Welding the Y pipe

[rhyary]

So I am still at Moab and I drove into Thompson towing and Repairs.

One of the exhaust bracket broke off. They welded it and I hope it will hold past the trip.

In addition, they discovered that the exhaust leak I was hearing is not from between the two cats, but from the Y junction. So the guy is welding for now.

How long something like this will last? Has any one else had a leak from the Y and try to fix it?

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[Kernal]

Not the expert but have read a couple of threads on it; others have welded up the Y before, main concern seemed to be burning through as the steel isn't very thick. Don't know how long it lasts, seems like it would depend on the quality of the welding??

 

[autobon7]

Had my "Y" welded at a shop recently, have put about 800 miles on (none off road yet) and has been fine. Quality of weld is important. We'll see how long this can get me.

 

[Bob_Garrett]

Welded mine about 4 months ago. Have covered approx 3k miles since then, including 3 days of wheeling at Moab last week. Still holding so far.

 

[landtank]

had my Y welded about 4 years ago without issue so far.

 

[Tools R Us]

IMHO, the condition of the base metal (amount of rust) is key to how long it will last. The best person to answer that is the one who welded it. We are guessing over the net, he saw how the weld went in, so has the best knowledge of it's condition.

 

[fj80toyman]

I had mine welded about two years ago, but way below the normal amount of miles since then.

Since then, I'm always looking for the alternative and more long-term repair as I know it won't last forever.

Dan.

 

[SandBug]

My Y has been deteriorating lately, all rusted over and no good for welds anymore. Closed it up with liberal amounts of GunGum and tin-can/steel-wire. Will go wheeling this weekend, i'll see how it holds out. Replacement Y coming in next week. Supposedly it has the first cat and O2 sensor as well.....
SB

 

[alia176]

I TIG welded my Y pipe crack back in '05 and it's still holding. If you can weld it in place, that's the best - but the room is very tight and it's hard to reach around the back. If you do it out of the vehicle, be sure to use a jig to hold the two halves tightly; otherwise, the welding will move the two halves a little closer!

 

[Atoyot1031]

Here's how I handled it. https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/294160-how-repair-cracked-y-pipe-p0420.html

IMHO, the condition of the base metal (amount of rust) is key to how long it will last. The best person to answer that is the one who welded it. We are guessing over the net, he saw how the weld went in, so has the best knowledge of it's condition.

My experience in welding on the exhaust (pre-cat) with a SC is that most of the degradation of the metal is due to high temperatures. This is evident at the Y and after the Y where the pipe sweeps to the cat. Over the years, the metal has become thinner there. I just had to replace my exhaust flanges as the 1/4" mild steel ones at the end of my Y pipe had warped. I replaced them with 1/2" stainless flanges with aluminum gaskets. My exhaust is once again unholy.

 

[lispeej]

How loud and what kind of noise is the leak when accelerating? I have a slight ticking noise when I do harder accelerations believe it or not, I hope this is the culprit.

 

[Atoyot1031]

Easiest way to find it is to have someone else rev the engine and feel around the exhaust and listen. You'll find it.

 

[Pin_Head]

I have welded a fair amount of rusty busted exhaust tube and the welds generally last longer than the rest of the rusty tube. OA works well on rusty tube when you don't want to lose much metal by grinding the rust off.