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Front exhaust pipe and additional hanger question

gba88

NAXJA Forum User
Location
PA
This is for a 99 4.0

Front pipe question: Are there any other options for the front pipe other than the walker garbage? I think I saw something like an "eastern exhaust" on rock auto, but that looked even cheaper. All I see on amazon are reviews where the pipe breaks at the weld where the hanger goes in over the cross member. I really need a new cat and the local shop welded the downpipe to the cat the last time it broke in that area. Now, I have the outlet of the cat rigged with a sleeve and it's all barely hanging together. I really need to replace everything to do it right.

Second question: has anyone ever added a hanger around the muffler/cat area? Between my 99, 96 and wife's 99 I've had a break between the cat and muffler no less than 3 times over the years. This results in the muffler banging off the drive shaft and having to tie it up to get home. It seems like a HORRIBLE design to have the stretch between the crossmember hanger and the tailpipe hanger supported by NOTHING. That's probably one of the reasons the walker pipes are breaking at the crossmember hanger weld (trying to support all that sh!t). Please post any info, this is my next project after splicing all the hatch wires (if nothing else comes up after/before then!)
 
Many forum members have had a new down pipe bent at a muffler shop or have constructed their own. There does't appear to be a decent, off the shelf replacement.

If you feel the need for an additional hanger, go ahead and construct one, make sure to use a rubber hanger or coupling, for flex and noise isolation.
 
Thanks for the reply, guess it's just the walker or custom, then. Yeah, I figured as much about the hanger, just thought maybe someone else had done it already.
 
I just had my 2k with a '98 header done custom. It turned out great! From the header flange back it was "all" new, with 3 o2 ports and in 2-1/2" it cost me 550$!
 
I just had my 2k with a '98 header done custom. It turned out great! From the header flange back it was "all" new, with 3 o2 ports and in 2-1/2" it cost me 550$!

Oh man... yeah i really can't afford to put that much into it at this point. Pass front door rotted out on bottom, windshield leak caused lot of damage on driver floor and well... sad thing is only 125k on it! Anyway, long list of projects planned... now if I could somehow do it for about 300 that would be doable but i know that's not realistic. Was just hoping to find an inexpensive way out for the front pipe. Like clockwork... I replace the shitty walker tailpipe about every 2 years due to it rotting out at the axle hanger. Was just hoping there would be a better option that walker for the front. I'll have to see ... maybe I can cut it and still get a new cat on it without replacing. I tried to keep the original stock tailpipe as long as I could but it kind of disintegrated about 5 years ago. Gotta love living in the rust belt.
 
I have a 2000 with Cali emmisions -- the 2 pre-cats

I bought the walker down pipe and cat setup -- the welding was terrible

I ended up re-welding the entire thing using my tig machine and stainless filler wire -- turned out just fine
 
you can prolly get a custom one made for not a whole lot. local exhaust shop custom bent and welded in my tailpipe for $50 out the door... downside is I have to get it redone cuz I got a new bumper that sits a lot higher lol
 
you can prolly get a custom one made for not a whole lot. local exhaust shop custom bent and welded in my tailpipe for $50 out the door... downside is I have to get it redone cuz I got a new bumper that sits a lot higher lol

Yeah, I'm probably gonna give a local guy a call sometime soon. My problem though is that i think i will need about everything redone. The front pipe was already welded to the cat once and the outlet of the cat has basically rotted away to the 02 sensor area. I now have the muffler and cat held together with an inserted sleeve and the clamps in that area are no longer really holding. Other than just rusting out in general, the other main flaw of the XJ is the exhaust system. I swear i've replaced the tailpipe like clockwork about every 2 years. Of course it has always been the walker garbage that i've replaced it with so what can i expect.
 
That's just where you live! When I replaced my 17yr old exhaust it was still like brand new but I was doing a up-grade!
 
honestly if you have the spare money id have the shop run all of it new. itll be cheaper in the long run and the pipe they use is generally much heavier. if you want a muffler that wont rust out check out spintech, they look odd but are really well built.
I am gonna have the same shop that done the tailpipe do the front section so I can take the big dent out of it and itll all be freshened up.
 
That's just where you live! When I replaced my 17yr old exhaust it was still like brand new but I was doing a up-grade!

Yeah, don't remind me! I remember seeing XJs from texas back when I was looking locally and they looked like they were right off the assembly line! Up here (western PA) brand new vehicles rust in the damn dealer lots!!!
 
honestly if you have the spare money id have the shop run all of it new. itll be cheaper in the long run and the pipe they use is generally much heavier. if you want a muffler that wont rust out check out spintech, they look odd but are really well built.
I am gonna have the same shop that done the tailpipe do the front section so I can take the big dent out of it and itll all be freshened up.

That's just it... I could maybe do about 300 at most but there's no way that will do all that needs to be done :(
 
dunno if itd be that much to do it, if you can get the front made dynomax makes a decent exhaust kit that wont break the bank

I'm looking into doing it myself again now... hoping that there is enough where the guy welded the cat to cut there and put in new cat, muffler and tailpipe. I've seen some "pyle"? clamps on amazon that look like i could put one on the tailpipe and then slide through the rubber loop where the old tailpipe hanger rotted away. There is also a dynomax clamp that you can put on the front pipe to replace the rotted factory hanger that holds the pipe above the crossmember. Right now, I have a couple pieces of all thread frankensteined into that area going through the rubber support to keep the pipe off the crossmember. My biggest worry is the front pipe and if/how I'll interface that with the new cat since i had the old one welded to the downpipe. I can't remember if he cut more off the pipe or the cat to get it together (hoping it was the cat). i know all i have to do is go look but it's been raining for a day now and i'm at work.
 
I have a couple pipe size questions hopefully someone can answer that are related to the original topic. I can't believe how much trouble I'm having just finding an XJ exhaust diagram online! Anyway, from what I can see, everything is 2.25" -the tailpipe, the outlet of the cat, the muffler, etc. Those three pieces should all slide together. What I cannot find is if the front of the cat slides -into- the down pipe or goes over it. I think it goes into it though. I need to know the diameter of that end of the down pipe that the cat slides into. I'm thinking of using lap joint clamps this time so that I can disassemble if needed in the future. The old style u bolt clamps just crush the pipes and I've never been able to successfully get one off without cutting it. I think if I get 2.25" lap joint clamps for the muffler to cat and cat to tailpipe I'll be ok. The question is what size for the cat to downpipe? I think I saw 2.5" somewhere but I'm not sure.
 
Awesome! Thanks a lot! I don't know how the hell I didn't find that. Do you know if my thoughts about the 2.25" lap joint clamps will work the way I think they will?

Nevermind replying...I'm sure if I get lap joint clamps based on the same size of regular u bolt clamps they'll be fine.
 
Ok guys, here we go.... what do you think is there enough of the down pipe left to work with here to install a new cat? I guess I could use a butt joint clamp if I got a clean cut on the cat pipe that's left. Any suggestions? p.s. i'm not even sure what the clamp is on the right. i think it might be left over from a previous repair.

 
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