A poor experience, and my lessons learned

[FDNY129]

I recently put a new "flapper" style exhaust cap on the deuce (AKA House Of Pain) with an extended straight pipe. The flapper cap costs $10 at a local truck shop, and the straight pipe was $3.00 per foot. I added a 7 foot length coming off an exhaust clamp just after the outside bend. It now sits just higher than the cargo cover. I then took a 2 hour drive to a parade, and it was amazingly quieter. The flapper looked really cool at low RPM during the parade too. The kids loved when I revved it up and made mushroom clouds go straight up too!

After the parade, we got home pretty late and I think to myself, "Now I NEVER have to worry about putting the coffee can on top ever again"....well I was VERY WRONG!

The next day we had a monsoon rain storm here in NY. It was over 10 inches in 3 days. River beds flooding, homes lost, etc. Winds exceeded 50MPH. Several times I looked outside and saw it clearly going horizontal, like bullets.

Yesterday, my brother and I went outside to do my weekly walk around and started the truck to keep my batteries charged up. While standing on the drivers step, I leaned in to push start. All of the sudden I see my brother running faster than I've ever seen. Before I could yell "what’s wrong", I was drenched in black water! He heard the gurgle and knew what was coming. My truck instantly went from Fire Engine red, to stealth black.

Luckily, there was no noticeable engine damage. I would imagine, from the amount of crud covering my rig that I was close to the max though.

Lessons learned: 1: ALWAYS put the coffee can on top. 2: Weld in a drain valve at the bottom elbow that can be opened when not in use, and closed when operating.

Just thought I would share the experience.....and I kind of like the stealth look (yes I washed it immediately)

 

[kbush]

You don't think that in such a storm the coffee can wouldn't have blown away?

 

[6x6guy]

Try using a plastic bottle with the top cut off, and place it on your stack just in case you forget to take it off when starting your truck- it won't damage anything when it takes off.
With that if you like put in 4 holes around the bottom section and weave in a tie wrap- one of those 2 footers and tighten- guaranted not ot come off no matter what the weather is doing.

 

[dittle]

I just use a latex glove on my exhaust. Haven't had one blow off yet.

 

[bigmike]

I use a plastic bottle from those clean wipes. I cut a hole at the rim for one end of a bungie cord. The other end of the bungie catches the bolt/bracket at the heat shield. No water, no issues if left on, never blown off...yet.

 

[BKubu]

I concur on the plastic bottles, although I have used coffee cans in the past. I prefer a two liter soda bottle with the top cut off. They fit nice and snug over the exhaust stack on an M809 or M939 series and will also fit the deuce stack. I have never had one blow off.

 

[mudguppy]

you could just drill a small hole in the bottom of the j-pipe to let water drain out.

 

[319]

My j-pipe has one of those naturally engineered (rust) holes in it to let water out. Thought about patching it but now I won't.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

April 5th, 2010.

FDNY129:

That must have been a heck of a wind and rainstorm to cause the flapper valve to malfunction to that degree! I have had 70-80 mile an hour winds and rains around here and the flapper on my deuce has never yet failed to keep the water out. The original muffler rusted out due to someone in the military not keeping the truck's stack covered properly....
My tailpipe is in at least two pieces coming out of the muffler, and the last is not quite as tall as the cargo cover and has the flapper applied operating crossways on the truck (e.g. it opens from the right side of the truck, with the hinge on the hood side of the pipe). I placed it this way in consideration of the fact I did not want the forward motion air flow to restrict the flapper when doing highway speeds, and so far it has been no problem. The reason for having the stack top only slightly lower then the cargo cover was twofold, 1: to protect it from tree limbs and damage wherever possible, and 2: to protect it as much as possible from winds when sitting outside shut down. I guess the luck of the drw is what you get, but before the flapper I had the soot gyser once when I forgot to place the can over the top during a torrential rainstorm, and the cab roof and cargo cover can attest to it because the soot doesn't come off....

I'd turn the cap sideways and see if that helps its function. One month last year we had about 11" of rain in about 4 weeks here, plus high winds ..... no problem with the flapper, but go out and get a good one. If it's made in China you can bet the rain's gonna get in......

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[srodocker]

my j pipe has a huge hole in it

 

[Boosted_Nelson_Inc.]

I've got one of the fancy natural drain holes in the exhaust on my 818. I figure a 6X4 oval that rusted away should keep water out. I should probably do something about my deuce though. The stack is probably the only part that isn't really rusty.

 

[helmethair78]

I use a small plastic coffe can that fits tightly over the pipe. No problems so far.

 

[sti-nkr]

It's yet to rain signifigantly in East Texas since I bought my deuce two weeks ago.

 

[rideni]

I cut a notch out of a coolant jug and use that it fits real nice

 

[TIGERFANS2]

small metal coffe can that's been left on, blown off, slightly ran over and kinda pushed back out roundish, fits nice and snug
stays on in kansas winds

 

[m109guy]

I have had a flapper for years and never had a problem. If I ever got water in it, then the truck would easily show it as the black water would get thrown onto the M109 box.

My flapper is actually a good bit larger in diameter than the exhaust pipe and have about a half inch over-hang all around. Maybe look at getting a larger flapper?

 

[LovinPSDs]

For diesel trucks we always just drilled two small holes in the bottom of the pipe...Just puttin it out there.

 

[Flyingvan911]

You could also drill a hole near the rim of the coffee can. Then use a rubber bungie hooked to the can and the other end to the mirror bracket. That'll hold it!

 

[gunner01]

I just park mine inside...however when we have to leave it out for the night for parades or family events either a ABS/PVC cap works just great. drill a small hole on the side use a small caribeaner and a bungee . It wont go anywhere

 

[Westex]

Here in El Paso, with Hurricane force Desert winds, I use an old plastic vacuum cleaner body turned upside down on the stack. It's blown off twice in the last year. It's only the wind.