Exhaust Manifold Poll

[Akula69]

Took the manifold to a local exhaust shop here in town - I've known the owner for years and thought I'd take a chance and see if ours could be welded. Turns out I had a medium crack around the junction of the 6th cylinder pipe and a small one starting at the 5th cylinder pipe. He was very convinced that it could be welded and that the repairs would be long lasting (and the price was right - $10.00).

 

He went on to state he had fixed or replaced many manifolds on the MJ and the XJ model jeeps, and that it was his opnion that the lack of a down-pipe support (somewhere after the collector) caused some of the problem as that support should have been factory installed because the cracking in the manifolds was due to: (1) the weight of the unsupported exhause down-pipe hanging on the manifold, and (2) the wear on the engine mounts allowing the torque of the engine to pull aginst the manifold/down-pipe joint.

 

He noted the first support was a hanging bracket down along the bottom of the vehciel (most had simply rusted off) and the next closest support was at the rear of the transmission mount. Along with his recommendation for adding a hanging support near the engine (attached to the frame) He also went so far as to recommend against the rubber engine mounts and to go with the poly ones.

 

I thought a little poll might prove or disprove this theory. If most of you have had cracking on the manifold at the 6th or 5th cylinder pipe it would seem to be true.

 

Feel free to post up your comments!

[MjPioneer]

Personaly I can't see in there well enough, but I think there are none on either of my rigs