I have a 2012 F150 5.0L that I bought used in 2014. Apparently the original owner had replaced the exhaust with a dual exhaust (converter to muffler to two pipes out of muffler), but didn't spend a lot of money on it (?) and it rusted out. My dealer--we have a pretty decent dealership here, and they've done my service for years--sent me to a local exhaust/muffler guy, who recommended that I go back to a single exhaust, and happened to have an OEM setup that had come off of someone else's new truck. He put it on my truck, and so far all seems fine. (small town; bad service places tend not to survive, and both the dealer and the muffler shop are institutions)


I'm an older, single woman who has horses, so my truck is primarily for hauling one or two horses and hauling hay and feed and such. I want my truck to last--my previous one was a beloved 97 F250 7.3L diesel that I had for 17 years, but, while the engine will run forever, the peripherals were starting to worry me and it needed to find a home with someone for whom getting stuck on the side of the road was an adventure, not an major inconvenience. Anyhow--so, I'm a gentle driver, as anyone who hauls horses seriously learns to be, my truck gets serviced regularly, and reliability is my primary concern.


The new system is quiet. Really quiet. Coming off a diesel, I actually liked the bit of growl I got from the old system, and being able to hear my engine, but I didn't have the heart to say that to the nice gentleman at the muffler shop, and it's not a big deal. My concern is that I have no way of knowing what vehicle the thing came off of, and the guy said it didn't matter that much; it did fit on my truck, and he said it came off of a brand new F150, but it had a suspicious "CHEV" chalked on it ... (FYI, there is an additional resonator after the muffler--it was a bit of a tight squeeze between the spare tire, but it did fit)


So my question--should I be worried? How quiet should my truck be?? It is my understanding that the OEM exhaust on the 5.0L has a bit of growl to it, so I kind of doubt this rig came off of a 5.0. How generic are exhaust systems? What effects might it have on my engine? I trust my service guys, so I trust their recommendation of this muffler shop, but I'd like to hear other opinions, beyond "it will be okay ..." Are there any "buts" in this situation?

 

If your 2012 F150 is in good mechanical condition and you like the truck, I would suggest you have an original OEM exhaust installed. You can easily find an original exhaust in the classified section of one of the F150 websites. Most of the time you can find exhaust systems reasonably priced and possibly found fairly near to you. Sometimes you can find OEM exhaust systems at local muffler shops.

 

None of the OEM F-150 exhaust systems have a resonator after the muffler. It's before the muffler.

As shortride noted ... OEM, take-off exhaust systems are common and you should (?) be able to find a 2009 - 2014 for your F-150. They all have the same mounting points and the only difference is the length of the intermediate pipe (after the catalytic converters' Y-pipe and before the muffler ... it will usually be resonated). From the muffler back, the exhaust systems are the same (with the exception of the Raptor which has a 1-in, dual-out muffler and dual tail pipes).

Picture of a 2009-2014 F-150 exhaust system (the resonator attaches to the pipe that leads to the muffler) ...The entire F-150 exhaust system is stainless steel so they last. And as for the resonator and muffler, they're straight-thru.The mufflers are quiet when new, however, over time do develop a mellow tone.
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Goth 150
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if it is an original exhaust from one of the big three it will be a stainless exhaust, so you'll get good longevity from it.


if it is under the truck and it isn't rattling, then there isn't much to worry about. no harm will come to anything from having a different than OEM configuration.


if it is too quiet, you could have a louder muffler installed to get some of the growl back. check out youtube for sound clips. I've had magnaflows in the past and they provide a good sound without killing you with interior resonance (drone). but flowmaster, Gibson, ect all have good offerings as well.


if you replace the muffler, go with a stainless unit. the others, as you've seen, just won't last.


I've also had good luck on vehicles with a resonator by just removing the muffler and running with the resonator alone. usually a very aggressive sound during acceleration, but usually pretty mild while cruising.


just a couple thoughts.

 

Don't worry. If it fits your truck in all of the stock hangers without modification it came from an F150 and not a Chevrolet. If you want a little more growl you can have the shop delete the resonator and/or change out the muffler for an aftermarket unit. You can also pull up different cat back exhaust sound clips on youtube and figure out which one you like.

 

The hangers on the exhaust system did not work; the shop had to install new hangers for the system. The more I think about it, the more I doubt that it was off of an F150, and the comment above about the resonator placement seems to confirm that it was not from an F150. However, as long as it won't harm my engine, I'm content with it. I'm sure I can get used to the quiet . It is disconcerting to have to watch the idiot lights go out to be sure engine is running, though.

 

By the description, it sounds like it is off a Ram. My wife's uncle has a ram with the resonator at the rear like that and he had the muffler removed but kept the rear resonator. It sounds very mean and aggressive . Thats a cheap way to get your growl back.

If you can't stand the quiet, that's what I would do. Nice part about doing it this way is if it is too loud, you can always have a different muffler put back in, and the cost is usually very minimal.

 

Just out of curiosity, ford your new system look like this?

 

Not exactly. The thing (resonator?) right behind the rear axle is in about the same position, but it is round-cylindrical rather than oblong-cylindrical. The muffler part is about the same but the one in your pics looks like it's mounted in a vertical orientation (or else the out is off-center toward the top), mine is horizontal oblong cylindrical (longer axis is horizontal). If any of that makes sense ...

 

That makes sense. The pics I posted were off a ram. Not sure what yours came from, but it wasn't an f150

Regardless, other than the quiet, it sounds like what you have is fine, and I sure the price was right