Well... got back to the parking lot last night, started up truck and
Had a look underneath and sure enough.... portable sawzall, zap zap.
They didn't quite finish the job though, had about another inch to go on the front pipe. At least I don't have to eat the deductible now, assuming that the insurance co would even cover it at all Unfortunately, this cat thievery is all too common and gets more profitable every day.

At any rate, at least the cuts are clean and I still have the cat.

What I was writing to see is if anyone knows what metal the exhaust on a stock 2005 Diesel Ram is made of? Is it aluminized or SS? If SS, what flavor is it? I've got some 70-S2 and 308L rod for the TIG, but need to make sure before welding it up. Thank you for the advice.

Cheers.

 

I seriously doubt it's SS. I welded mine with standard solid wire in the mig welder.

 

Welcome to DTR!!


Not SS. I used my mig on mine when i removed the muffler. It is an aluminized pipe.

 

Thanks for clarifying the pipe material. Don't have a MIG at the moment. Going to see about TIG'ing it up this weekend.

 

What metal is worth something in a cat? How much are the thieves getting in the black market to support their meth habit?

 

It is supposed to be 409 Stainless at least that is what I have been told over and over again.

 

Platinum or Palladium are 2 common catalysts used .

 

After some more checking around, that seems to be the case.

Going to have to pick up some 309 filler rod.

 

I think platinum costs more than gold.

 

you don't need the cat, or the muffler

 

308 rod will work just fine for 409. No need to waste the money on some rod and only use a few pieces. Although if you live in AZ I can get you whatever rod you need as I work in a welding shop. But like I said your 308 will be just fine, it's whats holding my muffler on my truck right now.

 

Gold Platinum

Diesel, $3.299/gal
Just sitting here watching Game 3, wishing I had a few extra pounds of Platinum or Gold to trade for more toys . . .

Did ya get to keep the sawzall? Don't we shoot claim jumpers?

 

Maybe I would have got the sawzall if I was hiding under the truck with a baseball bat and had a talk with the thieving crackhead who tried to swipe it...... Alas, no such luck on that front.

Cop said "Yeah, happens all the time. Them junkies are too fast with the sawzall. Never gonna catch 'em" No use talking to insurance co. since the cat was still there.

Just planning on welding the cuts back together. A pound or two of 308L / 309L filler rod is much cheaper than a new cat for $1200 May be useful for some other future TIG projects too.

Since there is no surveillance in the parking lot I'll have to look in to another way to prevent it from being sawed off again. There's one well known fix that may be deployed.

 

Too bad you can't hide out in your truck when meth mouth shows back up for his second attempt... you could fire it up right quick and drive away....
Just make sure you have the brake pedal pinned to the floor when you stab that skinny pedal down and crush the carpet..

 

buddy of mine took his cat to the recycler and they only wanted to give him $10 since it was a diesel cat. thieves all the way around