.

Sad that you'll be drilling more holes to put the tupperware back on though.


The black/red looks killer, too, along with the non-rusty black frame and leaf spring...

 

[tjsxplodr]

I am not putting the plastic skirts back on. I'm going to use some expanding foam/bondo to take care of the itty bitty holes that the skirts sit in. Got some pix of the areas now they're coated with bondo and truck bed coating that came in a can.


Right:

Left:

Still has to do some sanding and maybe a bit more bondo work to fill in the low areas. I think it looks great.

 

[Anime]

Is the right side dog leg corner going to be finished?

I don't think you need to bondo all that much, just getting the shape good then smoothing it enough so when it's coated it looks ok is fine.

Expanding foam for the holes won't be as good as welding, but it may be ok with the spray on coating over it to seal them up completely.


While you're at it taking pictures, some more of the exhaust would be good, especially the front pipe to muffler to see what shape those bolts and the pipe are in.


Looks really good so far for a quick budget repair before the weather hits, and fixing the rockers now saved you a lot of grief down the road for sure.

 

[tjsxplodr]

Oh wow, I just now noticed the dog leg has a corner that's not done. I'm not really that worried about that, this is just a fix that will keep the rust from getting any worse, I hope to have it fixed right by next summer's end. Whether that be replacing the panels or putting in steel boxes for a tougher trail rig, I haven't decided about that yet.

It was only suggested to me to use the expanding foam for the tiny holes, then I could use the rust reformer and then bondo probably. Don't know if that will be better or not.

I'll get some more pix up.

 

[Anime]

The corner needs to be done not just for cosmetic purposes, but so it's sealed up, otherwise water and stuff kicked up by the rear tire will go straight into the entire rocker, quickly rusting the inner part of the new metal you just had replaced.

I'd also suggest painting the bare metal with some rust control paint or primer or something before the coating.