Sound too good to be true?? When it came time to deal with an aging exhaust on my 1989 Cherokee I decided to simply delete the "Turbo" muffler that is OEM on all XJs.

Starting from behind the catalytic converter use 2" 1/4" quality exhaust pipe from cat to tail.? I enlisted the help of Advance Muffler in Pullman, WA to perform the work, but any quality exhaust shop can perform the same task.? From one solid 2" 1/4"? pipe he used a pipe bender to copy the maze of twist and turns that the stock tail pipe section consisted of. After a few test fits the final bends were in place and it was welded to the output pipe of the catalytic converter.? This is a very simple task for any exhaust shop, but the results are sensational!? The entire process took less than 30 minutes.

One of the reasons I needed to replace the exhaust is because I have crushed the turbo muffler numerous times by cresting rock ledges and stumps. It was also just plain old.? Due to the wide belly nature of the muffler, it tends to get dented and damaged quite often.? I also had some holes in the tail pipe and I wanted to keep exhaust fumes from easily entering the cabin. I've heard of people upgrading to fancy stainless steel cat-back exhaust system only to destroy them on the trail. Who wants to hear a person crying about his mangled $300 stainless exhaust?

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What you gain with the staight pipe is an increase in clearance, exhaust flow rate and a very solid length of steel exhaust that will hold up to the rigors of off-road travel.? The best benefit of all is the spontaneous transformation of your 4.0 into small block V8 type sound.? I could not believe the new exhaust tone!? The first words out of my mouth were, "Holy Cow!"? It was music to my ears.? You can actually hear the difference by using the two ".wav files" found in this article. The stock exhaust tone is from a stock 1992 Cherokee Limited w/ 4.0 while the custom exhaust tone is from my 1989 Laredo w/ 4.0.

I have been using this exhaust since November 1997 and I am still not annoyed by it at all.? It truly allows the 4.0 to show its true colours. It is like a wolf in sheep's clothing folks-you will be impressed.? The catalytic converter works as a muffling device so the sound is not as loud as an open header and you remain completely emission legal.? If Tim "The Toolman" Taylor were to hear this exhaust modification he would only have a smile on his face.

Many of my friends have complimented the exhaust tone.? While traveling on the open road cruising up a canyon, my friend Michael in his topless '72 Blazer with ARBs, was about four car lengths behind me.? He got on the CB and said, "The Cherokee sounds nice Randy."? Great open road sound is what you get with this exhaust modification.? The idle tone is very sweet as well.? Two different people, on different occations, have said that it sounds like a race car while I was four-wheeling in the snow at high rpms. While at the grocery store, my friend Jason asked me if I had done something with the exhaust.? I asked him, "Does it sound bad?"? He replyed, "No, it sounds great!"? Even a friend of mine who owns an '87 4.0 Cherokee asked, "Do you have a Borla on that now?"

The only draw backs I can see is that your significant other may comment that the Cherokee sounds like a boat.? In my experience off-shore boats generate some of the sweetest sounds on the ocean.? The other possible draw back is that a muffler can also serve as a "spark-arrestor" for keeping those unburned hydrocarbons from exiting the tailpipe.? I've come to the conclusion that this is highly unlikely due to the length of exhaust maniford, catalist, and tail pipe length it must travel through.? I also watched the tail pipe in the dead of night while a friend reved the 4.0 but I never saw a hot spark fly out onto the ground-only the sound of music.? If you were not running a catalytic converter I would be concerned, but with it there is little need to worry.? I do not recommend running an XJ without the catalytic converter for the benifit of the environment and atmosphere.? The great part about this modification is that if you do decide that the sweetest exhaust tone you have ever heard is just too loud, a replacement muffler can be easily swapped in for the stock exhaust configuration.

Deleting the muffler will not have any harmful effects on your beloved 4.0 motor and that comes straight from two different ASE certified Jeep technicians.? I still get 18 mpg highway with 4:56:1 gears and 33"x12.50" BFGs so adverse effects on miles-per-gallon are not an issue.? I hope a lot of XJ owners try this inexpensive and fun modification. Please let me know what you think. My Cherokee refuses to be muffled in the presence of V8 powered vehicles at Top Truck Challenge '98...she has a growl all to her own!

By - Randy Harris