How do I get rid of the annoying exhaust drone with new Magnaflow??

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IQRaceworks

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I had a pretty loud exhaust on my 04' Hemi Ram.....a 2-chambered Flowmaster dumped right in front of the rear axle. It wasn't really that loud when driving around town not pulling anything, pretty quiet as long as you were not on the gas.....but I got tired of how loud it was when pulling a heavy camper trailer that we recently picked up.

I decided to do something different, something quiet....so I went with a full 3" single pipe coming from the cat, going into one of the 18" Magnaflow mufflers, and all the way out the back in the stock location.

Overall the exhaust is much quieter than the dumped flowmaster I had on there, but right around 1800-2100 rpms there is an annoying drone that seems to resonator through the entire cab.....it's horrible. And it's right at the rpm I cruise at when in tow mode on the highway at around 65-70.

How can I get rid of this annoying drone? I'm not currently running the stock resonator between the cat and the muffler.....I'm thinking about installing one of the Vibrant Super Quiet 3" resonators in front of the muffler.....is that worth a try?
 

Padilen

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I can't help! Just wanted to say that I had magnaflow on my Jeep. And I liked it at first but then the drone seemed to worsen. I was contemplating removing it. But traded it in on my pickup. Single exhaust no more exhaust mods, for me. But I have tinnitus so there's that too.
Ironically the Magnaflow was suppose to have less drone than Flowmaster.


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MADDOG

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I'd put the resonator at the back end of the tail pipe or at least after the muffler as that is where the drone originates. Putting a reso in front of it won't help much. You need to attenuate the sound coming OUT of the muffler.
 
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IQRaceworks

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I'd put the resonator at the back end of the tail pipe or at least after the muffler as that is where the drone originates. Putting a reso in front of it won't help much. You need to attenuate the sound coming OUT of the muffler.

I know that the stock resonator was in front of the muffler, so I'm guessing dodge put it there for a reason. I talked to one of the tech guys at Vibrant, and he also said put it in front of the muffler......something about how the resonator will pull out certain sound frequencies before they get to the muffler.....not letting the muffler resonator those frequencies. He said that putting it after the muffler would work to quiet down the exhaust, but it wouldn't get rid of the droning as well as putting it in front of the muffler.

I think I will try it in front of the muffler first and sew how it does.
 

MADDOG

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Sorry but the terminology I am familiar with, front to back, is that first comes a catalytic converter, then comes the muffler and the resonator is always near the end of the tailpipe, behind the differential in many cases.

Some manufacturers show a "resonator" in front and a "muffler" at the rear but to be clear, what attenuates the sound coming from the muffler (which is what you are experiencing now from the Magnaflow aka drone) needs to be attenuated downstream from that box.

I'm not sure when the terms became used to describe either / or but I don't expect the resonator in front to change flow into the muffler is all I'm sayin' here. And the muffler will do what it is gonna do and that's drone.

But, hey...try it anyway you please. I'll be interested in hearing how this turns out.
 
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IQRaceworks

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***UPDATE***

Well, my Vibrant resonator showed up yesterday. I was going to try to weld it on after the muffler like Maddog suggested, but there just wasn't a long enough section of pipe after the muffler before the tail pipe curved up and over the axle....so I installed the resonator in front of the muffler.

Overall the exhaust is a little quieter, and the drone is quieter...but still not 100% gone. I'm a little frustrated than the $80 resonator didn't really make much difference.

I went ahead and ordered a Dynomax mini race bullet muffler to put after the muffler...they are short enough that I think I can fit it in there. I've seen where some guys have used those as resonators with good success.

I never new it was this difficult (and expensive) to quiet down an exhaust.....I guess I've always gone the other way and wanted to make them louder. Between the $110 Magnaflow, $80 Vibrant resonator, $100 Flowmaster 3" tailpipe kit, and now the $25 mini bullet muffler....then project is starting to get expensive.

I'll let you know how the Dynomax Mini Bullet Muffler does at killing the drone........should I put it closer to the muffler, or closer to the end of the tail pipe?

Thanks! :happy107:
 

EastNC

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any update? i want to pull the trigger on a Flowmaster 50 HD, but i'm usure of a catback single in, dual out or just a single in, single out replacement one.
 

TxMoparKid

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Definitely hoping for some expert help, too. My setup is a bit different, but same issue. Mid-length headers, no cats, single in dual out Flow 50 exiting rear. Drone i have is 2100-2400 and best described as a kind of 'redneck pickup exhaust with megaphone tips' in that rpm range. Please help!! All the engine work has a fantastic idle, but this sound is terrible. H-Pipe? X-Pipe? New muffler?
 

chrisp2493

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I feel your pain, I just dumped over $800 in long tubes, y pipe and cat back and the drone from 1600-1900 rpms is enough to drive you mad. I'm going to try a spin tech muffler and switch that with my summit racing one and see where that gets me


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SublimeRT

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I feel your pain, I just dumped over $800 in long tubes, y pipe and cat back and the drone from 1600-1900 rpms is enough to drive you mad. I'm going to try a spin tech muffler and switch that with my summit racing one and see where that gets me


