My stock exhaust is still good but the tight bend over the rear axle has rusted thru. At 65k miles why couldn't I just cut that off and run the tail pipe out in front of the rear tire? Getting rid of a bend sounds good, but, are there any problems doing that? Smoked tire?Eventually I'll go with good aftermarket muffler, flow through something like that, any recommendations?T.I.A.

That's what I did. However, mine is 5" and without a muffler it will drive you insane, which is probably even an understatement. The drone is just incredible and you could watch the crack in my windshield gain momentum. I am not sure if 3" would have the same problem, I kinda doubt it. If I were to do it all again, I would keep it behind the back tire where it is stock.. Just run a 4" system and call it good. Otherwise you can experiment with what you are thinking.

The stock system to the muffler is 3", smaller out. My tailpipe rotted out, then the back of the muffler. Eventually I bought a 4"SS system (lesser grade of SS) of ebay. I could have done with 3" but it was not offered. The "muffler" was a louvered interor glass pack in bright SS (better grade). I've left the "muffler" on for show but the drone towing had the wifee using ear plugs (we didn't want to talk for 6 hours anyway! LOL!!)I think a 3" full length SS system would be the way to go with the FTE spiral resonator, as far forward as you can get it. (Preferably, on the bottom of the down pipe.) Lacking the neck down tailpipe, it will flow better than stock.

My tail pipe behind the stock muffler cracked off. I just ran it that way until I got my Lincoln Mig welder. I just keep re-welding it.The sound DB level was almost the same w or w/o the tailpipe!I was hoping to get another exhaust but I trailerd home an 84 Mercedes 300D (turbo diesel):hyper:Fl car, so my money is going to get this on the road! Mostly just change the fluids & filters & a few odds & ends.Dave

I understand that running exhaust under the truck or out before the rear tire is extremely loud in the cab. You may find yourself and your passengers hating it real quick. Plus it will definitely turn your tire, wheel, and outer fender black.

I ran quite a while with the tailpipe off... sooted the whole underneath. And was stock at the time.

I put a MBRP 4 inch exhaust on my 2001 it came 4 inch from the turbo back and was only 258 with no muffler or 358 with a 4 inch muffler. Only took about any hour to put on the truck.

4" Kits are pretty inexpensive these days.... as mentioned above, the side out deal becomes a constant tire/wheel cleaning scenario.Also, the FTE Resonator mentioned above does wonders for cab noise on straight piped trucks...