Xterra @ Brown's camp - broke my exhaust!

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Had a destructive day at Brown's Camp in Tillamook State Forest, OR.

Did a trail called Firebreak 5 (by myself o_O). Took me about 2.5 hours to go a mile and a half. SUPER Muddy hill climbs where the mud would not clean out without a lot of wheelspin (which I hesitate to do - you know that thing about breaking differentials and CV axles and all). Couldn't get any traction, not to mention that I was digging in and bottoming out everywhere. Ended up winching 4 times to get through.

At one point, I winched my truck forward but my muffler was caught on a rock and stayed in place. It ended up completely ripping my exhaust tubing off of the passenger side header. I basically had open headers for the entire 3 hour drive back home. It sucked and is gonna suck even more to replace lol



Here are a few pics of the trail:

cuylbZK.jpg

xFGfnjr.jpg

t94JQhZ.jpg

8GqWwlU.jpg

63ofLEN.jpg


So much of this kind of nonsense happening. Completely blocked by axle. I really want to move up my shock mounts.

SaN8RhE.jpg

D4KV9KF.jpg

PUowxlu.jpg

Dl5uVZ4.jpg

BPjTrJy.jpg
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
And here is the damage. My passenger side downpipe? (I think that correct) sheared of off of the flange connecting it to the rest of the exhaust. So all of my exhaust is exiting right below the passenger floor. It is obnoxious and smelly.

My question - what do ya'll think I need to fix here? Should I have an exhaust shop remove the flange and just weld in a section of pipe, or maybe they can just re-weld the to the flange? Do I need to replace the passenger-side header? Does the heat shield come off or does it need to be cut for access?

It really just looks like this one section was broken, but everything else looks fine.

EcpczHo.jpg
 
Last edited:

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
First off that trail looks awesome! I think you're on the right track with your idea of having them re-weld the pipe/flange connection. Assuming they don't find any other damage that wouldn't be too horrible of a job.

It's hard to tell from the pic but is that the connection from the main cat to the secondaries going left to right?
 

Smileyshaun

Bought an X
Good old Tillamook forest clay nearly impossible to get out of the tread . That trail gets to be more and more of a beast as winter rolls on Especially when it starts getting snow .
 

KC!

Bought an X
First off that trail looks awesome! I think you're on the right track with your idea of having them re-weld the pipe/flange connection. Assuming they don't find any other damage that wouldn't be too horrible of a job.

It's hard to tell from the pic but is that the connection from the main cat to the secondaries going left to right?
that’s what it looks like to me too, especially since the O2 sensor is right after the flange.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
First off that trail looks awesome! I think you're on the right track with your idea of having them re-weld the pipe/flange connection. Assuming they don't find any other damage that wouldn't be too horrible of a job.

It's hard to tell from the pic but is that the connection from the main cat to the secondaries going left to right?

I think you got it correct. The front of the truck is to the --> right in that picture.

It is located here in the truck:

L8yJ9B6.jpg
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Broken on the engine-side of the flange right inside the heat shield:

b1AF7zn.jpg


Shop gave me $1650 quote. Basically it is impossible to weld while in the truck. 13 hours of labor. 12.5 is removal/installation, and 0.5 is the actual weld job. $30 for gasket. Ugh. Really did not want to take on this work myself but probably gonna have to for $1650
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I still can't tell exactly what they're welding for some reason.

Is it the manifold to primary cat? At that price you could probably replace both with OE parts I'd think.
 

BCXterra

Bought an X
Can you remove the flange and sleeve a section of exhaust pipe inside? Moving the rearwards exhaust backwards/temporary removal of a section, insert sleeve, reinstall exhaust, seal outside.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
They said the Nissan service manual said 3 hours labor for driver side and 13 hours for passenger side, which is contradictory to what everyone says on here - that the driver side has much more crap in the way lol. Who knows

I was planning on pulling the broken side, having someone weld it up (they said they would do it for $60, or my friend will do free) and put it back in with a new gasket. I don't really wanna drop $200 plus on new headers or bother with the driver side if I don't have to...

Put short tube headers on.

