needing a little exhaust advice

[AaKnight]

got a little problem and looking for some advice.

the P.O. had apparently added this accordion after the Y. appears to be a vibrant 3" accordion bellows.

When I look at stock exhaust pics I don't see any sort of flex joints in the exhaust, so is this is a necessary addition? when I look at custom exhausts, I notice they usually have them, but farther up on the smaller tubes.

here's a pic of what I got:

exhaust bellows 1

• AaKnight
• Sep 22, 2018

What I think isn't correct is the 2.5" off the stock Y. it goes down to 2.5 here before going back up to 3" hollowed cats. kinda strange.

I am running OME J-springs so I've got about 3.5" of lift. Those s***y welds have bothered me since I've got the truck, so I'm happy to cut them out.

can somebody please set me straight on how to fix this?

 

[AaKnight]

so, you can't say s***ty on Mud? wtf?

 

[Pascoscout]

If there is enough room in the pipe and clearance between the pipe and the floor board cut that thing out and just weld the pipes together. Clean up the metal good and hit it with a mig welder. Worst case you may have to go to the parts store and get a couple pieces of solid pipe to make it all connect again. First set of bolts should be at the flange on the CAT so no need to have it come apart here.

 

[jfz80]

Some have added the flex sextion post y union. It was an option on ems systems as well. That one looks to close to the bend and may have fatigued ?Also check your hangers. While those can burn out first, They cannot support load or bending . If that was wiggling then its to be expected.

I would take it to a trusted mom n pop shop and tell them what you want.

Stock is 2.5”. You could fix that or buy new y pipe and cat (magnaflow recommended but beware of new sub or replacement)

 

[AaKnight]

I actually looked for the Magnaflow y pipe, but couldn't find the old style. The new ones don't look the same. I can find just the weld-in y sections without the cat ( mf #10778 ) ... just not sure it would add much benefit over the stock setup.

Does that accordion Bellows being there actually have any benefit? I just don't know if I should pay to replace it, or just put in straight pipe.

Thanks for your help, as you can see I know very little about exhaust setup.

 

[AaKnight]

Some have added the flex sextion post y union. It was an option on ems systems as well.

Interesting that you say that, the pics of EMS systems that I have seen had dual flexes before the Y Union.

 

[Pascoscout]

I have the old style magna flow and there is no bellow there. Can't see that having it does any good.

 

[bigredmachine]

Does that accordion Bellows being there actually have any benefit? I just don't know if I should pay to replace it, or just put in straight pipe.

yes it does have a benefit, as the exhaust system heats and cools it will allow the exhaust system to expand better than a solid pipe. any exhaust shop can cut it out and weld in a new one

 

[Pascoscout]

Yes this is the purpose of the bellows but if your exhaust mounts have flex in them (like a rubber bushing) the bellow is not needed. Any expansion/contraction is absorbed by the mounts. The bellows really come into play when the pipe is fully restrained on both ends like on a turbo charger up pipe which is connected to the exhaust manifold on one end and the turbo on the other so no room to move.

I personally would replace it with a solid pipe. In that location it is not supported well enough and will continue to fail in the manner you have already experienced. When the truck bounces up and down the exhaust mounts allow too much movement and it tears the bellow apart. You could help this by adding another mount just downstream of the bellow if you insisted on keeping it.

 

[BILT4ME]

The factory exhaust does NOT have any bellows or flexible joints in them. It is designed to be rigid except for the rubber mounts that hold it in place.

As @Pascoscout stated, that location is a very bad location and is unsupported. You need to remove the bellows and install rigid pipe (tube) and make sure your factory rubber bushings are intact.

 

[AaKnight]

so I went ahead and got the MF Y-pipe as suggested. glad I did, because my cats were starting to collapse. the shop I took it to replaced all the support hangers for me as well. much quieter now. nice to not breathe fumes, too. thanks for the help.