Hello all, I live in washington state and have a 05 F-250 with the stock exhaust that I am planning on upgrading. I have been told that I am not required by law to have a cat on the truck because it's classification. Is this right, does it very by state, and if it is why did Ford put one on in the first place? I'm in the military and if I relocate I don't want to get something I am just gonna have to remove later. just looking for some answers so I don't get the wrong thing. Thanks.

 

Different States all have different rules and classifications for vehicles, sometimes counties within states have their own emissions laws. I dont know if this is a good idea or not but you could cut open your cat and hollow it out and then weld it shut again. It would give it the appearance of a cat but wouldn't restrict your exhaust.(might adversly affect emissions though) Someone with more knowledge than myself may disagree and this may not be possible or a good idea. Sorry i can't give you a precise answer

 

IMO you should just leave it in unless you are towing or running tunes. it doesn't do anything for HP or MPG gains to take it out and it only makes the turbo whistle a little bit louder, hardly noticeable. i am in the military as well and the area i am in doesn't require emissions on diesel trucks. but when i get out and move back to vegas they do. so i kept the cat and installed a cat delete pipe since i am running tunes to help with EGT's. taking the cat out is not a hard thing to do. so if you really do wanna remove the cat then end up PCS'n somewhere that does require emission testing on diesels you can just put your cat back in. it is all bolt on. there is no cutting or welding involved to remove or install the cat.

 

Testing and inspection varies state by state but the cat is a federal mandate and it's just a matter of am I lucky today or not. If your truck still has a warranty, depending on what goes wrong or what dealer you break down by, your warranty could be voided.

 

It does vary from state to state, I'm stationed down here in Fort Polk and everyone I have talked to down here has been ripping them out.

I had one of my soldiers go to Massachusetts on leave and he came back with a pile of fines for running his 03 F250 6.0 without a cat, bumpers were to high, etc. etc. etc. Even though his truck is registered and legal here in Louisiana, he was still fined for not abiding by Massachusetts regulations.

Also being an 05 you should still have a year of warranty left if your not over 100,000 miles. I just talked to the local dealer and he told me that ford sent a letter out to all of the dealerships 2 weeks ago that stated that any modifications to the intake system or to the exhaust from the turbo to the cat is to void any warranty. He told me that if I went with a K and N replacement filter or a cat back exhaust I would be ok, but according to the letter anything further would void my warranty.

IMO I think that if you are planning to remove the cat you should have the delete pipe installed and keep the cat around just in case you go somewhere where they are more stringent and slip it in when you need it.

 

Dealer here says K&N can void warranty. If there is any turbo dusting or certain other failures due to an oil treated filter messing up the maf sensor. It does not like oil.

 

get an MBRP system with a cat delete pipe..straight pipe is great..sometimes, like on long trips, you may want to tone it down...you can change it out in less than 1/2 hour..