Best OE replacement Muffler

Guys:

My 88 XJ got a new muffler and tail pipe in 96 from MIDAS .... The muffler was junk and I am on muffler # 5... (Baffles kept working loose and banging around) anyways midas no longer gives lifetime parts + labor and this morning i noticed a nice crack in the tailpipe..

I am looking for the quietest longest lasting muffler and tailpipe out there.. Im not looking for performance, simply sound and longevity... Im thinking a Walker...


any ideas

I put a Walker muffler (~$15) in my 88 a few years ago - haven't had any trouble with it since. Since it's a work truck and a California commute rig, I figure it's pretty well abused.

Nothing wrong with the Walkers - just take the time to make sure you get one that will fit. You'll probably want an extension pipe for one end or the other, since the Walker is fairly small - but it's plenty doable. You can clean up and reuse the tailpipe and axle arch without any trouble, provided it's not rusted out (there's nothing in there to go wrong, unless it's a "double-wall" pipe - which is fairly rare. I've not seen one on four XJ's...)

5-90

I got a direct replacement Walker for '90 4.0. Muffler is holding up fine(2yrs. old now), pipe is rusting pretty bad, only prob. I have is that the exhaust is loud in the cab. on the the highway or under accelaration .

The best is stainless steel if you really want the best. Check out Borla for something in the $400 range.

I dunno about most folks but I could do better than $400.00 for a muffler for a $1500.00 Jeep (reminds me of a photo stunt the now former US Senate minority leader Tom Daschle once staged that involved a Lexus, a muffler, his erstwhile traveling companion Richard Gephardt, and the little podium he always brought along with the usual stack of telephone books behind it for him to stand on - and BTW thanks to the voters who know who they are for finally tossing that sawed off runt, it wasn't a minute too soon) but I digress.

If Midas once sold you a lifetime guaranteed muffler they have to honor it whether or not they offer the guarantee now. You paid for it and it is their obligation to deliver the goods as promised. Their only escape would be bankruptcy. But if it's a piece of crap anyway it's brobably not worth the hassle.

Try to stay as close to OEM design as you can for the CAT and muffler. Get quality within reason - galvanized or aluminized steel will last long enough for it to eventually get torn off on something and fancy stainless goodies will get clobbered just as easily out playing in the sticks and rocks. Opening up the exhaust as a lot of folks like to do will cost you low end performance and probably gas mileage too. Better breathing doesn't necessarily equate with better performance or economy and hasn't for like 25 years now. Combustion cycle temperature is regulated in part by the EGR system and since that has no feedback loop the volume of EGR you get is driven by exhaust back pressure. Too little and you get elevated combustion chamber temperature and pinging. The ECU compensates by derating and the O2 sensor has it's turn and triggers even more derate and the end result is loss of power. Whatever anybody else says this is the bitter truth.

Merry Christmas everybody

I have a dynomax. Not expensive....well built.....and the Cherokee runs fine with it. I have had it for about 5K.

will

99 4.0 AW4 231 30 8.25 3.5'' 31's and goodies

Dave in Eugene said:

If Midas once sold you a lifetime guaranteed muffler they have to honor it whether or not they offer the guarantee now. You paid for it and it is their obligation to deliver the goods as promised.

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In total agreement, as long as you don't mind the potential hassle of dealing with them not wanting to honor the warranty.

I have got midas to honor their warranty they dont like to honor before but it seems their mufflers are junk... its like once a year to two the baffles are bangiing

Timber said:

...as long as you don't mind the potential hassle of dealing with them not wanting to honor the warranty.

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Well ya and who does? Sounds like the Midas is crap anyway.

I used to like how Midas did things back in the day. They had a good system using a small stock of more or less universal mufflers, bent the remaining exhaust system out of straight pipe to fit on site, and welded everything. Not easy to go in after them and repair things, but you didn't have to, they fixed it under the warranty. When I had my own shop I told my customers who wanted mufflers to go there because they could do the job a lot faster and cheaper than I could (yeah, I was an honest no BS mechanic - plus I hated wrestling with mufflers).

There are a lot of reasons why a system shop like that won't work these days so I imagine they are hurting.

Sounds like they aren't making them like they used to. They have to carry a lot more inventory than they used to with the various catalyst formulas plus the huge variety of specialized connectors and flex joints used these days, and labor certainly isn't as cheap to train and keep as it used to be, a person with any technical skills is going to get a full benefit package somewhere and Midas certainly wasn't paying that installing mufflers for $19.95, so they cut cost the only way they can - with cheaper material. Do they even have their own brand anymore or do they just use no-name Chinese garbage can mufflers?

wil4thril said:

I have a dynomax.

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Dynamax (I think that's what you mean) is, I think, Donaldson Exhaust. A premium brand of filtration and exhaust products that I have used for years in the heavy equipment industry. Once and maybe still the OEM for Caterpillar, and a lot of other heavy equipment manufacturers. A lot of their stuff is no longer made in USA, not sure that's a problem. Another good heavy duty brand is Nelson, a part of the Cummins Engine Company. When I do mine I'll probably use one of those brands because I can get them factory direct through Freightliner (if I can drill my way through their horribly complex computer system to get the part number - they answer to Stuttgart being a part of Daimler-Chrysler, and they just do things differently in Europe).

When i got my midas it was the old midas.. lifetime parts+labor on the install... after that it went down hill now they only warranty parts, and if any part of the exhaust system is broke they wont honor the warranty unless you pay for the "needed repairs" in addition one time they put my muffler on backwards, another time they did a "courtsey inspection" and trashed my brakes Back in the day they were great i must agree... I told a ladyfriend to get a midas back in 1999 she did... lifetime parts plus labor... when it went bad last year they tried to tell her the labor was no longer covered and she had to haggle to get them to continue the lifetime labor

I replaced my junk midas muffler with a Napa muffler, tailpipe and clamps for about $50. It is just easier to cut off the system from the muffler back and replace with new than to try to salvage the old tailpipe. The Napa muffler is about as quiet as stock.