Exhaust Pipe Expander
Mark SimpsonExhaust pipes don’t always fit together as they should—often the mufflers are manufactured by a different source than the rest of the pipes and can be difficult to fit together. Mark Simpson explains the use of an exhaust pipe expander and how it can be used to stretch pipe openings or fix damaged pipe ends.
When installing a dock component that, you know usually they're not all made by the same manufacturer, your tailpipes might be made by a different manufacturer than your mufflers. And sometimes everything doesn't fit exactly right together. And a useful tool to have in the shop to kind of get around that, is a tool called a tailpipe expander. And this can actually be used, you know, for your head pipes and your tailpipes and anywhere where you have a pipe connection. And what's great about this tool, is that it actually you know, it's just a matter of tightening it up and it actually has these fingers that will expand.
And as they expand, they press out. And in a case where we have a tailpipe that needs to slide into this muffler, we can simply insert the tool and expand it out and actually move the diameter of this pipe out a little bit. It's not, you're not going to be able to, you know, move it up a quarter of an inch in size but you gonna be able to move it enough. So now your tailpipes and, you know, your mufflers or any pipe connections actually fit better together. It also works great if you get a dent or, you know, it's not uncommon when you get a pipe from the auto parts store and there's a ding or a dent or a little bit of warped edge in the tailpipe expander will actually smooth that out and give you a nice round opening.
And in using this tool, you know, like any threaded, you know, either pulling or compression tool, you wanna make sure you use a good quality grease on the threads. I like to use a good high pressure grease. And what this does is it make sure that those threads don't gall while you're actually using the tool. And then just simply insert the tool. You can easily turn it up by hand, get it close.
Then use a ratchet to get it tight and you can use it to turn it a few times out, get it good and tight, pull it up clean and then loosen it up and remove it. It's an easy process to do. It will make your exhaust assembly go a lot quicker.
i hate to say this,but this does not work unless the pipe/muffler is just slightly deformed. it will reround it but that is about it. i have never been able to enlarge a pipe even just a few thousands.
Mark, what is the brand of hi-pressure grease you recommend. Thanks Ralph.
i have some of those "expanders". unless one is just trrying to round up a pipe because it was deformed, those things are useless. they will not "expand" a pipe like a hydraulic one would.
I did not see anything on using the pipe expander in all 6+ minutes ?
This video showed an overview of the installation of a new, complete exhaust system under a project vehicle. And, while it was a good overview, I didn't see any discussion of the use of an exhaust pipe expander, as suggested by the video title and description. Is it possible that the wrong video file is being linked to the title/description?