98 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2 Two Wheel Drive

 

No way that I know of to tell if a CAT is bad by looking at it unless there is obvious external damage.

What do you mean by 'fried'?

You could always cut your muffler off...listen to the exhaust....then cut/unbolt your converter....listen....and go from there. Leave room to re-weld it all.

 

Drive it around at night for a bit, stop and look under the truck and if the cat is glowing red hot then its bad. Magnaflow makes a really nice direct bolt in cat as I have one on my truck but I welded mine in.

 

Find a decent exhaust shop. They can drill a small hole in the piping behind it and check it for flow. If its ok, just weld up the hole.

 

Nothing in those pics looks amiss to me. What makes you think it is "fried"? You do know the cats get extremely hot (not red hot as mentioned) and will discolor the metal on them and this is normal.