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I have a spintech on my truck and it drones. The Magnaflow I had prior to it was even worse. These are both oval style mufflers. No round race types. I made a 1/4 wave or j-pipe for it. It has helped but I need to tune the length to try to eliminate the drone where it bothers me the most. Check them out. Kinda funny looking but effective. Basically you find the frequency that the drone is the worst, for example sake we'll just say 100 hz. Then make the 1/4 wave tube, 1/4 the length of the frequency. So 25". It branches off the exhaust tubing. From my understanding smaller tubing than the exhaust will work but the same diameter tubing will work the best. It will have the biggest range. Say you have a single 3" exhaust, and that 25" tube @ 2.5" cancels out sound waves from 95-105 hz, but at 3" it would cancel out 90-110 hz. Again just random numbers as an example. One thing I didn't find a definitive answer on was placement of the 1/4 wave tube in the system, as far as before or after the muffler. I put mine after. Would before work better? I don't know, maybe. Maybe not. I won't be moving it to find out though.

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charonblk07

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Just be glad boys; I have 4 mufflers on my true dual system and they are barely keeping the noise below legal levels with my supercharger. 2x 30" magnaflow and 2x 14" Dynomax with a bit of drone between 3500-4000rpm and the dynomax are causing enough back pressure that they bent my cutout butterfly valves.


For your 1/4 length tube you need it after the frequencies have been amplified so after the muffler is where it needs to be.
 

chrisp2493

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I have a spintech on my truck and it drones. The Magnaflow I had prior to it was even worse. These are both oval style mufflers. No round race types. I made a 1/4 wave or j-pipe for it. It has helped but I need to tune the length to try to eliminate the drone where it bothers me the most. Check them out. Kinda funny looking but effective. Basically you find the frequency that the drone is the worst, for example sake we'll just say 100 hz. Then make the 1/4 wave tube, 1/4 the length of the frequency. So 25". It branches off the exhaust tubing. From my understanding smaller tubing than the exhaust will work but the same diameter tubing will work the best. It will have the biggest range. Say you have a single 3" exhaust, and that 25" tube @ 2.5" cancels out sound waves from 95-105 hz, but at 3" it would cancel out 90-110 hz. Again just random numbers as an example. One thing I didn't find a definitive answer on was placement of the 1/4 wave tube in the system, as far as before or after the muffler. I put mine after. Would before work better? I don't know, maybe. Maybe not. I won't be moving it to find out though.

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Thanks, I've heard of doing this, never quite understood it yet. I'll have to put some research in and find out more. Is the j-pipe strapped to the exhaust pipe, welded, or something else? Thanks


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SublimeRT

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It is welded. A hole is cut in the exhaust pipe the same diameter of the 1/4 wave tube. It is then just branched off it, like a T-joint. The 1/4 wave tube is capped off, I don't think I mentioned that. It will not affect exhaust flow.

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SublimeRT

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Just be glad boys; I have 4 mufflers on my true dual system and they are barely keeping the noise below legal levels with my supercharger. 2x 30" magnaflow and 2x 14" Dynomax with a bit of drone between 3500-4000rpm and the dynomax are causing enough back pressure that they bent my cutout butterfly valves.


For your 1/4 length tube you need it after the frequencies have been amplified so after the muffler is where it needs to be.
The statement about placing the 1/4 wave tube after the muffler makes sense. I believe I was thinking along those same lines when I placed mine.

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DesertWagon

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I really miss the Gibson I had on my truck first it was very quiet compared to the Flowmaster I went to next, Now with a Dynomax VT. I still have a drone at bout 1500rpms to 1800rpms. If I find another Gibson I'm going to try to put it on there somehow around my traction bar.
 

DesertWagon

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I have a spintech on my truck and it drones. The Magnaflow I had prior to it was even worse. These are both oval style mufflers. No round race types. I made a 1/4 wave or j-pipe for it. It has helped but I need to tune the length to try to eliminate the drone where it bothers me the most. Check them out. Kinda funny looking but effective. Basically you find the frequency that the drone is the worst, for example sake we'll just say 100 hz. Then make the 1/4 wave tube, 1/4 the length of the frequency. So 25". It branches off the exhaust tubing. From my understanding smaller tubing than the exhaust will work but the same diameter tubing will work the best. It will have the biggest range. Say you have a single 3" exhaust, and that 25" tube @ 2.5" cancels out sound waves from 95-105 hz, but at 3" it would cancel out 90-110 hz. Again just random numbers as an example. One thing I didn't find a definitive answer on was placement of the 1/4 wave tube in the system, as far as before or after the muffler. I put mine after. Would before work better? I don't know, maybe. Maybe not. I won't be moving it to find out though.

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I'm going to give this a try. My drone on my new Dynomax vt is about 1500rpms. I have exhaust pipe just lying around.
 

BgHrn

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It'll be interesting to see, what does fix the common drone.
 

07MegaCabRam

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You can move the muffler more back, so it's not under the back of the cab. The more the muffler is back under the bed, the less drone you will have.
 

DesertWagon

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Ok did mine today with some extra 2.25 pipe I had laying around. It sure sounds a lot quieter and if it dose have just a slight drone it's barely noticeable at 1450ish rpms. I will take pics.
 

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