Flowmaster Bolt on Kit - Watch out

I bought that Flowmaster 50 series bolt-on kit, and at first I loved it. I've had it for about 3 -4 months, and I regret getting it at all. Now I'm only referring to the kit. The muffler itself is fantastic. But if any of you are considering buying it, I don't recommend it. After the couple months of riding with it, the fittings become looser, and things begin to struggle to stay together. It also relaxes into place with time, and starts to rub up against other parts of the truck[leaf springs, suspension mounts]. I took my truck into a reputable under-car guy, and he told me that he has had to fix a bunch of these flowmaster kits. "Every one of them fits differently, and they fit like crap" he says.

So, I am redoing my exhaust piping custom, and I am most likely going to either bring it out the back like the Incross Tacoma, or bring it out the passenger side in front of the rear tire. I am leaning toward the latter, for clearance purposes.

This is most likely going to take place at the beginning of next year, along with the DT Long Tubes I just received, and electric cut-outs dumped right before the muffler.

 

I have the same thing and when I got my lift installed, a couple weeks later, the new leafs broke my exhaust hanger on the drivers side so now it hangs and rattles... got to get it fixed, prolly over winter break...

 

I had this kit on my truck for a while too. The idea sounds great, but the end product isn't. The pipes did not fit well and looked like crap. The drivers side crossover pipe was way too low. You could clearly see this pipe from the rear of the truck (stock height). I couldn't stand looking at it, so I took the whole thing off. Still sitting in the box in my garage.

I actually really like my stock exhaust now. It seems to have become a bit louder, especially with the TRD CAI.

 

If you've ever installed exhaust pieces & parts - then you'll know.....things settle and need to be adjusted.

I installed my Flowmaster 50 dual kit about week/half ago. Typical kit - nothing wrong with it. Everything depends on how you put it together, line it up, how far the tubes go in, etc etc etc. Although, I will admit ...clearances on this are 'tight' but are dealable.

After a week - I could tell the passenger side settled and was rubbing the leaf springs. No biggie - unbolt and twist and tighten. Problem solved. Drive it around for another week and make sure I don't notice any other clearance issues. The hanger on the drivers side is hitting the leaf spring clamp. I still need to work on this yet but I'm really not worried. It should be an easy fix.

After everything is settled and tightened - I will have it all welded together at a local shop. The instructions actually recommend you have things welded together once you get everything in their final orientation.

Other than that, I can't complain a bit. It's a typical dual exhaust kit that has typical setup & adjustments to it.

 

Yea, all of that is true, but I still think flowmaster could have thought out the routing a little bit better.

 

I'm sure they spend many many many years developing it.

There's not a lot of room under there to work with. I'm sure you'd run into that with every bolt-on exhaust kit, especially dual setups that route around the spare tire/diff. Not a lot of room to work with....

 

Janister, I've been thinking about getting this exhaust.

How do you like the sound?

I know that there are a lot of sound clips but I don't think they give a good interpretation of real live sound.

Would you say it's mellow or obnoxious?

I'm wanting a mellow tone that is louder than stock but not annoying and I really like the look of duals.

Thanks

 

It's pretty subtle. Nothing to obnoxious.

 

Thanks MacTaco.

Oh and thanks for the heads up about the install issues.
I think any exhaust is going to have them though.

 

Exactly what MacTaco said... It's pretty mellow. Sometimes when the truck is warmed up and you're sitting at a light - you can barely hear it (atleast, from the inside). It's deepest & loudest at lower rpm's upon acceleration.
I wish it had a deeper tone at times, but it's a V6 and you can't expect a V8 sound out of it. I have an Auto - so the sound/rpm range might be different from a manual.

 

Is this how yours looks?

How can that be good? The piping is the same level as the rear end?

 

Yeah, that's about right.

That picture doesn't have the spare tire in there. Again, not a lot of room to work with. I'll have to take some picts sometime tomorrow.

 

I had a local shop custom install mine and the pipes run around the spare.
I can take better pictures later but you can see my spare in this picture.

 

You had a local shop install the flowmaster dual exit (50 series) kit?

They made new piping for you instead of using the stuff in the kit?

I got a quote from a local shop to install a Flowmaster dual and they quoted me $600. That was probably just for the kit and the installation only (without the custom tube bending). I personally didn't want to pay that much for an exhaust. I only paid $352 for the kit and a home installation. I'm happier to save myself some coin and eat some cake too.

 

Yea, I'm getting my exhaust completely redone, but using the same muffler. It's gonna be DT Long tube headers, then the y-pipe, then the pipe between the y-pipe and the muffler going to be cut pretty short, and have a electric cutout right before the muffler. Then the exhaust is going to exit before the passenger rear tire. I can't decide if I want the tips to point straight out, or if I want to have two turn-downs. So hurray for custom.

 

No I got the Flowmaster off the Summit racing website. The stainless tips I got off EBay.

Total including the custom install came out to $420.00

This is what it looks like, sorry it's dirty.




The spare would still fit but I have since installed an on-board air system.

 

Well i don't know because i have had mine on my truck for about 6 months now and i haven't had any trouble with it even when i'm out smashing in the woods.