Im trying to remove the downpipe from the exhaust manifold. 3 bolts at the flange. Sounds easy right?!!? Not for me! I cant get a wrench in there, No room to ratchet with a deep 14mm socket.

How does this come off? Anyone have any tricks??

Its gonna need some torque since it looks original 20 yrs old. What should i do??

Ive been referencing this thread where he uses a bunch of extensions on a breaker bar. Which i may try if i cant figure anything else out. Is that the only way??

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...cement-212688/

Im hoping to do this soon so any help/advice is much appreciated, THanks guys.

 

i have always used a 14 deep with a couple extensions to get it down pass everything and ratchet, if u use a breaker bar will help if they have not been on in a little while.

 

yeah, you can get to the 3 bolts with the 14 deep and a few long extensions from under the truck. be prepared to replace the gaskets and nuts, and possibly studs. good luck!

 

From the bottom one long extension .

Spray very well with your choice of penetrating oil.

If these have been on a long time they can be real interesting.

 

cool thanks for the input guys!! Ive been soaking the nuts in pb blaster for a few days now. And while i was trying to figure out how to wrench em off. Hopefully theyll be easy and no studs break or anything like that. Ill keep my fingers crossed lol. Thanks again!

 

its 3 bolts...

Pull the front wheel, get in there with an wrench and take it off... its not hard.

 

what he said ^ thats how i put my downpipe bolts on

 

soaking will help. i've had to get at those from under the truck with extensions like everyone has already stated. You will most likely need 3 new studs and 3 nuts aside from the two doughnut gaskets when you go to put it back together. IIRC, when I bought these from the Dealer, the guy said they were one-time-use only since the nuts are split and are designed to not back off the studs, which is why the stud will want to come out attached. have fun

 

THanks for the posts guys! Im gonna try gettin em with extensions on a breaker bar from underneath. Seems to be the way the majority of u guys do it. And the most simple way. I dont have enough extensions so im gonna go buy a long one and try to get it asap. I ALso have to get the new studs, nuts and gaskets from the dealer next week. Were supposed to get a bunch of snow tonite and tomorrow (finally!) Really wish i could drive my truck in it

 

You could go to the dealer. Maybe at least ask them what the stud and bolt thread is. I cant remember off the top of my head.

Schucks/O'Reilley's, NAPA CarQuest, AdvancedAuto all should have the gaskets in stock, and for much cheaper than the dealer. Personally, here anyways, I find that NAPAs parts are higher quality than the other aftermarket places I mentioned.

 

i just did this the other day with about 2 feet of extensions. easiest way I could think of. gettin it from undeneath.

i replaced one about a year ago, the bolts werent very tight and i got it with a small 3/8 rachet

 

23588 is the fepro part number for those doughnuts. napa, autozone sells em

 

Ill check out those places and see about saving some $. THanks once again everyone!!

Id love to be out there working on it now but dont feel like climbing around in this and 15 degrees......

 

I gotta say thanks to all those that suggested using extensions from under the truck. And I have to say thanks to PB blaster!

I was able to get off work early today and the weather was amazing, 50 degrees and sunny! So i rushed home and got to work on my truck. Drained the oil for a change since its only been driven about 15 miles in the past 4 months. Oil was dark but not terrible. While it was draining i sprayed and soaked the 3 exhaust flange bolts in pb blaster. I found it hard to spray them from under and above so i got a cap from the brake cleaner and filled it with pb so i could dip the whole stud and nut in. Did the trick for me, the nuts broke free with little force after soaking for about 15 mins while finishing my oil change. No studs broke, threads in good shape, nothing got damaged. Its a good day.

Now i just have to get a new muffler, o2 sensor and some tubing and figure out how im gonna run it. Im thinking cat then muffler before the axle then either pre-bent tailpipe from summit or just a straight pipe and maybe a turndown. Not sure yet gotta measure and see how things are.

I have a few questions for u guys:

1. Do i have to replace the studs on the manifold to downpipe? (they didnt move and arent damaged)

2. Can i reuse the nuts that came off or what should i do?

 

Im answering my own post

I picked up some felpro donut gaskets from Advance auto for $1.50 each. Thanks for the tip guys!

I called the dealer to see about 3 replacement nuts for the flange to manifold and they told me $2 + a piece!!! So i asked the tech and he said i can reuse the old nuts just use some lock washers to prevent backing off. So thats what i did.

I had a used downpipe i picked up awhile back so i had the weld reinforced and an o2 sensor bung from summit welded in. It didnt have the factory flange for the o2 sensor, maybe from a pre 89?? with the o2 on the manifold>? idk but it looks good. O2 sensor should be here by this weekend. Its the screw in type, not the bolt on flange type.

I decided on no cat converter, straight pipe in its place to the muffler before the axle, then straight pipe out the back in between my tube steel bumper. If its too loud ill put the cat back in. Im using summit butt joint band clamps that are easily removed but sealed when on. I went to 2 inch tubing with a walker universal muffler. Cant wait to hear it run!!! Ill post some picks when im done if i can get my camera working. Thanks for reading

 

hiya. see that you referenced my thread.

NO...you cannot re-use those nuts. (ask me how I know). If you do, they will hold very temporarily and have a leak, poo for gas mileage etc etc etc. get 3 new ones and be done

 

Thanks for the post 92 toy.

You think they will leak with lock washers on there>? Thats the point of lock washers is to make sure they dont back off or leak. Did u replace the donut gaskets when u did yours? I know that would cause a big leak without those gaskets. And in turn, affect gas mileage. Maybe i will just spend the $6+ for the three new nuts, so i can be done and not worry about it. But i am on a tight budget, so i may just see how they hold as is. The tech at the dealer said theyd be fine with some lock washers under the nuts. But Id take advice from Yotatech before id trust the dealers.

 

the gasket was part of the kit I had purchased, the nuts I had to buy after the old ones loosened up and had a massive leak. the money you spend now would be offset by the aggravation of doing this again and a loss of gas mileage if you had a leak. not sure about the lock-nut question...

 

when my dealer guy sold me the exhaust studs and locking flange nuts, he said he was also a toyota owner and works on his own stuff - he told me the flange nuts/studs were not technically reusable due to design of the cut-out fins on the back end of the nuts. the fins are designed to bite into the stud so they don't back out during normal conditions, thus don't normally come off clean from the stud and are "non-reusable" parts.