Thinking of cutting the rear end of my exhaust off - Pros and Cons?

[insaniak]

I want to cut off the highlighted part of this picture.

http://i.imgur.com/rDH2XXi.jpg

I hit it on rocks constantly while offroading and it's all smashed up on the bottom, and it has come off the rubber holder right above it as you can see by the little rod sticking out on top.

I wouldn't mind the truck being a little bit louder without it, but I still want it to pass inspection. I'm willing to cut it and modify it and put it back on for inspection and take it off for the rest of the time.

 

[Inv4drZm]

I have removed mine at exactly the point shown with a sawzall after I had my exhaust system installed already. So I can't attest to what it would change with a stock system, but on mine, It made it "drone" more. But in a good way. Not necessarily at 60 or 80 cruising, but from 0-35 it is much more noticeable. Also, I have the V8. I would imagine removing yours would lead to more "drone" (noise) at a specific frequency, though I'm not sure what that will be with the V6.

One question I have is that why does my brother's FJ not have a rear resonator, but all the V6 4Runner's do?

 

[CXS]

Just cut it off, it won't make any difference on inspection or much noise level change.

 

[gm350reratliff]

I would cut it off but route it out just behind the rear tire. I would be cautious about having it just dump under an SUV due to the possibility of letting carbon monoxide inside. Something like this, without the SS tip.

 

[insaniak]

Is it possible to remove that section without cutting in case I need to put it back on?

 

[Critt003]

Been debating this myself, gonna just hack it off this week and see what the end result is. Might end up routing it out behind the rear tire as someone posted above but haven't decided to be honest. I found a link on another forum that was pretty old that a few people said it made no difference and even with it just hacked off they couldn't tell a difference as far as smell etc in the cabin.

 

[gm350reratliff]

Just a reminder, carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. Maybe run a CO detector in the cargo area for a while just to be sure. I would be more concerned going slow on the trail, mud, deep snow than when on the highway. I can say without a doubt, there is no more sulfur smell with the exhaust exiting behind the rear tire.

 

[morphious]

As you can see mine is cut right behind the resonator. Can easily be welded back on if ever needed, and never had a problem since.

 

[asdfman7]

Just did this 3 hours ago. Cut the resonator off and added a 90° elbow for 7 bucks so it dumps out just behind the mud flap.

 

[mightymax]

For those that added an elbow or any sort of tip after cutting it off, did you use the factory mount from the resonator?

(still searching but haven't seen that specifically referenced in a thread)

 

[asdfman7]

For those that added an elbow or any sort of tip after cutting it off, did you use the factory mount from the resonator?

(still searching but haven't seen that specifically referenced in a thread)

I've seen some weld on a hanger so it hangs from the same location the resonator did. I just let mine hang and haven't had any issues. Didn't see it being an issue since the weight of the resonator is gone and the elbow weighs almost nothing, the muffler is still hanging from its original hangars and to me still seemed fully supported so I didn't bother with a hanger.

 

[blackoutt]

I mounted my turnout to the factory resonator hanger location with a new hanger. Probably didn't need to but I don't like stuff rattling around, its really solid this way.

 

[mightymax]

Thanks [MENTION=117708]blackoutt[/MENTION] and [MENTION=110848]asdfman7[/MENTION]!

I knocked off the resonator last night and plan to eventually go for a tip, just not in any real hurry. So wanted to see what others had done, just didn't want to bend or damage the pipe remaining. It's fairly solid for DD, but wouldn't want to do more than city driving.