SHEARED OFF the EXHAUST HANGER

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Over the last few days, Cindy and I have been doing a lot of field testing of our all new hitch mounted stinger and as you can imagine, our J-hook rear tow point and tailpipe have been taking a pretty good beating as well. While we knew the J-hook could handle the abuse, we fully expected our tailpipe would get mashed in just like the ones on our JK's did but much to our surprise, it's actually been holding up... or at least, so we thought anyway. After doing more testing today, we started to hear a clunking sound coming from the rear and after giving things a quick look, we soon discovered the following - the exhaust hanger securing the muffler to the passenger side frame rail had sheared off.
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As we would come to find, the hanger is part of a larger mount that's made out of cast aluminum and while it may be lighter in weight, it's far from being as strong as steel.
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The good news is that the mount does have a part number on it, 68320444AB and it only costs $13 but the bad news is that they're kinda back ordered right now.
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Needless to say, I think I would have taken a smooshed in my tailpipe over a broken exhaust hanger. Guess I'm gonna have to fab something up before the clunking drives me nuts! :crazyeyes:

Anyway, just wanted to share this with all of you so that you'll know what can happen if you hit your tailpipe too hard and/or too often.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I should note that I was able to order one, it's just gonna take a week to get at the soonest. Having one on hand is probably a good idea if you plan on keeping your factory muffler. I have a feeling these are gonna go up in cost and soon.
 

doubletapdaddy

Caught the Bug
The exhaust hanger and the tailgate trim that you replaced both seem suspiciously inexpensive. Lol. Thanks for the pictures and the heads up.
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
Seems the rest of the mount is ok...maybe drill that out and just stick a bolt through instead so that it has something stronger to hang from?
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
The exhaust hanger and the tailgate trim that you replaced both seem suspiciously inexpensive. Lol. Thanks for the pictures and the heads up.

LOL @ suspiciously :crazyeyes: :D

That’s a bummer!

Yeah, can't say that I'm too thrilled about it.

Eddie, do you feel that this is a result of actually contacting an exhaust component on an obstacle? Or just a rough ride and a brittle hanger? .... Would an aftermarket high-clearance exhaust system remedy this issue?

Nah, I actually saw when it happened. We were purposefully dropping off of big ledges to hammer on the stinger and saw the tailpipe hit hard - hard enough for me to think that it wasn't good. Just as we started to drive away from the obstacle, the clunking started and I knew something broke. A high clearance muffler would only remedy this issue IF it didn't use the factory hangers and IF the tailpipe or pipes didn't hang low enough to get hit.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Seems the rest of the mount is ok...maybe drill that out and just stick a bolt through instead so that it has something stronger to hang from?

LOL!! Already done. I'll post pics later. That being said, I don't know how well the aluminum bracket will hold up even with the bolt. Could be the bolt will just tear out of the weak bracket.

sounds like a good reason to ditch the stock exhaust and go with a high clearance one

Only if the tailpipe sits high enough not to get hit.
 

Cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Damn, sorry to see this break. Glad you already have a solution as well. Can’t wait to see what you came up with
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Right. But that’s the whole point. If mine (see my sig) ever gets hit it will be the least of my worries.

Ah, I hadn't seen that. That being said, I've run similar exhausts on my JK's for years and have still beat the shit out of them. Hell, even the resonator on my JL already has a big dent in it. Of course, you should be fine if you never play on big rocks.

Damn, sorry to see this break. Glad you already have a solution as well. Can’t wait to see what you came up with

eh, it's more of an annoyance that I have to deal with this than anything.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Well, that was short lived. :rolleyes2:

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Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a universal exhaust hanger and shape it to how I needed it to be.

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Hopefully this will hold out until I can get a new mount. Hell, it might just end up holding up better :crazyeyes:
 

JTCO

Meme King
Well, that was short lived. :rolleyes2:

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Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a universal exhaust hanger and shape it to how I needed it to be.

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Hopefully this will hold out until I can get a new mount. Hell, it might just end up holding up better :crazyeyes:

I think your design will last longer.
 

ckor

New member
Broke mine off today. Kind of pisses me off. I hit it hard enough to bend the tail pipe but it shouldn’t break the mount like that. Going to take a ride to the exhaust shop and see if they can make something work since I can’t weld.
 

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