Good muffler shop in the STL/STC area? (1 Viewer)

[faylo]

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend.

I drive a 1997 LX450. Does anyone know of a good exhaust shop in the St. Louis/St. Charles area? Preferably one that will do a custom system in stainless. It is either a custom exhaust or I will replace with OEM. I am very big on reliability and I feel OEM gets me that however pricey that is.

According to a local chain service center, I need a complete exhaust from the manifolds back. I looked at the problems and I don't believe a complete system is necessary but it would definitely be easier to install for me.

I have a couple of places in mind but thought that I would check with others who have probably experienced this.

Thanks for any and all input.
-Jim

 

[wfd175]

Carriage Muffler in Washington, MO cantake care of you. Or Rod's Muffler in Union, MO. Both locally owned shops. I'm suprised there's no decent non-chain shops across the river that can do the work. Over the years I've had work done by both.

I can't believe you need a complete system, my exhaust is beat up, but no corroding and falling apart in any manner. What basis did they use for their recommendation.

 

[faylo]

Carriage Muffler in Washington, MO cantake care of you. Or Rod's Muffler in Union, MO. Both locally owned shops. I'm suprised there's no decent non-chain shops across the river that can do the work. Over the years I've had work done by both.

I can't believe you need a complete system, my exhaust is beat up, but no corroding and falling apart in any manner. What basis did they use for their recommendation.

Thanks for the reply!

I went to Dobb's near work for a state inspection. As with my previous experience with them 15 years ago, they lied again. I was told that the CAT had a hole in it and two hangers were broken. Two hangers were broken/rusted but there is no hole in the CAT. The front O2 sensor's nuts have rusted away and it is loose, but the threads may be able to be cleaned up and new nuts installed.

Neither one of those are the lie. The lie came when I was told that the parts alone for a OEM exhaust was $4600 but they could install an aftermarket system for $2000 that was just as good as OEM. The guy was also pushy, and that is always a warning to me, so I took the truck and left.

I've since priced the parts on toyodiy.com and everything came out to around $3200 list. Which with our mud discount from cdan would be significantly less. I would prefer to go this route in lieu of paying someone else to put on an inferior product for a few less dollars.

I have a couple of shops that I need to check with that are closer, but I wouldn't rule out driving to Washington or Union if they can do good, custom work. Like maybe a 2.5-3" routed over the frame?

I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I'm kind of the "good, cheap, fast. Pick any two" sort of person.
Thanks!
-jim

 

[wfd175]

holy sh?t!! 3200, 2000 for an exhaust system. Thats insane. Jeez that's 1/4 to 1/3 of the price for the entire truck.

 

[faylo]

holy sh?t!! 3200, 2000 for an exhaust system. Thats insane. Jeez that's 1/4 to 1/3 of the price for the entire truck.

Yea, tell me about it! My wife said something very similar.

I'm following the HDJ 3" exhaust thread in the 80 Tech forum. It looks interesting and the price certainly is better but will obviously require fab skills and equipment that I don't have. That is why I asked about a good muffler shop. Good being someone willing to work with me and fab the connection between the HDJ exhaust and the manifolds.