betsy try a look at bigexhaust.com,they have a nice set up that is pretty cheap,easy to install, i believe the exhaust is like 300-350 there,as far as the transporter, im a transporter( i didnt transport yours,lol) we fill out inspection reports for every vehicles condition,my drivers are very picky but some thing like that they would even over look,the truck was shipped a long way so could of broke on one of these quality roads in the great us,weather it was broke before or after really woulnt matter,if it got there and it wasnt broke it would of in a week or so any way by looking at the pictures,the inspection guy is to blame but rust is a hard thing to judge how thin it is so maybe it just looked normal to him,always look at it on the bright side your still safe and the truck is too,if you drove it down the road and it broke you could of hit it and wrecked, hope you have better luck with it and enjoy your new prize, you were looking forward to getting it and it wouldnt be long you were going to put an exhaust on any way,he he,good luck

 

Mine was rusted in the same place. Common problem. It had been welded by the previous owner. Shoddy job, too. You can see what I have now in my sig below. 5".

 

Pa outlaw, thanks for your perspective, and you're right - it would've broken eventually. We love the truck, and it is a prize indeed! It'll be much happier living with us in sunny CA! No salt and sludge to deal with!

We got the exhaust system sitting here in its box; we'll be installing this weekend, looking forward to it!

 

Just a thought if you put on the tips I used some stainless steel sheet metal screws instead of the clamps, it looks so much better!

 

Update:

Okay, so my husband and I spent all day last Saturday, and Sunday morning, installing the new exhaust system. What a sight, the two of us under that truck bickering away...Forgot to put the whole thing together to make sure it all fit right. Well, it was the system specified for our year, long bed, etc. but we had to cut down one of the straight pipes to fit, and we also had to mess with the post-muffler section to make it fit.

We had trouble with getting things to line up straight between the turbo and the muffler. the down-pipe didn't give us a lot of options for adjustment after attaching it to the turbo, and this forced the next two straight pipes to come together less than perfectly - IOW the way the muffler wants to hang and the tightness of the downpipe prevent the two straight pipes from joining nicely so there's a slight kink. Will this be a problem?

The good news is that the truck is quieter than with the break, and acceleration is great! Having no previous experience with diesels, I'm paranoid about the sounds I'm hearing, though. There's the low tones, the high turbo tone, and now I hear some inbetween tone on acceleration that I never noticed before, maybe because the thing was SOOOO loud! I don't know what is normal so I don't know if what I'm hearing is abnormal or not! What can I learn from my engine's sound - what to look for?

Now I'm dealing with the DMV - they want a weight certificate since it is an out of state truck, even though only commercial vehicles need one. Apparently, our truck is a commercial vehicle by definition just because it is from out of state! Anyone had to deal with this before?!