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I have a 2002 F-150 FX4 SuperCrew. I noticed a rattle at idle when in D or R.. no other time. The engine had to be making a certain vibration to produce the rattle. Finally I found the source. It's attached to the exhaust pipe about a foot after the tail of the transmission.. attached by a U-bolt and just floating on the exhaust pipe. It's about 10 inches long by 2inches diameter. Round. And it's painted a shiny black. It's obviously stout.. and at first glance thought it might be a sort of skid plate for the exhaust. Does anyone else have a 2 inch round 10 inch long "thing that looks like a weight" attached to their exhaust by a u-bolt? Thank you..
THANK YOU! That's what it is. If I can get it back on easily or use a new clamp I'll put it back.. if not I'll cu it off and not lose any sleep. Much appreciated!
It is supposed to reduce vibrations somehow, IIRC. You don't need it, whatever its purpose. Mine does not have one.
Exactly right, it's a dampener. Ford worked them into production 2001 for sure. I haven't seen them prior. Vibration can shake loose components over time, causing even more problems like
exhaust leaks. They realized what we had wasn't sufficient early on. We had the trans mount bushing material and the original damper just above that. These trucks go through trans mounts and want to tear off the exhaust manifolds lol. My 98 just went through another trans mount, this one lasted 65,000 miles. I didn't catch it soon enough. This time it busted the header lol. Yea , rear back flange, last top bolt pass side...snapped the corner off. Sounded just like a spit plug. But yea, fix that damper, these trucks need them in a bad way. If you do any exhaust work, make absolutely sure the exhaust is stress free....needs to fit like a glove. Exhaust probs suck every time.
What would have been great is if Ford would have incorporated these into the exhaust. My Escape has one, and it does a great job. Being a FWD, I'm sure that thing puts a lot of stress on exhaust components.
I need to get my trans mount installed. I found my stash o' parts last Saturday....
Lol, I have a stash as well. Didn't start out that way, I mean the parts were intended to be installed right lol. That flex would work great as long as it wouldn't retain moisture. They rust as well and collect/hold water. Depends how and were it's installed I expect. But yea, that cross-over area is like a sump lol.
What is this?
