Thursday, April 18, 2013

FJ Cruiser: New Tailpipe...

The stock FJ Cruiser tailpipe, for some unknown reason, dips down low in the back.  It's perfectly suited for getting snagged on something you just cleared on a rough road – a root, a boulder, etc.

All-Pro makes a replacement tailpipe, which I bought a couple of weeks ago and installed this morning.  It is routed entirely up high, and much straighter than the stock tailpipe.  The photo at right shows the new tailpipe installed (delineated by the red line I drew down its middle).  The shock mount hanger is hard to see, but one of its mounting bolts is pointed to by the blue arrow.

The connection between the muffler and the tailpipe is via a dual bolt flange, which made this job look like it would be super easy – just remove two bolts and the old tailpipe comes out.  But getting those two bolts loose was a major evolution, as they were very tightly in place.  One of them I managed to turn with a socket wrench, using both arms with everything I could put into it.  The second bolt I couldn't move with my arms at all.  I went through some gyrations to get an impact wrench to bear on it, but even that wouldn't budge the bolt!  In desperation, I put an 8" long box wrench on the bolt head, and used my boot to push the wrench using my legs – and that worked, though just barely.  Once I got it to turn an entire turn, then I could work it with my socket wrench.  What a pain!

Fortunately, the new one went in much more easily than the old one came out...

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