That flange is very common to go bad on its own. One more shiatty part from nissan.

Aren't short-tube headers basically the stock header? Or do they replace the cat that is there and eliminate the flange? Sorry, exhaust is probably the one area of this truck I know the least.

Can you remove the flange and sleeve a section of exhaust pipe inside? Moving the rearwards exhaust backwards/temporary removal of a section, insert sleeve, reinstall exhaust, seal outside.

That is an interesting idea... how would you seal it though? Still can't get a welder on the inside half of the tube.
 

jsexton

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lewis Center, OH
Aren't short-tube headers basically the stock header? Or do they replace the cat that is there and eliminate the flange? Sorry, exhaust is probably the one area of this truck I know the least.

yea, they replace the stock manifold. The flange broke off the header, not off the catalytic converter section right?

Short tubes would be cheaper than an OEM replacement manifold and should have a better quality weld at the flange.

if you can get the nuts to break loose holding the manifold on, I’d replace them myself. Just be careful, you don’t want to break those studs. Heat shield is held on by 2 (iirc) small bolts. If they aren’t rusty, you should be able to just unbolt and pull it off. On mine I had to tear them off.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Alright... finally you can all understand what I am talking about. I got the heat shield off after soaking in WD40 for a bit. All 3 bolts came out with no problem. It's too bad i didn't have the patience to keep it in one piece... still spent a bit with tin snips to squeeze it out of there.

It's an interesting break, but TBH it seems pretty easy to fix. I think I'm taking the easy route for now. Since my heat shield bolts came off so easily, I'm betting the header itself will have no issues. I'll get that thing welded, shove it back in, wrap some of the "sensitive" parts with some aluminum tape and call it good.

ety1Hr5.jpg
5LXaVco.jpg
zLx5G8q.jpg
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Now I get it! Haha, I'm amazed you got the heat shield bolts out, all of mine sheared off on the drivers side when I removed it. That said I think you're right about the manifold, it should come right out hopefully without too much fuss and then the welder should have no issue sealing it back up. I'll be interested to know how long it takes you vs the shop quote.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Got it all off. Breaking those header bolts sucked. I pinched my finger when a bolt suddenly broke free. Now it is swollen and purple/blue. Hope it is not broken... Luckily this awesome socket kit I semi-recently bought had everything I needed which included two 1/2" extensions and a u-joint extension.

jfXAfNP.jpg


Now to take to shop to weld. Was concerned because the pipe break was so clean that it would be hard to figure out how to line up the flange, but there is one small spot that makes it obvious. Should be a very quick fix!

Df8UE88.jpg
0C7vyHN.jpg
JCtA3cq.jpg
4C1du9L.jpg


Not looking forward to squeezing it back in there given how much it was a PITA to snake it out. It felt like I was doing one of those chain puzzles

41sbjXb1drL._SY355_.jpg
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Ouch man, that made me cringe just thinking about it. Glad to hear you got it out though, make sure they do a good weld on it so you don't have to go through this again lol.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Final update - got the piece installed. Just as quiet as before. It smoked a little bit at first which scared me, but then realized it was just burning off all the WD40 I sprayed. I cleared the SES light and it hasn't come back on since. Success!

Only concern I have: without the heat shield, the fender feels warm now after the truck has been running - and not just after sitting in traffic, but after highway driving too. I hope this doesn't translate to faster wearing bushings/brake lines/ABS components.

I'll be interested to know how long it takes you vs the shop quote.

It took me 2.5 hours to take it out (like 1 hour of that was cutting the heat shield) and about 1.5 hours to put it in. So 4 hours total and it cost me about $110 for tin snips, gasket, and welding labor. Definitely worth saving $1500.

7bNk5Lz.jpg
jIa6J3c.jpg
 
Last edited:

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I'm definitely not an expert but that weld looks pretty good, aside from any rocks bashing into it you're probably good to go now.

I've never looked into it but I wonder if anyone sells a heat shield material that we could use to replace ours when we destroy them. I've always heard the drivers side was a piece of cake but I did it with the truck on a lift and completely destroyed the thing getting it out.
 
Top