rgs80074

hello everyone

i have a 1996 jeep grand cherokee limited 4.0l engine

I don't know if this is a preexisting condition and just has never surfaced until now or what. Yesterday I drove my jeep quite a bit probably around 120 miles today most of it in the early morning and then a bit more in the early afternoon. so I get my stuff done and I put gas in the jeep, pull out of the gas station and almost immediately hear a clank sound and something dragging on the jeep, get out and its the muffler came disconnected right at the cat converter side so its facing down against the driving direction.

I pull off to a side road and get under the jeep, I had expected it all to be hot there considering i had driven about 30 mins or about an hour or so and had only stopped at the store half way through and the gas station just as it happened. anyways I was able to get the muffler back on the cat converter pipe but it does not seem like its on like it should be but i don't really have play with anything. Its got the u bolt on the muffler but I am guessing at this point they are not really doing anything since it fell and I was able to put it back on by hand.

looking for suggestions on what I should do or look at. I was thinking of trying to get it on better and then use a hose clamp around the area thats overlapping but not sure they have enough of a hold to make any difference.

also is there a way to keep the muffler from falling if it does happen to come lose again, can't really recall if there is some way to connect it or something just in case.

any help and suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks

ryan

dave1123

You should buy a band clamp that is like a sleeve that covers both pipes and compresses with draw bolts or get the connection welded.

rgs80074

hello dave,

i've not done any checking but thats something like i was thinking with a hose clamp but those look better but there seems to be a ton of variations on them.

how do i know what size to get and can you get one thats too big that will not tighten down?

I guess when I get a chance i could get under the vehicle with a tape measure and see what I am looking at.

with everything yet to do to the jeep i didn't need anything else but out of everything to do to the jeep this one jumps to high priority cause i am scared to drive it and have it fall again while going a high speed.

Thanks

Ryan

rgs80074

would or should i get something like this for the clamp? I didn't notice any other holes or anything on the pipes and muffler.

dave1123

You can redneck it with some bailing wire around the front of the converter leading to the back of the muffler so you can safely drive it, but the easiest thing is just get it welded. It's easy to just cut a short bit off the converter when you get a new muffler and still slide it on. I never liked welded muffler systems myself, but since my mechanic started doing it on my jeep, I've had far less problems with the entire exhaust system. He can even patch holes no sweat.

I wouldn't go with any kind of sealer because they have no tensile strength and tend to burn out.

rgs80074

hello dave,

i only asked about that cause when i was looking at the band clamp on amazon it was listed as something people also bought.

the cat and muffler all look find other than this one thing, who knows i probably could drive it and never have it do it again but it would constantly bother me just cause of the way the muffler fell.

i was thinking something similar to the band clamp with a hose clamp but i like the band clamp better, I just have to find out what size to get and with no garage and covered area and florida getting a ton of rain not sure when i will get to checking out the size, i hope by friday so i can order the clamp.

ryan

rgs80074

hello,

well dave1123, the clamp i bought was too long, i am sure they make ones not quite as wide, that stupid o2 sensor was in the way to being able to put it on.

however what I did notice is the ubolt, was only on the muffler part not on the cat part at all. so when i figured out i couldn't get the clamp on and put the ubolt back on i made sure that the bottom piece of metal was both on the muffler and the cat converter.

not sure if that will hold the two piece together (or why they even fell apart to begin with). I have it tight but it bothers me just cause the way the muffler has fallen. I plan on getting a couple of s hooks that can hook into the frame rail holes there and using a chain or bailing wire just as an extra precaution.

however I did notice one thing there is nothing supporting the muffler from the point it connects to the cat converter (other than the converter itself) all the way back to where the tail pipe is supported by the hook at the rear. seems like there should be something by the gas tank to help hold it up (this i discovered is the source of my noise the tail pipe banging on another bar) but I can't find any spot or anything where it should be or could be used to hold it up but I wouldn't image the muffler/tailpipe there should be resting on another piece of metal. when you hit a bump it lifts up and clanks back down.

I have pictures but just need to get them onto a computer to show what I mean.

Ryan