What is this rusted metal bar on my exhaust pipe? RATTLE Source

So my 2014 tacoma TRD OR had this rattle sound under the truck near the rear. Only happens at a cold start usually when its accelerating at 20MPH then it stops going past there. Its a brief rattle that goes away the rest of the day.

All of my heat shields bolts and nuts are in good condition no rust. The clamp on my cat is also decent. No salting of roads here in California. No rocks under the heat shield.

I was down there banging around looking for a source and I found one. Its this rusted metal bar. Its broken at the weld spot. When I hold it down and bang on it, the rattle is gone. Planning on putting a stainless steel hose clamp to clamp it down to stop the rattle.

What is its function and is it bad if I clamp it?

 

Heat shield, if that’s where your finger is pointing otherwise it looks like you got a blowout in that pipe really hard to tell by the pic

 

Yeah, need better pics.

 

seems fine to get hot, I'd metal hose clamp it & call it a day

 

Muffle shop could weld it back ..repair it

 

I edited the pic. The red arrow is pointed at that tiny rusted bar thats welded to the exaust.

What is that? Why is it there? I imagine to provide structural support and prevent warping?

 

Without seeing a better picture, it looks like someone welded a piece of rod to your exhaust. I'm guessing that it was done aftermarket to prevent exhaust theft (more likely catalytic converter theft) .
If it's rattling, tack weld it in a few more spots or just remove it all together by cutting the tack welds. Its not stock.

-J

 

Yep, it's some ones attempt to slow down a sawzall.

 

I’ve never heard of anyone stealing anything but the cats?
No idea why anyone would do anything after the cats?
Looks like a lot of wasted time?

 

Maybe someone practiced welding on your truck. Are you the original owner?

 

If you look at it, it runs forward also. I would guess they ran it all the way up to the manifold.

@TacomawithArima, the rod is there to slow down someone with a saw. You can either have it rewelded, or run a few clamps around it to get it to stop rattling.

 

Its a solid metal rod with no hole thats rusted through.

Wow thanks for answering my question yall. Yeah I dont see how this would reallu do much for a cat converer thief

 

Someone with a battery operated Sawzall wants to get in and out in under 15 seconds. The thin wall of the exhaust surrounding the Cat allows them to get it done quick. If you add an additional 3/8" solid rod or two slows them down drastically. It's not foolproof but a thief wants to get the easy egg and the deterrent that the rod poses is typically enough to sway any potential thief.

-J

 

It's like a Rock slider for your muffler ... lol

 

Whoever did it likely did it to discourage cat theft as others have said, though I suspect he/she did it all the way because if he/she only welded the rod to the section near the cat, the thief would just cut the pipe where there's no rod. With the rod extending all the entire length of the pipes, there's no easy place to cut.