I have a 98 Ram 5.2 4x4 QC. I just removed my muffler, tailpipe and all. I like the way it sounds now, no popping or crackling or anything. Just a nice, smooth, loud rumble, but I do have a couple questions about this:

Will I be hurting anything since I just removed the muffler from the pipe coming off the cat and am leaving it dumping the exhaust there? Should I get a pipe and extend it either before or after the rear tire out the side? How will either scenario affect the sound? Or can I just leave it as is?


Also, I tried looking up Georgia Law about running with no muffler and can't find anything. I also looked for Georgia noise laws and couldn't find much there either. Does anyone know anything about the Georgia laws relating to this, or where I could go to look this up or someone to call and ask about this. I was thinking about calling an exhaust shop, they "should" know the laws regarding this.

Thanks for the help.

 

I got the flowmaster 40 and my neighbors hate me when i start up my truck. I can only think you might get shot if you run no muffler in your neighborhood every morning. I venture to say that the flowmaster delta flow is tuned to cancel out some tones that are unneeded. If your looking for a deep powerful sound buy one.

All I could find on google is this -- read the last line - (this was in your state by the way)

State v. Beauregard, 820 A.2d 183 (2003), Entry Order. Stop of defendant for “noisy muffler” challenged on grounds that officer did not have reasonable basis and defective equipment statute is unconstitutionally vague. Court found trooper to be an “experienced listener” and ruled the stop was not for a noise violation, but rather because the trooper suspected defective equipment. Further, statute is explicit in terms of what is prohibited: a vehicle must have a muffler that is in good mechanical condition.

Seems in georgia you can have a loud truck if your muffler is in good condition. weird.. I'd bet each town has there own local noise laws.

 

Thanks for the help and time searching for that.

The truck isn't crazy loud. It's alot louder than what it was, but I don't think it's in excess.

I was thinking of getting the Flowmaster Delta 50 series muffler. I would like a muffler, I just don't want to get much quieter than what I am now.

I just went out to the truck and measured some stuff.

Here's the stats on the exhaust, as of now, with the muffler removed:

- Pipe coming off of the Cat. Convertor is 3 1/2 ft long and 2 1/4" Dia

- Pipe is 4 1/2 ft away from rear axle, with nothing in between.

Is this enough pipe to be able to let it be as is, or do I need to bring it out from underneath the truck? And if I do bring it out, do I leave it as 2 1/4"?

If I did, I most likely would bring it out before the rear tire and if not there, then back in it's stock location after the rear tire. Is there any differences between the two?

Also, does anyone think that I am losing/gaining low/hi end power by removing the muffler and tailpipe? Is the 3 1/2 ft of 2 1/4" pipe enough pipe to maintain the desired backpressure?

Thanks again........

 

I'm thinking about taking off the muffler and putting the piping back up that goes after the muffler and have a shop put in a straight pipe in place of the muffler. That way, it will still exit in the stock location, I should keep most of the sound with minimal loss and I shouldn't lose any low end in the process and maybe actually gain alittle with the muffler removed.

Good idea? Thoughts?

 

I never tried what you just did,I was thinking about it.But on my 97 Ram 5.2 auto I gutted the cat and put on a Summit cat back system with 3 in duals. Sounded great,killed my bottom end really bad.I thought about no muffler just single pipe to rear.Let us know how you do

 

I think the only problem that I see with running strait pipe or with a CAT is that I would worry about not getting enough back pressure.

 

you can run with no muffler and have NO loss of backpressure(depending on muffler you had)..My muffler has the straight hole going through it so i doesn't restrict.. Back pressure wouldn't really be a factor considering the convertors come before the pipes any ways, those would provide the backpressure for the low end..
If your muffler was creating your backpressure, that is where you would run into losing some of your low end torque..My choice is no muffler preferably..

 

a fellow dodge owner that goes to fsu with me has true dual exhaust with a cat on each side and no mufflers and comes out into 3.5" tips....sounds awesome, if i see him around again i'll try to get a sound clip

 

then get a cheap flowmaster nock off and slice it open and rip out the guts. then just weld her back up.

 

Well, I went out today to try and get a straight pipe to replace the muffler. One place told me that they would have to put it on, they don't cut pieces for people b/c they can't guarantee the fit, so it would be like $100. Another place didn't have their custom exhaust guy at work. And a couple other places were closed. The chain auto parts store didn't carry the length of pipe I needed. I needed 38".

So while I was driving around, the noise in the cab was starting to get pretty bad, so I decided to talk to a couple places about a muffler. The one that had what I needed in stock ended up recommending the Flowmaster American Thunder 40 series. We had talked and I told him I was leaning towards the Delta 50 series b/c I didn't want to be insanely loud and he agreed. When he brought the truck around, I absolutely loved it. It had the nice, deep rumbling sound at idle/low speed and when he revved it up, it just got louder. The sound is amazing. I was very surprised that the 50 series would do that and was glad I made the right choice, well until we went inside.

I told him it sounded great and that's when he told me that after realizing that I didn't have a Hemi and that I wanted to stay with a single pipe, he put the 40 series on. It cost me $100 installed and he told me if I didn't like it, he would swap it out for $25.

The drive home was nice. There is hardly any noise in the cab, but outside of the cab, it sounds awesome. Now, I haven't had a chance to take it on the hwy yet, so I don't know about the cabin drone people talk about at hwy speeds, but so far, I love it. And I didn't lose much of the loudness going from muffler-less to having this muffler.

It's a huge difference from just taking the muffler off. It now has a refined, deeper tone to it and like I said, I hardly hear anything in the cab and for $100 installed, you can't beat it. Plus, I won't ever have to worry about passing cops and hoping I won't get pulled over b/c I don't have a muffler. I'm all legal now.

Thanks for everyone's opinions and advice, much appreciated.