Banks Torque Tube........CRACKED!!!!

So am I the only one??? I started hearing an exhaust leak from the front end, thinking it was either the donut blown out or the manifold bolts had lossen upped. Well reached up under there and went to tighten them, they were all tight. So I started feeling around the welds and YUP!!?!? found the crack. Right on the inside of the Y-juncture, just like from the factory. Well called Banks and 4x4groupbuy.com and banks will send me a new one with proff od purchase and a deposit, haven't heard back from 4x4group yet, but will wait to see what they say.

Kinda pisses me off, you know try to buy quality stuff, just to have it break on you again, well at least they will replace it. I guess this just gives me an excuse to replace the motor mounts, intake mainfold, etc.

Thats a new one on me. Could you snap a pic or two when ya get it off?

Plan on it. Really has me baffled, another thing to note is that the header looks almost rusted and bunrt, is this normal for a SS header? I know stainless pretty well, actually bring it to about 510C everyday and know what is looks like but that is 303, I am not sure what 409 would look like at head exhaust temps. Anybody got any ideas?

I have read about it somewhere that it happened to somebody and banks did not warranty as they did not believe it. So far stock manifold is the cheapest way to go IMO. I haven't seen one hold up yet, and you would think paying half of a thousand dollars that it would--------Kyle

It will crack if your motor is moving enough and not your exhaust.... its still thin metal, not a rock rail.

I only say this since you mentioned changing your motor mounts.

I did this before to a set of headers on a Factory Five Racing Cobra I built. Then I bashed Flowtech headers for a long time. Now I wish I would not of since I did it by flexing things to much... Summit even replaced the flowtechs free.

Just a thought.....

In a recent offroad magazine there was a new product shown that was a flexible coupler for between the header and the downpipe. This was to provide give that would otherwise crack a header. Don't remember what magazine or who made it, but it might be a good idea if you get lucky enough to get a replacement from Banks. If I get a chance over the next week I'll see if I can locate the magazine.

The other option might be to get some stouter motor mounts which will allow for less engine movement as previously suggested. Although a bad trans mount could perhaps cause the crack to occur as well I would imagine.

I had a crack starting to form on my Banks header. It was right where the front 3 cylinder meet into the junction with the other 3 cylinders. I took it to a welding shop and they said $30 to weld it back up. They said there should have been a bigger bead of weld between the tubes and not just on the inside. Banks at first said they wouldnt warrenty it but then I had my dad call and send them an email since I was busy in college and about 3 days later somebody called and sent me a new header for my old cracked one. It took some work but they finally did come through. I would buy a Borla next time.

AARON

That's just super.. I have one in the garage waiting to be installed tomorrow!

Oh well, at least it sounds like the problem was resolved. Was the banks header the style for late model 00+ XJ's and TJ's or the model that fits late 90's XJ's?

Thanks,

George Trilikis
00XJ

My header is for a 91 Jeep 4.0L. I havent had a problem with the new one yet, but only time will tell.

AARON

gptrilik said:

That's just super.. I have one in the garage waiting to be installed tomorrow!

Oh well, at least it sounds like the problem was resolved. Was the banks header the style for late model 00+ XJ's and TJ's or the model that fits late 90's XJ's?

Thanks,

George Trilikis
00XJ

Click to expand...

Well, it's worthless now.

Just let me take that off your hands.....

My cracked in the same spot, where the first 3 cylinders meet the last 3. I am not sure if the motor mounts had anything to do with it, they are fine, I just wanted to upgrade. But we will soon find out, I might just replace all the mounts and exhaust why I am at it, so hopefully this won't happen again. And on yeah its the single piece header for 91-98's. I believe the later models 99+ uses a two piece set-up, but I could be wrong.

i had my banks replaced under warranty 3 times since may 2004. and about 2 days ago it started making noise again. looks like i'll be on number 4 in less than 2 years. the first one blew the weld out at the top of the "first" collector and slagged my injector harness housing. since then they have just been cracking and leaking. my motor mounts/tranny mount are reasonably new but are just autozone replacements. as for the the device/bellows for the downpipe, i believe what is installed is the same bellows used in tranverse mounted engines to allow the engine to rock into/away from the exhaust. at the muffler shop they had a rice burner sized one that looks like the right size for a standard downpipe. good luck with the banks, i'm starting to get frustrated with it. warranty aside it is a pain to keep swapping out. i finally bought a A1 header to put in place while the banks is out. last time they told me they had one in stock and i took the day off and drove to azuza and they "were mistaken". so i had to wait for the new one to be shipped.