Why Remove Muffler?
 

Ok, is there any real-world reason, other than sound, to remove the muffler? Does doing this help fuel economy, power, etc? Or is it simply for better sound?

I am asking because I had a muffler shop take out my muffler and weld in a pipe. The novelty of the sound has worn off now and it is actually pretty annoying when just driving around town and especially on the highway.

Driving around town with the Auto Tranny keeps the RPM's pretty steady all the time and seems to drone really bad.

I kept my stock muffler in case I didn't like the sound of the straight pipe and may just have it welded back in. This is a stock truck and I have no plans of power modifications for it. (I'll be paying the bank for a few years to come and want it to last at least longer than that [roll])

So, nobody here has a good reason for the muffler delete?

To give you a headache.
The previous owner of my truck had no muffler with 5" stacks, and after a couple hour drive I was ready for a dozen tylenols.
I put a 4" Silverline turboback on and its so much better. Still sounds awesome but kills the noise.

Well, it looks like I'll go to the muffler shop tomorrow and have my stock muffler welded back in.

Is there any reason I shouldn't do this? The truck has close to 120k miles on it and everything was stock until I had the muffler cut out.

On a stock truck would it be worth spending more money for a higher flow muffler? Otherwise I'll just pay the man $25 to weld in my old muffler.

straight pipe lower's egt's and flows better. I thought it was pretty loud at first, but I like it alot with a straight pipe now, but with a 5spd u can change the rpm/drone alot more so it's not bad. I get some drone around 1600 rpms, and thats kinda where the auto loves to stay, but i'm always right at 1800-2000 rpms so there no drone at all.

Is the lower EGT and higher flow enough to matter in a stock truck?

you get better fuel milage and less turbo lag with stock muffler gone. If you dont like the drone get a high flow muffler instead of the stock muffler

I put mine back on. It wasn't too bad around town when it was unloaded, in fact I kind of liked the sound. But when I tow my camper (9000 lbs) and take a long trip >2 hours, the drone / noise was terrible.

I drove it w/o muffler for six months because I heard I would get better mileage and lower EGTs. I drove it around town to work daily and on camping trips / towing. Even in the mountains of Virginia I didn't see any significant difference in MPG or EGT.

Nothing wrong with the stock setup in my opinion. Been there.

Yeah, I'm going to the muffler shop first thing tomorrow morning to get my stock muffler welded back in. I just hope it isn't too mangled since I just had them weld in a straight 3" pipe instead of a bolt in kit that was more expensive.

I actually just got back inside from putting my silencer ring back on. I'm working 3 jobs right now and when I'm really tired after work or half asleep in the morning I just don't like all the racket.

Plus, I'm hoping that if I leave everything the way it came the truck should last a long, long time.

my dad has his truck all stock, not even a different air filter. stock equipment is for stock equipment. the sr8 pipe on a stock truck does nothing for mpg its just done to make a truck sound like something its not, that goes the same for the silencer ring.

I have definitely not seen any increase in fuel economy to speak of. And it is fun for a little while to feel like I'm driving a big rig, but I'm not.

The unmuffled Honda guys probably think its fun to feel like they're driving a race car, too.

I did mine because the stock muffler was rusting off, and I didn't want to pay the price for a new muffler. It didn't do anything for my mileage, I can't speak to the EGT issue as I've only put my Pyrometer in since the straight pipe. I have a 5 speed, and it drones briefly right at 1100 RPM, but I don't like to run that low anyway. I haven't hauled anything to ever make the drone worse, perhaps if I ever do, that might change my mind. The truth is, with the windows up I can barely hear my exhaust at all. Its all personal preference, there seems to be little performance justification for the muffler removal, and if it isn't a financial decision, then just do whatever will make your truck fun to drive. For me, its about having the options, if I want to hear it, I open the rear slider window, if not, then I leave it closed.

I'm the same. I have my truck 3" to 4"(for about 3 feet) and exits infront of the duallies. When my windows are closed I can't even tell it is straight piped, but when I want to hear it in town, etc I just roll them down and listen away[laugh] As TRoss said, it's all about personal preference...and if your truck has high HP, then it helps a lot as well[coffee]

I ran mine straight piped till the first time I pulled with it the drone gave me a bad headace. I went the the local parts store and ordered a 52" long 4" in 4" out commercial muffler for a ford 750 and put that on. It works great I still have the big rig sound but no drone when towing. Going to put on 5" turnouts in the next month or so and I am keeping the muffler also.

Ok, the verdict is in. My verdict, that is. After spending some time researching this on the web I found that it is possible to add 1 or 2 hp with the straight pipe. Also, the heat trapped in the muffler apparently causes the turbo to take longer to cool down when the engine is shut off. Maybe mysteriously gets a couple mpg's better.

So, since it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 bucks to replace the muffler and I need new tires I think the "benefits" outweigh the drone.

On a side note, the female says I have never complained about the truck being too loud before yesterday. She says its because I have been so sick (in hospital with fever Fri. nite) and grouchy.