I broke the bank and bought a set of LTH from American Racing Headers and their Y-pipe and cats. I went through Moe's because it was cheaper than buying direct. Matt with Moe's was great, but can't say the same about ARH. They were asked twice if they would fit a 2008 Ram 2500 with the hemi and 6 speed manual tranny. No problem, will bolt right on. So I buy the whole kit since I am not an exhaust shop and bolt on sounds good. And they would have them built in 10 days. Almost a month later they arrived. FAIL.

So I spend most of a Sunday installing and get to the y-pipe. No way in hell it will fit and the headers dump out within an inch of the factory fuel lines, brake lines and wiring harness on the driver's side. And almost touch the brake lines on the frame rail by the fenders. And pretty close to the front driveshaft. So I call ARH and all the owner will say is "I didn't know they made a Ram with a manual transmission". But apparently they know for a fact it would fit with no problem? Way to make the sale and keep the quotas up. FAIL.

So his idea of "correcting the problem" is to send a grab bag of bends. FAIL.

So I spend most of next Sunday cutting, trimming, fitting and refitting their y-pipe and cats since I don't own a mandrel bender. Then off to the welding shop since I can't weld stainless for a reasonable price. And then making heat shields and relocating lines that touch things. Frankenstein won't flow as good as the mandrel bends but I made the best of it and only had to cut into a couple of the mandrel bends.

Then off to the exhaust shop to for more expense in getting a pipe to connect to the muffler since ARH pipe didn't come close after the mods. FAIL.

ARH is supposed to refund me $200 but I have yet to see that and that's not even close for my expenses and troubles. FAIL.

If I hadn't cut the oem cats off to get them out and broke most of the factory manifold bolts getting the original off, this would have been sent back. Maybe after I took a dump in the box.

I'm not saying it wouldn't have fit with an auto tranny but still right up against a lot of lines that are the same no matter what tranny is installed. Quality looking welds but not a good fit. So far all I can get are excuses out of ARH and I think they are just glad to make a sale and hope I go away. Just thought I would share my experience with ARH since there aren't many options in the 2500s for headers. I think I should have went with TTI.

 

It doesn't matter who made the headers, every set of long tube headers will be that close to all those lines. My solution was to take some heat shielding tape and wrap the fuel and brake lines in that, move the electrical connector out of the way, and make a heat shield that goes in between those lines and the headers. I'm supprised you got that much out of them. Don't be so mad. You are buying an aftermarket part that requires some modification for proper fitment. Suck it up, do the work, and quit complaining. It's not their fault where the lines run. You are trying to fit a manifold on the exhaust that is much larger than factory. Also, the old manifold bolts wouldn't have worked with headers anyways. You have to buy new ones. You are complaining about something that every person with long tube headers had to solve themselves. I think you are the FAIL here.

 

Just letting everyone know about poor service and people not standing behind their product. Have installed several sets of headers with zero problems in the past. For the price and them saying it will fit, it should have been better. I understand some minor stuff always comes up.

Not sure what you are talking about in most of your post. They came with bolts, just couldn't easily go back to stock after removal because most of the oem ones broke and had to cut the factory stuff to get it out without pulling the tranny mount. I wasn't trying to use the oem manifold bolts on the headers....

No kidding they don't have say in the factory line placement but they could have made their header tubes angle in more to the engine side and still missed the driveshaft and fuel lines. There is zero room against the frame and lots toward the block. Every inch counts when its right against the cats.

Thanks for the all the input on this situation with a 2500.

 

It's the same way with my OBX headers. they pull them away from the engine to pull heat away from the engine. If it is too close, then you burn up your starter and other components like the knock sensors, and oil pressure sensor and other things like that. The fuel lines are kind of hard to miss and being so close to the front driveshaft, I wouldn't know about with a 2wd. But they did say mine would work with 4x4 too. Also, with the tubes so close to the engine, it will be next to impossible to tighten the bolts holding the headers onto the motor.

 

I do have to give you props on getting a bunch of free stuff out of them tho. Glad they at least tried to satisfy their customer no matter how much you complained.

 

I will admit, it's a thin line between adequate and kick ***. Some small design tweaks could have made them a kick *** bolt on setup for my application. They are on now so I guess it's alright. Will feel a lot better about the cost to frustration ratio if they actually come through with a partial refund for the y-pipe disaster that cost me extra money in the shop.

Still second guessing myself and thinking I should have went with TTI. Could have had similar headers and ceramic coated to help hold in some heat for the same cost but they take some trimming on the motor mount supports to fit. 6 of 1 I guess.

 

do you have upper control arms on the 2500? If you do, you might want to check the bolts that attach the upper control arm to the frame. Their is an adjustment bolt, I want to say passengers side...maybe both sides, that has a metal flange sticking out off of the bolt. I had to bend this thin piece of metal back to keep it from rubbing on the side of the headers. It will make a hole if it rubs for long enough. I wouldn't cut it off because if you need to use that one day for it's intended purpose of holding the bolt still while you turn the nut, you can just bend it back straight.

 

I don't see any issues with the suspension. 2500s have solid front axles so there isn't much to get in the way. Gets close to the driveshaft when at full suspension travel but things would have to get pretty crazy to hit it.