Some pics of the TRD exhaust installation

[bonedoctor]

Got the pics back from the TRD exhaust installation. The first few show the old exhaust after I had to first take a cutting torch (my O2 bottle ran out when I was just about through) then an air chisel to get off the vehicle. For whatever reason, the nuts holding the front and rear sections together had been welded. You couldn't get at them with a hacksaw, an air chisel, etc., so I was forced to cut the pipe behind the large muffler. You can see where I tore up the nut (but couldn't get the damned thing off) with the air chisel (pics).

There's a pic of the rear of the vehicle with the exhaust completely gone (I had the typical single, out the back tip with a Valor tip in place) and with the dual outlet system installed.

The system had to be modified a little to get it to fit. About three inches of pipe had to be removed between the small front resonator and the large muffler (pic) and the front hanger had to be flipped 180 degrees so that it would match with the factory frame hanger (pic).

The passenger side fit without any mods. The driver's side fit nicely around the spare (I thought for sure I'd have to loose the spare with the XREAS option on my vehicle). The hanger did have to be repositioned a little to match with the new hanger mount on the frame that was supplied with the exhaust.

 

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Pic 2 Driver's side hanger on the pipe had to be repositioned slightly to match with the new frame hanger supplied with the kit.

 

[bonedoctor]

Pic 3 The battered carcass. Got to the "f*ck it" point and took the cutting torch and air chisel to the pipe to get the damned thing off. You can see the blobs of weld, especially on the lower nut, that made it impossible to remove.

 

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Pic 4

 

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Pic 5 Passenger side fit perfectly with the factory hanger. You can see the Y-junction for the driver's side. So it's a dual outlet exhaust, but not a true dual exhaust.

 

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Pic 6 Driver's side pipe fits nicely around spare. Doesn't hang down below bottom of differential. Not too close to the spare.

 

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Pic 7 Had to cut and reposition the front hanger so that it would match the factory hanger.

 

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Pic 8, short section of pipe removed between small resonatior and large muffler.

 

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Finished

 

[bonedoctor]

Close up driver's side tip. Not gonna be easy keeping those tips clean. TRD is nicely engraved on both tips. A friend (who drives a POS Jeep) kept pointing out that "TRD", when sounded out, is "turd".

 

[Muffin-Man]

nice setup, i wanted to know how it sounds, is there a lot of drone like some ppl with the magnaflows have complained about? If i had a larger spare like a 265/70/17 BFG AT, would the exhaust fit around it?

 

[bonedoctor]

nice setup, i wanted to know how it sounds, is there a lot of drone like some ppl with the magnaflows have complained about? If i had a larger spare like a 265/70/17 BFG AT, would the exhaust fit around it?

At idle, you don't even hear it. If you rev it in park, you'll hear a nice aggressive sound. The low rumble picks up fairly quickly with acceleration. There's a little drone at about 1500-1800 rpm, but I notice it really only when I'm puttin' around town at low rpms, little throttle and in high gears. At highway speeds, I can hear a gentle rumble, but the wind noise at that speed is much louder. It picks up some when going up a hill or other load.

Overall, I'm happy with the sound. It's not too loud.

As far as fitting around the spare, I don't know. It almost seems like an individual case basis. I was sure the driver's side pipe wouldn't fit around the spare, but that was little problem. I've even got the XREAS system. Somebody else with the same part number TRD exhaust had to drop their spare. I suspect that I would have, too, but when he cut that section of pipe out up front, it gave him some wiggle room in the rear to allow better fit of the Y-pipe and the two outlets. The guy that installed the exhaust put a little flare on the end of the cut pipe so he could move it around just a little, get a little angle (and a little motion at the front translated to a lot at the rear of the system). He got everything in position, and once he was happy, then he rewelded the front section where the piece had been removed. I think that was the key to getting it to fit. After that, it was easy to reposition the front hanger that didn't quite match. After he had temporarily positioned the driver's side outlet, he supported it with a pipe stand, then repositioned its hanger, too. The muffler is angled just a tiny bit towards the driver's rear wheel and I think that allowed the driver side outlet to clear the spare. Not only do you have to clear, but there needs to be a little room between the hot pipe and the spare.

I've seen some TRD cat-back systems with a different part number than the one I have (which said it was for 2003-2004 with no mention of 2005 and nothing about XREAS) that specifically say it won't fit with XREAS.

My spare is the one that came with the vehicle (Dunlop AT20). So if it's the same size as yours, then should fit. Again, I think the key was the work he did at the front section, getting everything to fit in the rear, then rewelding the front. I suspect if he hadn't flared the cut end up front so he could put just a little angle to the rear section (and bring the driver's side pipe forward just a little to clear the front edge of the spare), it wouldn't have fit with the spare in place. The rubber hangers allow for a fair amount of lee-way.

 

[tomhaney1]

At idle, you don't even hear it. If you rev it in park, you'll hear a nice aggressive sound. The low rumble picks up fairly quickly with acceleration. There's a little drone at about 1500-1800 rpm, but I notice it really only when I'm puttin' around town at low rpms, little throttle and in high gears. At highway speeds, I can hear a gentle rumble, but the wind noise at that speed is much louder. It picks up some when going up a hill or other load.

Overall, I'm happy with the sound. It's not too loud.

