Is it OK to remove the cat from my 97 diesel?

Are there any side effects?

 

That's a resonator. Not a cat.

 

What will happen if I take it off?

Will it be too loud?

 

On your 97, thats a Cat, and by Federal law, all kitties need a home.

That being said, not having a kitty only has a chance of deflating your wallet, not much else. I have never heard of the kitty being a choke point unless it was plugged.

 

When I pulled the 'resonator' off my '97 it turned out to have a grid inside. That makes it a cat. The cat was put back on and then run without the muffler to see if perhaps the muffler was plugged. It wasn't. I put a rebuilt cat on - around $280 with shipping from Smith Catalyic Converters(www.smithcat.com). It was apparent the cat provides some noise control, but I would suspect you'd be able to tell the difference in noise if you ran without it. And, as said above, government agencies get all bent out of shape if you are found running without one.

 

My experience is most cats start plugging up around 80k miles but that might change with the new ultra low sulfur diesel. I've run across several rigs whose high egt, low power problem was cured by trading the cat with a straight pipe.
Removing the cat changes the tone of exhaust at idle but does little else unless of course unless it's plugged up.

 

A 97 does NOT and will NOT have a catalytic converter. My 99 does NOT. What your seeing IS a resonator. Looks like a big soup can with an inlet and outlet pipe. I took my muffler off first and it really didn't make much diffrence. It wasn't untill the resonator went that I started liking what I hear.

 

Charliez, you had better take that up with Dodge then.

Beginning with Jan.1, 1994 production, Catalysts were indeed installed right up to Jan1, 1998 production, when the 24V trucks came out, Catalysts were not required.

Your 99 will NOT have a Cat, our 97's certainly DO.

 

Perhaps Charliez's pickup had it's' cat disemboweled by a previous owner. As said, '97s DO have a cat.

 

My '96 had a cat on it till I open the door one day and it ran away.

 

If Dodge didnt put cats on then somebody put one on after mine left the factory. HA HA. My 96 had a cat

 

I pulled the restrictive exhaust off my '98 12V, which included a factory cat, and installed a MBRP 4" turbo back. The increase in sound level was dramatic, especially when towing. I then inserted a 4" cat off a '06 and it quieted down a lot but not to the level of the Banks cat-back system I had on it before. It sounded pretty good actually, and my wife didn't complain.

Dan