trystjr

I have a question about the down pipe comming off the header, connecting to the cat. This is the second time in less than a year that it has broken. The last time was about 8 months ago and I replaced it with one from a junkyard (had minimal to no rust and looked durable.) My question is why does it keep breaking??? Has any one else had theirs broken and is it common thing to have broken? I have noticed that I have major vibration at highway speeds(70 mph) which is from my tires, they have been balanced, but no money to replace them. Could the major vibration cause the down pipe to crack?? Just lookin for an explanation so I can either buy a new one or replace it from the junkyard, plus getting tiresome replacing it again.

AKennedy87

A bracket fell off mine a while back. It holds the downpipe firmly to the tranny to prevent it from breaking. You have that on? But vibration can deffinetly cause it to break if its not held in right, but shouldnt if it is mounted right.

Also its like $220 from toyota dealer so stop breaking it. When I talked to them I was like wtf its just a 3 ft pipe.

PirateFins

I have had 3 break on me. The weld is the weak link, just a poor design. The ones from the dealer last alot longer than the aftermarket but they will fail eventualy. Might want to check your cat to see if it is plugged and getting the down pipe to hot also.

trystjr

Thanks guys for the responses, the bracket is still intact, but i will check the cat since it has never been changed and has over 230k on it, as for now I will most likely go to the junkyard and pick up a used one as funds a low. It may be time for a freeflow cat and new shoes!!!

FSRBIKER

I assume this is for a 22RE, when I bought my 85 it was cracked also at the weld. I bought the WALKER replacement and they changed the design, instead of the two pipes coming off of the manifold and being welded close to this point the new design has two longer pipes and then they are welded much lower near the trannny clamp. This design looks much better since any movement in the engine is not translated right onto the welded area. This is from Walker's website and shows the old design, no pic of the new one but I can e-mail anyone a picture of it on my truck. http://www.walkerexhaust.com/images/coupons/3023.gif

trystjr

thanks fsrbiker but its for a 3.slow

trystjr

I read on the other thread "Mods for the 3.0 durring a full rebuild " that you can get a custom down pipe. I plan on getting headers sometime in the future but not quite yet. If I do go to a muffler shop what size pipe should be bent up for this, would they just cut out the old bolt on connections and weld up a new pipe for it? Or would buying a new factory down pipe be the better route.