I'm interested in putting in an after market exhaust and am thinking of doing the installation myself. I searched around the forum, but did not see anything regarding the removal of the original exhaust, which I have a few questions.

First off, I don't have access to a lift, so I am going to have to do this in the garage and would like to get the old exhaust out in one piece.

When removing the front pipe with the cat, is it safe to remove the transmission cross beam support? It looks like it has 6 bolts holding it - two on each frame rail, and two in the center of the transmission that will require an extension and a deep socket. Do I need to support the transmission with the cross beam out or will it be ok for the duration of the exhaust install?

To remove the original hangers from the rubber mounts, just WD40 and push them back through the mounts? Also, it looks like if I undo the top of the right rear shock, I should be able to snake the exhaust out of there.

Any tips/tricks from those who have been there before are appreciated. Thanks for the input.

I did mine in my driveway on the ground. I didnt have a cat though & had to cut tailpipe a couple of feet back. I didnt feel like fighting it, did takeout & install in 2 hours with a couple of beer breaks. Removing tranny support doesnt sound like a good idea, maybe put jack under tranny.

I used floor jack and jack stands, unbolted flange and wd40 the rubbers. Took two of us 20 minutes to remove cat back pipe, While one was installing back pieces, the other unhooked the front pipe, unbolt the hanger at the tranny and it comes out with the front pipe. Installed the hanger on catless pipe and went on perfect. One of the best investments i have made.

easiest thing to do is just get some of those ramps to drive up on, or jack the front up if you prefer. The front pipe(one with the cat) comes out very easily through the front after you remove the hanger bracket from the side of the tranny by two bolts. You can then slide the cat pipe out the front, thats it. No need to remove a crossmember or support.

Keep the band clamp from the turbo side for the new pipe and also keep the gasket from the 4 bolt flange for the new stuff as well- if it doesn't come with a new one.

The rear exhaust although very difficult can be removed without cutting it, BUT if you want to save yourself some time just cut it right after the rear axle and it will come right out. I have done both ways and wish I had just cut it in the beginning.

I have done all of this in the driveway twice, by myself so it can be done fairly easy if you have some help.

Briano is right on the money. We changed my exhaust yesterday. The bracket on the side of the tranny comes off easily, if the front of the truck is up high enough it'll come right out. I cut my exhaust just behind the muffler and it came apart easily that way.

I just put the jack under the passenger side frame and jacked it up. Slid complete exhaust out towards the front with no cutting at all and no loosening of rear shock.

remove the spare tire makes it easier to come out without cutting.
Then if you want to replace the stock system you have it complete

My son and I did mine in about an hour, maybe less. We drove the right side, front and rear, up on car ramps. We then placed a scissor jack between the leaf spring and frame, and jacked that up. This allowed the entire cat-back section of exhaust to easily slide out in one piece. Installing the new exhaust went very quick, with no issues. Good luck, though you shouldn't need it.

I took the right rear shock loose, dropped the spare and jacked the right side a little. The stock system was removed without any cutting and didn't have to remove the transmission mount; I would recommend against that. I wanted to keep my system complete just in case I didn't like what the system sounded like.