Okay I have the entire exhaust off of my 02 PSD with the exception of the *&%$# downpipe . Is there a secret to getting this thing off? Do I need to remove the transmission cross-member? I don't really want to cut the downpipe but it is starting to p1$$ me off and this may warrant the purchase of a saws all to take care of matters. If I remember correctly, removing the transmission cross-member causes the entire transmission to drop down. Any helpful advice is greatly appreciated.

 

i had to cut mine, the instructions that came with my system said it had to be cut. i did see a post where a guy said he got his out in one piece, i will see if i can find it

 

You have to cut it or drop the crossmember. Make sure to support the trany if you drop the crossmember.

 

ok i found it but its on another site...what mech2161 said you have tp undo the trans x-member and lower it enough to get the pipe out

 

what about on the 94-97's? (i'm going to be doing mine shortly and looking for a heads up)

 

If you have a one-piece replacement downpipe, won't you have to drop the cross-member anyway to get the new one in? Seems like the way to go anyway if you are replacing with a one-piece dp.

 

for the pre 97 get the sawzall out unless you wanna pull the tranny.

if you dont want to cut it that bad, cut it and weld it back togethor

 

Agreed....but mine is a two piece unit and the last time I undid the cross-member it was a real PITA to get the bolts and everything lined back up. Of course I have a better jack now so maybe not so bad to undo the cross-member.

Thanks everyone for the responses.....it is refreshing to see that I am not a complete idiot.

 

just cut the thing and if you ever want to put it back just put a band clamp on it

 

I pulled mine out and replaced it when I put a new tranny in. I don't remember having much of a problem with it but I'm pretty sure I had the cross-member out and the tranny supported by a jack.

 

or you can lift the cab up like if you were doing a body lift.......

 

the man has a 2002 getting the new one in is cake it just comes in from the bottom and just hack the old one in two and chuck it

 

The sawzall is the way to go at this safely, I made two cuts on my old down pipe, one would not allow the old down pipe out. Made one cut up top by the turbo as far down from the top edge of the down pipe, then I got under the truck and made one cut there reaching up to close to the middle of the down pipe as I could.

Using a long 12" blade made this quite easy actually. Then as was mentioned here by others, chunk the down pipe, the new one you install is a much better unit. I did have to bend the body mating tab that is two lips lifted up and bonded together. Easy enough to do though. You can use a sissor type jack that folds up real tight and small. Stick it up in there on the lip to bend anmd then crank the jack out enopugh to bend this out of the way.

If you don't have a jack or porta power to do it this way, use a piece of pipe about 42" long and a block of wood. Stick the pipe in there where you need to bend the body out of the way, put the block of wood up under the end of the cheater pipe so not to bend anything you push off of. Then just pull on the cheater pipe and roll back and forth alittle as you pull. The body can be bent easy enough like this too. Done this on many buddies trucks. Done carefully it will look like it was made like that and not have that beat in look LOL...

 

Mike, My early '99 came out in one piece but it was with the turbo off. (Replaced turbo with Banks housing.) Don't know if that is a possibility on yours? Carroll

 

I put a floor jack under mine, dropped the cross member, removed the down pipe, re-installed the cross member and bingo.