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Those readers breathlessly awaiting the next installment in Truckman's truck saga may breathe a sigh of relief...I dropped off the new beast at Texas Auto Pro in Conroe where my friend Joey Belton was waiting to install a custom exhaust...Having gathered an assortment of items from Amazon including a 4" stainless steel Y-pipe, stainless 4" flexpipe (necessary when connecting body mounted exhaust to frame-mounted exhaust to prevent loosening from torque-twist), two 4" to 5" reducers, two 5" straight cut chrome stacks and two chrome rain caps, we had a conference to discuss exactly where to mount the pile of parts...I left the truck in the capable hands of Joey to  work his exhaust wizardry...

As long time readers already know, Truckman elevates the exhaust of his diesel trucks above the level of the timid souls who drive lesser vehicles such as Prius (question for self: should the plural of Prius be Prii?)...In any case, Truckman does not wish to be accused of intimidating or frightening other drivers, and it is known that the exhaust on most factory equipped diesels is at eye-level to those who are forced to convey themselves in the smaller econoboxes...Therefore as a courtesy to Prius drivers, Truckman's exhaust is directed upward instead of at the windows of those unfortunate drivers who are unblessed with more robust transportation...

My previous truck had been "stacked" by Joey when he built a custom manifold to mount in the bed, but in the interest of expediency, I bought off the shelf items this time...It was first thought that the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) would need to be discarded and the ECM be re-programmed, but I did not want to do that after having read of the myriad problems encountered by others who chose to defeat the factory emission controls...Some like to do this to gain extra power, but I am happy with the 305 horses that it has run with since new...Joey did have to trim some of the DPF tubing and move a temperature sensor to make room, but all EPA mandated controls are still intact, and Al Gore can sleep blissfully tonight in that knowledge...

Joey is also an excellent welder and fabricator, and had no problem manufacturing the brackets needed to mount the new exhaust...It's rattle-free and sounded great on the way home...I was unable to locate silenced rain caps to prevent rainwater from entering the open tops of the exhaust, but I found some nylon clips to install under the caps to prevent the "ting-ting" noise when they open and close at idle...No other new equipment has been installed, and other than applying a little wax as weather permits, the only other update is a report on fuel mileage...All driving so far has been in town, and the first tank produced 14.06 MPG calculated by hand...The overhead display showed slightly higher, but those have been known to lie...Also the new tires and wheels ride very well, with no noise and no vibration even from the unbalanced outer duals...

Truckman has been assured that with his new stacks, he can have his redneck card punched in confidence anywhere rednecks gather...New photographs have been added to the bottom of Truckman's photoblog essay...In addition an attractive member of the local paparazzi had staked out Texas Auto Pro hoping to catch a glimpse of Truckman for his adoring fans...I complied with her wishes and that photo is included also...

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