Ok I need some sound advice here. I have been reading for months now about different exhaust combonations. It seems like everyone has his or her prefference as far as what is too loud or should the remove the Cat or not.
My personal opinion on the Cat is this, There has to be a massive amount of restriction in there and seems to me that it is probably the most restrictive component on the exhaust system. I'm sure the stock muffler is restrictive too but I think it is not as bad as the Cat.
So here I sit all day calling muffler shops and I find that half of them have no clue about what I am asking them and have no way of bending the 4" pipe. The ones who can and actualy carry the 4" in stock, tell me that it has to be welded and can not be clampped. This makes no sense to me as they are clamped already, why can't it be clampped again?

So my delima is this, I am not sure how loud I want my truck to be. I want to delete the cat and stock muffler and go with just the aero. But if it's too loud and a want to put the cat back on I will be paying twice the money and will wind up with a butchered looking exhaust system.
Now on the other hand, if I leave the cat and just add the Aero, I still face the same problem. Should I decide it could stand to be a little louder and I want to delete the cat, again I will pay twice and butcher the system.
So I am going to make a poll, what ever the outcome of the poll is what I am going to do.
All I ask is that you pretend you are me based on what I have said above. I don't care what you would do if it were your truck , I want to know what you think is best for MY truck based on the info I have given and my conserne about the wife bitching every time she rides in the truck.
Also keep in mind, this is a daily driver and doesn't see much towing. Also I tend to have a slightly agressive foot but not to the point where I am launching it from every light. I just accelerate slightly faster than the rest of the world

 

Buzzy-

Kind of in the same boat, I want a little more growl, but it is my daily driver and don't want it over done. My first step is a muffer delete from geno's is on the way. I plan on leaving the cat and dumping the muffler for now and going from there. Figured it was a cheap and easy start. If that's not enough then I'll think about killing the cat and putting something in its place.

The other thing you could think about is a turbo back high flow design, but that's going to cost a bit more.

Another concern, does Texas do emissions on diesels, might need that cat after all.

Of course what's best for your truck? Straight pipe it, the noise will drown out your wife yelling at you because it's too loud.

 

How funny cause see I love the straight pipe the hubby is the one that wants to put something back under it

Is it loud w/ straight....yeah....but it's supposed to be.

Which is quieter the cat or the muf?? no clue I dumped both mine at the same time. Good Luck Buzzy!

 

Unfortunately the first words from my wife was "just how much louder will it be?" That was my hint that there was a line that I shouldn't cross else I may be sleeping in my truck.

At first glance I would say it's a diesel, it supposed to be loud, but I don't want it to get on my nerves either. I'm guessing that the cat adds more resistance than the stock muffler.

 

I read where other guys said cat removal had no impact at allon egts at all so I left mine on. If the restriction was that bad there would surely be lower egts removing it. Don't care for drone inside the cab and don't have it either. If I did delete the cat I would ditch the mbrp muffler and go with a 51" donaldson to solve any drone problems.

 

Here's what I was going to do.

I don't have a cat, so no worries there, but I bought the muffler delete pipe from Geno's and was going to put the aero just before the delete pipe.

In my opinion, from what I've heard, the cat doesn't do much for the way of sound. I could be wrong, but just what i've heard. Get rid of the cat all together and just put the aero where (or close to) the factory muffler is.

In order to gut it, your going to need to cut it out anyways, so you may as well test it before putting it back on. You could just get a piece of 4" pipe and clamp it for the time being.If you like it, great, if not, just undo the clamps and weld it back in.

Just my .02, so good luck......

 

I just dropped the muffler cause I didn't wanna get to loud cause I do alot of highway, well its basically just as loud with a different tone, so I shoulda done the CAT and I will be doin it when I get the chance....

4" can be a pain to find a place to bend, I ordered pre bent 4" so I wouldn't have to find a place to bend it, to weld all you gotta do is get it to the right length, to clamp take it about3 inches longer, slip a cone in it and slam it against the ground to get the overlappin end... don't see why they can't do it either way....

 

Aero-

How is the tone with just the muffer delete, more growl or not?

 

WOW you really are stressing over this thing huh? I'll tell you one thing right off the bat. Now that you have put this much time into worrying about the sound, once you DO make a decision you'll have your "Bat Ears" on. You'll be able to hear a pin drop because you'll be listening for the slightest little thing. Drive it for a week or two and allow yourself to get used to it. Just keep in mind, ANYTHING is going to sound louder than what you currently have.

Personally, I'd 86 the cat and mount the Aero back where the stock muffler was and call it a day. Drive it that way for 2 weeks, and soon you'll start thinking about straight piping it.

 

I have had "Bat Ears" on since day one with this truck. I didn't want to say anything till now, even when Drew made his post last week about his "Bat Ears". And I have pretty much made my self stop worrying about all the little quirks I hear every now and then. I even started listening to the "Blue Collor Comedy Channel" on the Satelite Radio
My only feer is that I will have to redo everything if it's too loud.
Don't get me wrong, I am dieing to ride in a truck with Stacks so I can decide if I can deal with the sound. Just like I would love to ride in a Ram with this same set-up so I can decide.

I have a feeling I will like it but I am one of these guys that will sit there in the store for 5 hours looking and comparing products, reading the labels, weighing out the pro's and con's in my head, walk to the counter with it, wait in line, change my mind, then walk it back to the shelf and sit there another hour thinking it over again.
My wife HATES shopping with me!
So I figured I will let you guys decide for me. Whatever the poll is by Saturday, is what I will do.