As far as fitting around the spare, I don't know. It almost seems like an individual case basis. I was sure the driver's side pipe wouldn't fit around the spare, but that was little problem. I've even got the XREAS system. Somebody else with the same part number TRD exhaust had to drop their spare. I suspect that I would have, too, but when he cut that section of pipe out up front, it gave him some wiggle room in the rear to allow better fit of the Y-pipe and the two outlets. The guy that installed the exhaust put a little flare on the end of the cut pipe so he could move it around just a little, get a little angle (and a little motion at the front translated to a lot at the rear of the system). He got everything in position, and once he was happy, then he rewelded the front section where the piece had been removed. I think that was the key to getting it to fit. After that, it was easy to reposition the front hanger that didn't quite match. After he had temporarily positioned the driver's side outlet, he supported it with a pipe stand, then repositioned its hanger, too. The muffler is angled just a tiny bit towards the driver's rear wheel and I think that allowed the driver side outlet to clear the spare. Not only do you have to clear, but there needs to be a little room between the hot pipe and the spare.

I've seen some TRD cat-back systems with a different part number than the one I have (which said it was for 2003-2004 with no mention of 2005 and nothing about XREAS) that specifically say it won't fit with XREAS.

My spare is the one that came with the vehicle (Dunlop AT20). So if it's the same size as yours, then should fit. Again, I think the key was the work he did at the front section, getting everything to fit in the rear, then rewelding the front. I suspect if he hadn't flared the cut end up front so he could put just a little angle to the rear section (and bring the driver's side pipe forward just a little to clear the front edge of the spare), it wouldn't have fit with the spare in place. The rubber hangers allow for a fair amount of lee-way.

OK, I guess what irritates me is why in the hell should you have to modify an exaust that is designed as a direct bolt-on unit!

 

[bonedoctor]

OK, I guess what irritates me is why in the hell should you have to modify an exaust that is designed as a direct bolt-on unit!

Well, the instructions included with the exhaust did say it fit 2003-2004 and I have a 2005. There's nothing about XREAS. The place I bought the exhaust from advertised it as fitting 2003-2005. The end result is that I had to slightly modify a TRD exhaust that I got for $250 total, even shipped from NH to CO, another $150 for the tweaking to get it to fit, and I've still got my spare. If I had paid several hundred $$$ for it and had to do what I did, then I'd be really unhappy. Gene, the guy who did the custom work, basically made an exhaust that wasn't really designed for my vehicle and the XREAS option and made it fit nicely. The "not losing the spare" thing was a big deal to me, even though I can't remember the last flat I had.

What pissed me off were the welded-on nuts. Completely not needed. There's no way to get the old exhaust off without destroying a section.

 

[tomhaney1]

Well, the instructions included with the exhaust did say it fit 2003-2004 and I have a 2005. There's nothing about XREAS. The place I bought the exhaust from advertised it as fitting 2003-2005. The end result is that I had to slightly modify a TRD exhaust that I got for $250, another $150 for the tweaking to get it to fit, and I've still got my spare. If I had paid several hundred $$$ for it and had to do what I did, then I'd be really unhappy. Gene, the guy who did the custom work, basically made an exhaust that wasn't really designed for my vehicle and the XREAS option and made it fit nicely. The "not losing the spare" thing was a big deal to me, even though I can't remember the last flat I had.

What pissed me off were the welded-on nuts. Completely not needed. There's no way to get the old exhaust off without destroying a section.

Ya, that is pretty jewed that they welded them on! I did not realize you bought the non x-reas version. Apparantly, there is that version now available. I just keep hearing of people having to augment the system and and it doesn't make sense to me why that would be necessary.

 

[Muffin-Man]

Thanks for the insight bonedoctor.
I have another question. How do I find out if my 2004 t4r sport edition v8 has xreas? It seems that the main deciding factor on whether or not the exhaust fits, is if you have xreas.

 

[bonedoctor]

If you're curious how much had to be trimmed out of the pipe, look at the hanger in the background. When I started, the rubber hanger just barely hung onto the bent end of the rod on the muffler.

 

[bonedoctor]

Thanks for the insight bonedoctor.
I have another question. How do I find out if my 2004 t4r sport edition v8 has xreas? It seems that the main deciding factor on whether or not the exhaust fits, is if you have xreas.

Not sure, other than knowing that it was an option when I bought the vehicle. I take it you bought yours used. I think the 4th gen sports editions have XREAS as a standard feature and the Limiteds, like mine, have it only as an option. When you're under the vehicle, nothing really catches your eye like, "hey, there's the XREAS system".

I think what makes the fitting of these exhausts tricky is not so much the XREAS system and a component of that system getting in the way as how it affects the spare placement. Maybe somebody else knows the details of why XREAS vs non-XREAS is important. I just know the pic in the installation guide showing what was apparently a non-XREAS model (doesn't say one way or the other) seemed to have a lot more room in front of the spare and behind the rear differential case than mine did.

There's a guy over on the Classified forum with a Borla system for sale. He's got some pics, too. You can see how the system is similar to the TRD system, but apparently it will fit both XREAS and non-XREAS vehicles. He took his off a sport edition.

Here's that thread:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=203848#post203848

 

[bonedoctor]

Ya, that is pretty jewed that they welded them on! I did not realize you bought the non x-reas version. Apparantly, there is that version now available. I just keep hearing of people having to augment the system and and it doesn't make sense to me why that would be necessary.

Man, I hated to take the cutting torch to that front section, but there really wasn't an easier way available to me. I guess I could have neatly cut it with my reciprocating saw, but my tool chests are in storage. Considered a hacksaw, but that would have taken a long time. Besides, the cutting torch is kinda fun. Had to finish it off with the air hammer and chisel after the O2 bottle ran out.

 

[Muffin-Man]

Man, I hated to take the cutting torch to that front section, but there really wasn't an easier way available to me. I guess I could have neatly cut it with my reciprocating saw, but my tool chests are in storage. Considered a hacksaw, but that would have taken a long time. Besides, the cutting torch is kinda fun. Had to finish it off with the air hammer and chisel after the O2 bottle ran out.

gotta love fire, and destroying things in general :biggrin2: