Exhaust Leak Procedure

[Artisan]

Guys I have a pretty good exhaust leak going on. While
it looks fairly straight forward in repair procedures I wanted
to ask a couple of q's perhaps of those whom have been
there done that before me.

The Magenta colored arrow points to the area where I have
a leak. It is from here back where it looks like this truck received
some work from a less than professional in the recent past
evidenced by the different colored parts.

Am I going to be smarter if I remove the whole shootin'
match starting with the exhaust outlet stack on top vs
trying to section in this pipe section alone?

It just looks like I might be wiser to pull it all, inspect
inlets and outlets for cracks and rebuild "fitting" each
joint tight and snug as I go vs trying to section it together
and expect a seal, which is what I think happened.

I see I need new exhaust gaskets, will the clamps come
undone and are they reuseable or better to get new clamps
too?

Any other suggestions?

 

[zout]

Squirting some light PB blaster on them turbo style exhaust clamp threads before twitching on this is good.
Its probably the seals in between the flanges that have burned out - unless the clamps have deterioated badly
I would reuse them and new seals - these are flanged exhaust pipes - I have used rolled aluminum foil as seals on other
stuff - but most have a heat resistant material to them. - I would check that flex pipe as well for leaks.

 

[moving chicane]

I would recommend spraying everything with penetrating oil well before you get started. The clamps should probably be reusable, but it never hurts to have a spare before you need it. I would also replace the nuts and bolts on the clamps with new as that will make your life a lot easier on the install. Sometimes the clamps will require a little motivation from a hammer to separate from the pipe flanges.

ETA Zout beat me to it

 

[tigger]

Its real easy to not get them back together rite especially in a tight spot. may only need to put back together properly. and as Zout said liberal with the pb blaster!

 

[Artisan]

Well, I started at the top AND DANG GOOD THING I DID.

The mufflers uppermost flange was 50% rusted out! Not long and that
top pipe section would be falling onto the roadway, my luck
in front of a motorcyclist so off it all came up to the offending
joint.

I ordered up new gaskets and I am working on a replacement muffler.

I cut the loop UBolts and I have a better than new replacement
for them already being made. The existing were rotted away.
I thought they were 1/4" till I measured some good threads
and found they were originally 3/8"

The clamps are being bead blasted, new nuts and bolts ordered.

PS, I fired her up wide open for a few seconds !

Turn up your speakers and FEEL the RAW POWER ! HA!

http://youtu.be/jm0qYw56DWU

 

[jonesal]

Can you please tell us where you were able to get the gaskets? Did you find any civy equivalents? I need to do a repair as well but am having difficulty finding the gaskets.

Thanks,
Al Jones
'84 M923

 

[Artisan]

You betcha Al, at ERIKS . Please tell Erik I sent you.

Hit all the bolts w/ PB Blaster,
Pull the bottom 2 Muffler guard shroud bolts.
Slightly loosen the top 2 (just a bit).
Start at the top pipe w/ a 9/16" Deep on an impact at the clamp.
Remove top pipe.
Pivot muffler guard up pivoting on top 2 bolts, or remove entirely.
Remove bottom muffler clamp.
With a pneumatic cutting wheel cut left and right sides of both muffler u-bolts.
(mine were rusted bad, not salvageable) Save ubolt "stands".
Remove top half of next clamp (1/2" ) of next pipe.
Remove next clamp Pull horz pipe section.

Kinda fun to start engine now and hear the power like I utubed above.

Beadblast and paint ubolt stands and maybe clamps. (Clamps might be SS)
Buy new clamps hardware. ( I trashed clamp hardware.)

There are 8 Ubolts left on epay w/ stands. I opted to save my ubolt
stands because they are a lil more substancial than what you see
on epay. I have my own ubolts that are 3/8" x Fine Thread w/ High
Nuts I will use. I'll PM you the two links for some other parts I found
you may want.

 

[Artisan]

SURPRISES!

When I first looked at this I almost threw in the towel
then I said I mine as well try to fix it...glad I did.

On one end there is a divot, almost looks like someone tagged
the flange w/ a cut off wheel. I welded it and ground it as new.

On the other end, the leaker end, it looks like someone
dropped the pipe making a section flat, out of round, BAD.
I put the whole deal in a vise, hit it w/ a rosebud tip
and smacked it a few times w/ a piece of 3.5" OD pipe
and SUCCESS! It was dented "in" as well, another heat up
and few well placed blows w/ a hammer and tool and
and I got lucky!

 

[Artisan]

Next piece...............;


Ugg, the muffler is real bad...

Thinking harder on this one. . .

Yea I want to stay stock so I will look for a used muffler
from the dry states, no rusty's .

 

[juanprado]

SECO Southeastern Equipment Co in Ga sells the gaskets. 1-706-798-7500 www.secoagusta.com. The V band clamps are common cummins or truck exhaust parts that should be easy to reuse. NAPA sells them. Changing the bolt to a grade 8 is very worthwhile.

The hold downs on the muffler are standard U bolt muffler clamps.

I have had access to a few parts trucks and most used mufflers are rough or well on the way to rough. There are some "new" on fleapay. In my mind they are worth the extra $ unless you can find a really new looking "used" one recently refurb. They are way too easy to hold water and rot out internally from sitting up. A rain cap is a cheap $10 2 min fix that justs bolts up and very worthwhile in saving your investment.

Been there, done that

 

[Artisan]

snip

www.secoagusta.com.snip

Should be ; http://www.secoaugusta.com/

THANK U JUAN!

 

[Artisan]

Well I need a muffler, I am on a hunt for a deal on one.

In the mean time another piece of the puzzle arrived today,
that being the U-Bolts that get / got cut off to remove the muffler.

I found some UBolt assemblyies claiming to be "Military" but
their bases are of a guillitine style vs my OE parts which are
more of a "stand". I saved my bases and replaced the UBOLTS
w/ quality parts I had made.

 

[Artisan]