Just finished doing my exhaust crossover. Went from this....


to this ...





I have 3" BL, so we had plenty of room. Reused the abused flex pipe, seems like a good idea . And had go to a new shorter generic cat converter.

Also fabbed up a new low profile tranny crossmember, out of 1/4" steel.



Gained about 3" of ground clearance at the exhaust and tranny crossmember area. With my 3" suspension lift and 33" BFGs. At the tranny crossmember measures about 15" and about 12" at the transfer case.

I still need to reroute the E brake cables, finish up the tranfer case skidplate, and build a tranny skidplate, that tranny pan looks very exposed now <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> .

Looking for good simple ways to protect the tranny mount bolts ... any ideas?

VERY nice work!!!! Seriously, the best simple fab I have seen in quite some time! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Improved clearance, better protection for the exhaust... makes sense! That new cat may even net you better smog numbers, too!

One thing, though, do you have a stiffening rib in that low-profile tranny x-member? Quarter-inch stock might bend under a heavy boulder hit, especially if weighted by the mass of your vehicle.

You might be able to use a button-head hex bolt to minimize the head hang-down, but I'd worry about buggering up the hole enough so that disassembly would be tough. Not a big deal if you have a welder and can burn a nut onto the button-head to facilitate removal... yeah, you'd need a new fastener, but that's a low-cycle fastener, IMHO.
Otherwise, you could also weld short pipe sections around the bolt heads. Something like has been done to protect this valve stem:
I like the button-heads, though, since they'd slide more easily over the rocks. Welding pipe to the bottoms would sorta be like adding traction lugs to something you want to slide, not grab.

Seriously, tho -- nice work on rerouting the exhaust!

Randii

Thank you <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nobody in Kansas really cares about smog numbers. But trying to keep the truck somewhat green <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> .

No stiffening rib on the crossmember yet. I am thinking about doing that. Not sure things are really finalized. Thinking back to my drivetrain lift idea and dreaming of a more flat bottomed truck. Considering raising the back tranny mount upward a little more, maybe an inch. By raising the T-case as high as practical without getting bad driveshaft vibes. FYI my new crossmember is within a 1/4" height of the stock one, slightly higher.

Also I should say thanks to Kansasdude, he did most of the work <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> .

If you end up building a skid, you can have it overlap the tranny mount nuts and put in little slider things like in this pic:

http://marchie.photosite.com/~photos/tn/2389_1024.ts1099853762000.jpg

You can also see where this skid mounts to the frame rails, there are some pipe pieces to protect those bolt heads as well.

Never did update this ...... I added a stiffener to the top of the crossmember And had no problems so far