89 xj cat converter studs
 

Hey guys. So its inspection time for me and i made a boo boo. I bought all the parts and pulled off my stock exhaust from the cat all the way back. I destroyed the tail pipe trying to remove it from the stock muffler. And The 2 studs sticking out of the downpipe coming from the header are refusing to leave preventing me from putting on my new cat and muffler...while i wait for my new tailpipe:furious:

HOW THE BLEEPINJEEP DO I GET THOSE STUDS OFF?! >.< I hit it with a torch and pounded on it for a good 20 minuites and it refuses. I need to get this done asap. Any ideas would be great. Thanks guys.

Btw...xj with no exhaust at all is badassery. Sounds like a pissed off tank...doing 20mph! ^.^

Bump

i just did my tj a month ago.
they were just studs, so i heated up the flange around them till cherry hot and hit them out with a hammer/punch.
you might be able to use an air chisel if you don't have oxy/acetylene torches. i doubt a propane torch will get it hot enough.

yours might be threaded in, but i doubt it.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I have a map gas soldering torch. Its not hot enough to get the flange glowing. No air tools either. This is frustrating.

Get a MAPP/Oxygen setup (Bernzomatic) $60 Home Depot. It gets almost as hot as O2/Acetylene and just uses disposable Oxygen and MAPP cylinders. MAPP / Oxygen is about 3000 Celsius while MAPP/Air is only about 2000 Celsius. So the Oxygen makes the difference.

I heated my flange up, punched the studs out and then put regular nuts and bolts on as a replacement (didn't have studs). Try not to burn everything else while getting the torch up there. It's a bit of a pain.

Has been fine for about year so far.

I had map gas. It wouldnt have done any good apparently. The studs werent in the flange. They were in some kind of weird bracket that is sammiched between a crossmember and the tranny mount. I cut the studs off, pried the flange off the remaining bolts and pulled the bracket out and tossed it in the trash.

MAPP+Oxygen is way hotter than just a Mapp cylinder on it's own. Anyway, that bracket comes off with a 90degree twist. It's the exhaust hanger bracket and bolts to the flange from the CAT. Kind of need something there or your pipe will hit the cross member and bang around.

So ive noticed. Under heavy acceleration or deceleration it starts banging and clanking which i can immagine must be hell on a 26 year old header. Problem is i chucked it. Im thinking perhaps some kind of strapping is going to be my best option now because eff going to a junk yard and going through all of this again.

At the end of the day, the bracket is just a piece of flat steel with two holes in one end to bolt to the side of the flange and then a piece that goes in the hold in the cross member. You can probably rig something up. Mine was clanging away too but once I put that bracket on, it kept it under control.

The piece it goes into is called "Front Support Bracket Insulator"
The bracket is called a "support". MOPAR has it for $25. P/N 52003040