exhaust is melting my hitch carrier and hitch steps!

[bumpersignal]

I did a search and heard that some people re-routed their exhaust end pipe to the side but I haven't heard if there are any consequence of that such as it melting the bumper or anything else... if anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it. I'm going on a road trip soon and would hate to even try taking the hitch carrier at this point not knowing what that exhaust will do to it.

 

[TheForger]

I'm sorry but I have no valuable advice to give, but could you post pics of what you are referring to? That would help myself as well as other members of this forum help you diagnose this issue since I've personally never heard of this happening and usually I have pretty good searching skills

 

[bumpersignal]

Thanks in advance for helping me look into this. Attached is a picture of my hitch step end cap getting vaporized by the exhaust. Even though the cap no longer exists, that metal tubing near the exhaust gets extremely hot to the touch I'm afraid someone is going to get burned one day accidentally touching it while the car is in a parking lot or something.

The hitch cargo carrier is all metal and heats up really bad as well and anything on top of it is in jeopardy of melting but I don't have pics of that.

And here are some urls referring to the same problem either melting or heating the cargo carrier to the point of causing severe burns
Hitch receiver cargo - be careful!!!
Protect Your StowAway From the Damage of Exhaust | StowAway Cargo Carriers (this specifically references LX and GX)
Hitch cargo carrier (regarding 80 and 100 series)

 

[LXstatic]

You might want to delete the "resonator" and do a side exit for the exhaust (any good muffler shop should be able to do this for you). I think that would help tremendously. That is, if you can't do without the hitch accessories that you speak of.

 

[LXstatic]

 

[planomateo]

Probably cheaper to just replace the step with a smaller one.

 

[bumpersignal]

I agree on the side routing which is what I'm hoping to find experiences of anyone who has done it here. I don't know if removing the resonator is ideal for me because of the noise.

@LXstatic that looks encouraging, however, can you tell me if it would melt a stock bumper by exiting the side? In your experience does that metal bumper you have get hot? Is that stock vehicle height or lifted?

 

[bumpersignal]

Probably cheaper to just replace the step with a smaller one.

Right, but then there are two different carriers that still prone to the problem. One is a thule plastic carrier that I haven't used on the LX yet but I'm afraid to because it's entirely plastic it will melt. The metal one has already shown extreme heat issues. Again, I only posted the pic of the hitch step because it's the only one I could illustrate in a picture. I don't know how to articulate how hot the metal carrier is in a picture without intentionally letting it melt something on top of it.

I'm going on a road trip soon and would hate to even try taking the hitch carrier at this point not knowing what that exhaust will do to it.

 

[elk]

Side exhausts should make no difference from the stock with regard to melting the factory bumper. The tip already exits under the plastic and any reputable shop will bend the new pipe to provide similar clearance to avoid such and issue.

 

[planomateo]

Can you put a different hitch adapter in that would raise and push it out a bit further like this?