So I was under the truck ranting and raving about the diff oil change...Noticed they never took the covers off, just pulled the rubber plug and sucked out the fluid and refilled....When I noticed the Mufflex clamps were all loose again. So I tightened up the back two, but the front was not getting tight. I got out the impact gun and whammo the bolt broke. Now the clamp is just wrapped around the muffler pipe all loose noodle. And It hard to get it off the pipe now.
Also noticed that that bolt looks like a wheel stud. I think that the front pipe needs a slit in it so it can be compressed. Without the slit there is no way that type of clamp is going to compress onto the exhaust pipe. Just a thought. Looks like it off to the welder....

 

Go buy a good T-Bolt clamp.

 

Ain't never put an exhaust on a vehicle in my life that I ain't pulled the MIG off the shelf in the garage and weld up. Never trusted clamps...

 

Well I'd try to weld it myself but the muffler is 409 stainless. The pipe is steel right? So I might botch it up trying to weld the two together...

 

309L wire will work fine. So will E309 sticks on a stick welder. I've got some E309 sticks around just for when I need a stainless to carbon steel weld. About the only thing I break my stick welder out for anymore. When I run out of those last few sticks, I'll pick up some 309L for the MIG and prolly retire my old stick welder completely...

 

My first install of the mufflex I cranked the bolts with an extension on ratchet but the inlet one still had black carbon stains after a few weeks so it was obviously not tight enough and any more felt like it would bust the bolt. I pulled it off and used a jig saw and just cut a slit ( made two passes to get it about 1-2 mm wide ) opposite the one that mufflex did on each inlet/outlet. What a difference, you barely need to crank on the bolts after this and 20k miles layer, no loosening or carbon stains around the clamps. no leaks...

 

Yeah I think this is what I am going to do. $uck$ that it gets dark around here at 4:30 now with the daylight savings thing....Might have to wait until Friday when I am off.