Let's face it, a stock RAM does not sound like a truck, certainly not one with a Hemi in it. But, exhaust is one of the most personal and "prickly" discussions on RF. It's you that has to like and live with the results--but there are other people involved too.
Thing to consider is how loud not just you, but neighbors and folks who ride inside with you can handle.
-There is a difference between obnoxious neighbor and guy with a nice truck.
-There is a difference between taking your girl for a trip in your badass RAM and having her ***** the whole way about how your exhaust drowns out music and conversation and gives her a headache.
-Landlords tend not to want to rent to obnoxious loud vehicle owners--seems a lot of people will complain if they don't have to face you personally.
-How you make a living now and how you do so in a few years could also change. If you work in an office park and wake the living dead occasionally arriving late in the morning (or while trying to cut out early for a ballgame or concert) the boss will not be happy.
So, cheap: find a muffler shop that will do something other than stock and see what options they offer. See if they will install your e-bay special, or online muffler and how. But be cautious, your RAM came with a full stainless system. If you look under it you will see the stock muffler is bolted on, and big enough to anchor the Queen Mary. Any replacement will be smaller, requiring additional pipe. Your cheap muffler shop may use crap pipe and may out of ease or laziness go the welded route. Cheap pipe will rust out before stainless and welding is harder to reverse.
For a few more $, but one and done, buy one of the direct bolt-in replacements made by Mufflex, or Flowmaster etc. If you can figure the difference between Metric and SAE you can do the work yourself because its a bolted arrangement.
