finally had some time this afternoon to install my Magnaflow....

i did it all by myself and it was pretty easy....

i bought some wheel ramps at Wal-Mart (grey plastic ones rated for 6,000 lbs) and used them.. it made it easier....

***Uninstall Ford Factory Exhaust:***
1) disconnected the battery cables per Magnaflow instrucs, backed truck up on the ramps.....

2) WD-40'd the last Ford clamp (one right before the front of the stock muffler), loosened the last Ford clamp bolt...

3) took all 4 bolts off of 3 factory Ford exhaust hangers (rubber hangers) and pushed hangers off of frame....

6) rotated whole muffler counter clockwise to line up a bolt on the muffler pipe with a slot on the pipe coming from the cat. coverter....

7) pulled and pulled, couldn't get the exhaust off..... kicked the front of the muffler while on my back with my head neat the passenger tire and holding onto nerf bars... kicked, kicked, kicked.. it finally came off =)

8) rotate the whole muffler assembly counter clockwise while pulling it towards the front of the truck, kept rotating and rotating until everything cleared the rear axel... finally had everything cleared and pulled the whole thing from underneath the truck and onto driveway....

***Install Magnaflow SI/SO 16612 Cat Back Exhaust***
1) pull Ford ruubber hangers off of old exhaust, put rubber hanger on 1st Magnaflow pipe and hang hanger on frame, screw on bolt loosely...

2) put Muffler on 1st pipe

3) put Ford factory rubber hanger on 2nd Magnaflow pipe and insert 2nd pipe in muffler.......this is where it was a little tricky.... the rubber hanger did not exactly match up with the spot on the frame where it was suppose to be screwed in.. it was too far back about 1 inch..... i thought maybe the1st pipe and muffler where not inserted far enough so i pushed and pulled but that didn't help... I took a rubber mallet and pounded and pounded, still not not line up, off about 1 inch.... so i inserted the slotted part of the ford hanger in the frame and then pushed and pushed and pushed until i could get the scew to line up and then i screwed it in enough to hold the rubber hanger on the frame..... it STILL does not match up exactly but the ford rubber hangers are designed to be flexible so the rubber hanger does not sit exactly on the rod on the pipe like it's suppose to... it's mounted tight and is not going to go anywhere, it should be OK.... I noticed the rod on the factor ford pipe is longer and accomodated room for the rubber grommet to slide into place and line up... the Magnaflow rod on the pipe is shorter and so the rubber is flexed at this angle now \ but it works, it's tight......

4) put last ford rubber hangler on last Magnaflow pipe and slide pipe in and bolt rubber hanger onto frame.......

5) check alighnment of muffler and 1/2 of clearance of all exhaust components... the last Magnaflow pipe is almost exactly 1/2 inch from the spare tire... can't remember how close the factory pipe was.. but it should be OK......

6) tighten ford exhaust clamp......

7) tighten ALL rubber hangers to frame working from front to back.....

8) install and tighten all 3 Magnaflow exhaust clamps working from front to back......

9) check to make sure tailpipe tip is straight and Magnaflow logo is striaght on tailpipe tip....

10) go back and tighten all bolts, including ones on factory pipe all the way to the cat. converters.. just in case they were loosened from all of the work....

11) re-connect batter cables... and start her up.........(doing this now....) will report on sound in a few minutes.......

 

start up it rumbles to life..... but quiets down at idle....

loudest is obviously on acceleration.. you definetely hear the deep rumble... but it's perfect, not too lound, not too quiet... can still hear the radio...

on the highway when accelerating or giving gas it's louder but definetely wouldn't call it "Drone"....... when not accelerating you cannot hear the new exhaust at all on the highway, sounds just like stock.. quiet....

all in all i like it... I'll have to get a friend to drive it by me etc. to i can hear what it sounds like from outside the truck...

i'll keep the stock exhaust in case something happens to the Magnaflow.....

 

Thanks for the report. This is something I might like to do in the future. Please post again with feedback, I'd be interested to hear about any mileage improvements etc.

300wby

 

Can you drive past my house? I'd like to hear it before I change mine.

 

from what i have read on several forums, i don't think there will be much of a MPG gain.... i think it's very minimal, something like 1 MPG if even that.. and i suspect it has more to do with the fact that the factory muffler probably weighs much more than the Magnaflow muffler....

but i didn't get the Magnaflow for MPG, i wanted a better sound but not as loud as Flowmaster mufflers... and so i like it so far......

don't think i'll be making a trip to New Jersey anytime soon.....

i'll try to get a sound recording tomorrow and post it....