KATOOM

That right there is valuable information... Thank you. There's no need extra spending money to solve something if its not solving anything.

Aint that the truth. I really miss my old big pup. When that behemoth was in the back of "his" truck no one was allowed anywhere near it except me and the peeps I mingled with. BEST security system ever...!

To all those not paying attention to whats going on these days... The 2nd gen trucks are becoming well sought after vehicles. So much so that not only are people paying high dollar for them.....but thieves are after them in particular. If your 2nd gen is truly well taken care of then dont underestimate the chances of your truck being eyeballed by someone with no good intentions.

I would NEVER suggest getting a VP from NAPA. Way too many reliable vendor sources on these forums which you should trust far more than a parts store guy and his computer.

Good to know...

I kinda remember you agreeing with someone's comment about others going through too much effort to build a better mousetrap... That hypocrisy would be real.....since anyone reading your above post needs to understand you drive a 2002. So everything you just described would the epitome of a "better mouse trap".

I like to start my truck and walk in the house to put my shoes on when its cooler outside. (Yes, "cooler" is perspective to where you live) Nonetheless, this mere couple minutes of idle time gives the oil the opportunity to move fully about the engine, and makes my truck clearly happier when driving away. Without the grid heater working I would know that there is nothing to help optimize combustion, and would give me reason for concern. But hey...to each is own, right?

Hmmm..... I also live in CA, but I feel the service the grid heater system provides is worth keeping it intact. That it unless you live where the ambient temperatures never dip below 60*. Just because your truck starts in cold temperatures without the grid heater doesnt mean a functioning grid heater isnt helping reduce fuel wash and injector buildup while the intake temperatures are down. Just thinking out loud.

Agreed they're different... But I guess I should have been more clear in saying that I gained noticeable gear rollover after installing my SB. You experienced opposite. Thats where I find it interesting. Gear rollover is the noise transmitted through the gear faces as they clash together from the harmonic pulsing of the engine. It can sound horrible, but thankfully harmless. Most factory clutch systems incorporate a dual mass flywheel and/or disc springs specific to absorbing those pulses so as keeping any gear noise to a minimum. Aftermarket clutches are built with added strength and holding capacity in mind, not audible differences considered. Its very common to experience gear roll over with an aftermarket clutch during lower RPM driving.

Just curious, but what makes you think you dont need them? Or are you after airflow gain?

Interesting..... The only reason I could think of one would have less roll over than the other is overall tension of the disc springs.

Make sure you sing the little "Rock Auto..." jingle when you do

In the warmer weather mine will hover around 120* - 140* on a long drive empty. Towing in 4th gear (1:1) it will even maintain about 150*. But if I have to downshift to 3rd while pulling up a long grade then the fluid temps can climb to 190*, depending on how long I have to hold that gear and how hot it is outside. Anything over 175* isnt common. The heat blanket on the exhaust is hardly doing anything for transmission temps until I'm pulling those long hot grades where the airflow can be lower from slower speeds, and the EGT's are maintaining 1100*+ the entire time. Thats where I found it to be effective.

I'm VERY interested to see how those traction bars perform for you NightHawk. I've been eyeballing them for a long time merely because they're the only ones out there which are bolt on. Everything else is custom fab / weld on and expensive, and I'd say that my axle wrap condition is nothing close to needing that kind of strength. But.....I could be wrong. So please update the thread as to how they hold up.

I guess its worth saying that the only reason I'm even considering a resonator would be merely to eliminate any drone...not to quiet the trucks overall exhaust note. Thank you for the feedback too.

I would love to hear back on this whenever you do... VERY curious to get some accurate and unbiased feedback on either the FTE of Flo Pro.

The first Cummins/diesel forum I joined was back around 2001-2002. Back when I had dial-up...

Nice... Did it do anything?

Yes...it is pretty stupid looking. But in my defense I was merely experimenting, only to find it worked so I ended up leaving it there for a few years. As for what it does and why it works, just think of drone as something similar to a guitar string. The exhaust pulse waves traveling through the pipe will ring a tone. To cancel the pulse you can use a resonator which interrupts the pulses, or you can try to change the mass of the material the tone is traveling through to another pitch which isnt regular driving rpm's. This is why some aftermarket exhaust systems drone more obnoxious than others.

A regular old fencing T post. Take the bottom spade off and you have a cheap angle iron that can be strapped to the exhaust. Redneck?...yes. Hokey?...absolutely, which is why I placed it up high on the top so you couldnt see it unless looking for it. And it doesnt eliminate drone but does reduce it by changing when the drone occurs. Here's a picture of what it looked like.

If you want to eliminate drone without adding an inline resonator then the only solution is a helmholtz chamber. WAY more complicated as you have to calculate the drone wave when determining the length of the chamber, but it does the job without quieting the exhaust note.

The 4" sounds much better in all aspects. The "raspy" sound is gone and replaced with a deeper tone. Again, the only reason I bothered to install a 4" was because the EGT's were too hot for me on hills while towing. Only after removing the stock exhaust did I realize how small it was.....and smashed in various locations from the pinch bending and clamps used at the factory. The pictures explain best.

When I first deleted the muffler the sound was probably what I should have stuck with. Mellow but louder. I honestly dont remember there being any drone with the resonator still on there either but the time frame between having the muffler removed to when I had the resonator taken out was probably only a few months... I drove with it straight piped for about 12 years until I installed the 4" exhaust.

I dont remember the "thickness" of material but I do remember that each section was 6" X 36". There's two of them on there back to back shielding about 6 feet of exhaust pipe. When running the engine I can hold my hand on the blanket so its working. I should have also mentioned that I plan on installing a turbo blanket as well just because I have this crazy feeling that the 1100*+ turbo has to be radiating so much heat that the intake is sucking some up. And that kind of intense heat cant be good for anything around it either.

I deleted the stock muffler, then later the resonator. So cool sounding I didnt care about the drone until a couple years later when it finally got the best of me... So in attempt to fix it based on the guitar string concept of drone, I rednecked a T post to my exhaust with hose clamps where the muffler used to be and it changed the tone of the drone to a much more tolerable level. I still thought the straight pipe stock exhaust (which isnt 3" but more like 2.75") was too raspy sounding, but low on my priority list of things to care about. Then I started pulling a heavy 5th wheel toy hauler and noticed that my EGT's were hard to keep in check. So I upgrading to a 4" without a muffler. The EGT's were better and the overall tone of the exhaust was better sounding too. The drone is still there but not annoying enough yet. I "may" look into sticking a FTE under there somewhere but really I just dont feel like messing with it. Man.....I sure made myself sound lazy.