hey guys, i just bought a 99 ram and on my old truck that im selling i had the gibson super truck exhaust but it wasnt loud enough.. i want to run straights but i thought if you run straights you can burn out your piston rings... also i heard you lose alot of power because there isnt enought back pressure.. help me out

 

I used to have a 1996 Ram with the 5.9L and I had replaced the stock muffler with a Flowmaster si/do and kept the stock CAT and manifolds. The duals exited out the back end on either side of the trailor hitch. The Flowmaster was a 50 series I believe, whatever they had said was to be suitable for the truck, and it was way too quiet and felt like no improvement in power over stock. I had it removed and a y-pipe put in its place and it sounded a lot better! I never had any reduction in power, actually felt like an improvement, and no problems at all with the valves. That final exhaust setup was stock CAT, stock manifolds, y-pipe in place of muffler, and dual 2.5" pipes out the back. This had a nice rumble to it at idle and had a nice growl to mild roar under heavy throttle. Very little resonance in the cab, if at all.

 

I've come to notice that straight pipes and performance mufflers offer different results. And it's all about what your into. Mufflers tend to offer a consistent signature tone, they also have a lot of interior resonance within the cab depending on the muffler. Straight pipes on the other hand, are a lot more "raw" and don't have any real consistent tone to them. The sound waves just kind of go wherever they want to haha. It's very raspy outside the vehicle as well. Straight pipes don't offer the consistent tone of a muffler though, but I've experienced they don't drone at all like a muffler does, so you don't really get that intense interior resonance. I run the flowmaster super 44 muffler, and it drones A LOT, especially at highway speeds. Personally, I'm a fan of the interior resonance, I just love it. But for some, it'd be a nightmare haha. Both systems can be equally as loud, the mufflers are more tone and interior. The straight pipes are more full out raw sound waves and usually are a lot louder compared to most mufflers. Performance gains are about the same as well, so it really comes down to what you want and prefer in your system. They make plently of mufflers out there that are as loud as straight pipes too, so either way, you cannot go wrong brother!

 

My set-up is stock headers, stock cat, and2.5in straight pipe cat-back, dumped before the rear wheel. LOVE the sound!!! I've put about 3000 miles on the system so far on a longhighway trip, so if anything could have happened it would have. My engine is fine, no codes,no nothing. As far as power, there was no loss, actually gain (seat dyno.) It really does pull alot harder, especially in1st and2nd gear. Did I mention I LOVE the sound. Personally,I thinkit sounds quiter thanmufflers. My only dislike about the set-up is the pitch is a bittoo high for my tastes, but a 3in tip will hopefully mellow and tone it down.Get the straight pipes, if you don't like it you can always add a muffler later.

 

Well for example, my brothers F-350 has essentially straight pipes (dynomax bullets) on his true dual set-up. I run the SUPER 44 muffler, and honestly, my truck is louder when I start mine, and mine is louder driving around town. It also drones a lot more too. BUT..when he is really on it, that thing is wayyyy louder! It slaps everywhere, it's awesome, he by far has one of the loudest systems I know of. But it's nice because regular driving for him, it's just a very nice deep consistent tone and it fits his truck so great. But when he wants it loud, oh yeah, he can just paralyze an area at anytime! With my truck, it starts up loud, and drives loud alll the time. It drones a lot, makes a great consistent signature Flowmaster tone and it slaps quite a bit too, it's awesome. But when we are both on it, his truck out volumes mine (don't get me wrong mine is stupid among itself) but his is a little more aggressive. I cant promise it will be quite though with straight pipes, some trucks with straight pipes are just insane all the time. I thnik his is modest around town because it's a ford 460 engine so it doesnt have as an aggressive firing pattern as dodges do.

 

i cut my muffler off, run a dump.

not loud enough.

i get alot of interior resonence as well..

long tubes and off-road Y coming soon..

 

Like neon said before, it's about what you're into. My setup is stock manifolds, stock Y-pipe, then I punched out the cat, and threw a long, slant cut resonator tip on it. I love it, but the interior resonance is crazy under part throttle. I've had it a few different ways, and I even put a couple thousand miles on it with open Y-pipe, and never burned anything up.
This link is for when it was 3 inch to the axle with a dump: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4iwEkbfHVBQ It's different than that now, but still sounds about the same, just a little louder.

 

While my cat was still functional I ran just a standard Flowmaster 50 Series cat back, single in Dual out. It was nice and mellow, but not as loud as I would have liked under full throttle.

When my cat started getting plugged up, I took it out, replaced it with a piece of tubing running from 3" down to 2.5" (which is how the cat was) and built an O2 sim. Cruising, there isn't much more resonance than with the cat (much less than a stock setup with a 40 series flowmaster in place of the stock muffler) however under acceleration the thing roars and sounds much meaner than with the cat on. My only complaint is the increase in exhaust smell behind the truck without a cat, other than that its great.

 

LOL yeah having a gutted cat or runing catless does stink! I really cant stay stationary with the truck running very long anymore otherwise I'll start getting sick

 

anyone running Cherry bombs? i know its a basic glasspack, that after awhile just turns into straight pipes... at elast from what ive ehard but just wondering what it sounds like on our trucks.... my ideal setup would be longtubes thoa true dual set-up with cherry bombs and and stainless tips