I put a diamond eye kit on mine about 5 years ago and it was a pretty decent kit for the price.

 

They're a bunch of good ole boys from eastern Oregon and I liked their price better than MBRP. Might be because MBRP is Canadian and has a bigger/fancier operation but I'd rather support the American company anyway. Would buy again. If I'd known for sure it would fit I would have went for the 409 stainless but oh well.

 

Diamond Eye is the only consideration for the 95-97 7.3s for me simply because of the fitment and ease of installation. I expect the same holds true for the 99-03 crowd as well.....but here I sit, still rocking stock 3" downpipes on all of mine anyway.

 

I purchased RiffRaff's Diamond Eye 4" downpipe earlier this year. I had to womp it with a rubber mallet on the pipe's turn, from under the truck, to get it to slide past the transmission dipstick tube. No dents given. Other than that an easy install and no leaks using the original clamp.

Not the MBRP your were asking about, but that's what what I got.

 

That was not the conclusion intended to be gathered.

Banks has offered several complete kits for cab chassis... from a full on Banks Power Pack which comes with everything on it and all the trimmings (and is what I have on my chassis cab, except for the Transcommand and Ottomind modules, which are included in the Power Pack kit, but are stored in a drawer in my garage, not installed on my truck)... to the Banks Git Kit... which is about half the cost of a Power Pack, and is a more feature laden kit than the Banks Monster Exhaust Kit, which is or at least was at one time the least costly complete kit.

Keep in mind, I was more familiar with Banks products 20 years ago than I am today. But no question, Banks offered complete kits for the cab and chassis, and those kits were different from the 250-350 pickup kits, and, those kits never did include a 4" exhaust... only 3.5" exhaust. I didn't dig in my files for full kit part numbers because from the thread title I thought your main interest was "downpipe compatibility", and I wanted to help you realize that even though the Banks website currently presents a challenge to finding the right part for the right application, Banks did in fact manufacture the right parts for your application.

To find chassis cab parts, pretend that you have an F-450/550 chassis cab. The frame shapes are the same between the F-350 chassis cab and the F-450/550 chassis cabs. (The frame differences are in the material thickness, RBM, and section modulus).

Speaking of thickness... when comparing exhaust systems, consider comparing material thickness of the tubing walls between competitors... not just the diameter of the tubing.

 

I could see that auto trans dipstick tube being a problem. It's a little tricky getting it fished up in there and lined up with the turbo flange without an assistant holding if from the bottom. Even trickier is swapping out a downpipe when the rest of the exhaust is still hanging there on the other end in the way. You can't press the downpipe hard into the lap joint with the midpipe and expect the flange on the turbine end to line up. It wont...the fitment isn't that precise. I had to get the lap joint just barely started on the bottom, then get the bottle jack under it to hold it up for me, then go up top and wrestle the v-band flanges together and get the band started. Then the lap joint just kind of finds where it wants to be if you tap on it.

 

It's fine. If I feel the need to replace the whole exhaust system again at some point in the future, I would certainly try them first knowing now that they actually make them, or used to. They list almost nothing for 450/550 exhaust systems or parts which probably isn't helping them sell parts and make money, but it's also possible they no longer offer those because of CARB issues on the medium duty trucks. A lot of those aftermarket exhaust parts and systems for diesel trucks on sites like Riff-raff or Full Force say no shipping to CA. He may have had to pare down his offerings significantly from 20 years ago

 

@Brandonpdx You bring up an excellent point regarding the CARB's 2010 Truck and Bus Regulation for over 14,000 lbs GVWR trucks, which includes F-450/550 cab chassis, with a few narrowly defined exceptions.

By 2015, the 1995 and older OBS F-Super-Duties were outlawed in CA.
By 2016, the 1996 OBS F-Super-Duties were outlawed in CA
By 2017, the 1997 OBS F-Super-Duties were outlawed in CA
By 2018, the 1998 OBS F-Super-Duties were outlawed in CA
By 2019, the 1999 and older F-450/550s were outlawed in CA
By 2020, the 2000-2003 F-450/550s were outlawed in CA.
By 2021, the 2004-2006 F-450/550s were outlawed in CA.
By 2023, the 2007-2008 F-450/550s are outlawed in CA.
By 2035, the sale of all new gas and diesel light vehicles will be outlawed in CA.
By 2040, the sale of all new diesel medium and heavy trucks are proposed to be outlawed in CA.
By 2045, the release of any flatulence, intentional or unintended, will likely be outlawed in CA.
Fortunately, I won't live long enough to worry about any imagined future restrictions.

Since there are very few 7.3L diesel F-450/550 trucks that are allowed to be registered in CA, you are right, it doesn't make sense for a business to advertise products where there is no market to buy them. But these restrictions are limited to CA, and Banks sells products to all 50 states, as well as to the United States (military). It might be best to call the Banks 800 number for more up to date information on product availability, but it sounds like you've been wrestling with your downpipe enough already, so I hope that the current solution you are working on is successful at last, without you having to bother calling Banks or anyone else.

 

Sells products worldwide I would imagine, but there might be some legality problem since his company is actually based in CA and AFAIK manufactures all their parts there. Possibly he's no longer allowed to manufacture non CARB compliant parts in CA...just a theory. I'll email somebody there about an exhaust for an F-550 and see what they say. (Clearly I like bothering people)

2023 mandate is somewhat arbitrary and ridiculous. Any diesel engine with a working aftertreatment system (subject to inspection of course) should be no reason to outlaw. Most if not all of them had that by model year 2007 and certainly by 2008. (6.7 Cummins, 6.4 PSD, LMM Duramax).

2035 also arbitrary and stupid. Unless they outright ban the registration of any ICE vehicle (good luck with that) there will still be millions and millions of gas and diesel vehicles on the road in CA for decades to come. I think cars and trucks are inherently bad solutions to personal transportation needs and all, but lets get real there. People will throw a fit over that one.

 

I called them...they don't make a cab and chassis system anymore. Now that it jogs my memory I may remember having called and asked them 4 years ago when I was trying to figure out what exhaust to buy for mine. I'm sure somebody there has the explanation as to why, but my assumption was that the guy I got on the phone wouldn't have known what it was if I'd pressed for one.

Part of me is curious now just what exactly would happen if one attempted to install the 4" pickup truck exhaust on a cab and chassis. I know you can put a 4" system on one...mine has one and the only significant clearance problem is that it's a little too close past the front/passenger side corner of the fuel tank, which some homemade ingenuity and jury-rigging can address to keep it from swinging too far towards the tank and hitting it. Or the corner of the tank could be padded somehow with foam rubber or some such. If the downpipe is the same between pickups and cab chassis that means the rest of it must be traveling down the length of the truck on the same alignment.