The Cherokee strikes again. A couple weeks back when my exhaust snapped just before the catalytic converter I noticed my muffler had a minor leak. It wasn’t anything major and wasn’t loud so I figured I could probably just run it till spring and deal with it when it was warmer out.
The Jeep had other plans though as the leak grew in size, and became extremely obnoxious. Due to the internals of the muffler rusting and coming loose, the muffler developed a horrendous rattle that sounded like a trumpet blasting a low note when at 2300RPM.
At first I thought about purchasing a cat-back exhaust set up but the prices were all $500+ which was well above what I wanted to spend. Thanks to the advice from a friend though I realized I could buy just the tail pipe section and pair it with a muffler. Going with this option I ended up only having to spend $225.
Parts Ordered
- Borla ProXS Muffler (40351) ~$90
- Dynomax Tail Pipe (55014) $96.78
- 2.25" Generic Exhaust Clamp $3.15
- 1.5' of 2.25" piping with a 90* bend. $16
If you plan on following my footsteps I’d recommend ordering the Borla muffler with part number 400478 instead. I didn’t realize the stock muffler had a centered inlet with an offset outlet. The muffler I ended up using had a offset inlet but I made it work.
Using a jigsaw it didn’t take long to cut out the stock muffler. The pipe had already rusted out where I made the cut and there wasn’t much metal left.
The previous owner really spared no expense picking this set up. I don’t think they could have found a cheaper set up.
As I mentioned before, I ordered the wrong muffler but with no other options and needing to fix it ASAP I had to make it work. The local Meineke was awesome and bent me a 90* bend on a piece of pipe. I then took the bend and cut it in half to create 2 45* bends and weld them together. This little offset adapter allowed me to reposition the pipe to mate the cat to the muffler.
Offset adapter in action. It almost looks like I know what I’m doing.
After tack welding the adapter to the muffler I pulled it out from under the Jeep so I could weld them together. Every weld received a quick blast of BBQ grill high temp paint to prevent rust.
I ended up having to remove the passenger rear wheel to weld up the tail pipe to the muffler. My welds are on the heavy side because I was paranoid about leaks.
Here’s the adapter fully welded into place. Not too bad.
I like how the muffler tucks up into the body pretty nicely.
The polished chrome tip is a nice touch too. The picture seems to make it feel out of place but in person it looks better. I’m not the biggest fan of clamped on exhaust tips so it was nice to see this one was already directly welded to the pipe.
Sound wise it’s actually quieter than I expected. That’s a good thing though as I didn’t want to make the Jeep obnoxious to drive. I really like the tone of the muffler as it’s not over the top and sounds nice and deep. It’s probably as close to a V8 rumble one could get a I6 to sound like. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a nice little upgrade.
This was a fun little experience as I’ve never done any exhaust work before but my fingers are crossed I can make it to spring without any more repairs.