Sorry I wasn't available to help Ron.
Might have been sleepin on your couch if that was the way it went though. =\

 

Finally got the down pipe in and locked in place. I thought this was going to be easy and in reality it is if you know what you are doing , duh. Got a bigger pry bar and that pinch weld bent back nicely.

Biggest problem was trying to align upper and lower portions of down pipe at the same time without hitting the up-pipe, transmission or fender area's. Man that is tough to do with one person and my buddy(s) failed to show up on three occasions. It is do-able and I'm living proof but don't recommend it .. two person job and so ,, so much easier. This morning I said what the heck and went for it. I really missed driving my truck and was using wifes vehicle and will pay dearly for that.

Thank you all for all the photos and advice. It all was helpful and in the long run I would probably do a few things differently that I found worked for me. Anyway took the beast for a run up some nasty hills and turns and no external noise or exhaust leaks yet.

Jim