Am I crazy or do they ALL drone? Feeling defeated

[Codystair]

Anyone find an exhaust setup with 1 3/4” Stainless Works long tube headers w/ catted Y pipe that doesn’t drone? Truck is a 2021 Ram 1500 Classic Warlock crew cab 5.7L V8 3.21 gears w/ factory dual exhaust. 6.4 intake manifold swap w/ 6.4 air box hemifever 93 tune MDS IS TURNED OFF. Truck is my daily & work truck and I drive A LOT & I drive like I like to drive.

Started with the carven progressive pre-headers and droned like crazy. Unbearable actually. 6 months of day dreaming about ripping the carven out every time I drove in the car with my wife. I LOOOOOVED the exterior sound but the interior sound led to me sound deadening & MLV’ing my entire cab, then inevitably upgrading both of my amps. Lol. Cant complain about noises you can’t hear am I right? The layers of Dynomat Butyl/CCF/MLV didn’t do **** for the exhaust headache but man did it make well-produced music sound the way it was intended to. I come from the music world so I’ve wanted to do that for a bit but didn’t have an excuse for the wife until the “drone-issue”.

Next up was the Solo Performance Mach 40. Sounded alright, boring but felt slick having a quiet truck again. Still had a resonance to it but my 1 year old was napping in the back seat and my wife noticed it was quieter but “still kind of annoying”. Wouldn’t call it drone more of an expected “not stock” sound. I was content. Sounded nice at WOT.

Mach 40 sounded fine preheaders but after? ******** it droned so bad my windows shook and my 1 year old would scream cry for the entire drive on those 2 LONG days I had it on. It sounded like sh*t. Like a kid learning to play baritone. Lol. My windows stayed up on every drive I was embarrassed to give it too much gas at lights.

Swapped the Solo for a Borla Pro XS into the factory 2.25” tailpipes with 5” Carven tips. Droned just as bad, slightly better but barely. I have always been a fan of throaty deep muscle car sounding exhausts & figured the tame-ish ProXS sound would open up a bit & pair nicely with headers. But man the drone…

I added a Borla resonator (401434) before the muffler and it helped. My wife and I can now TALK to eachother in the truck without yelling over drone/resonance. Absolutely substantially quieter than it was since I can hear my tires for the first time in years…..But….. It’s still too much drone.

I know that there will be some exhaust noise with a louder exhaust but I feel like I’m bashing my head against a wall at this point. Maybe I’ve gotten more sensitive to the sound … I’m at the point that I’m ready to buy another stock school bus muffler.

It makes driving the truck feel like I’m in a cheap rusted out 2500 work truck again. I actually had a more comfortable ride (sound wise) in my lifted ‘99 XJ than I do with this ******* drone. Ok that’s a lie but you get it. Very disappointed that after all of the work I’ve done to the truck myself, that I can’t enjoy driving it with my family with music off anymore.

Will a Borla Touring cat back be the solution? X pipe into Dual Borla proXS’s? Magnaflow? I don’t know which way to go. I’ve read almost every thread on the forum involving headers/drone/resonance/j pipes/resonators/x pipes/y pipes/h pipes so on and so on… I’m genuinely at a loss on how to solve this.

Is it just my truck? Is my truck the ONLY one that every “drone free” muffler somehow has drone? Makes it harder too since headers typically involve custom exhaust work & finding (good) videos of exhaust combos with LT’s is difficult. It feels like I’m ******* money away with guess work on what could’ve been a nonissue.

I cannot believe that a drone free exhaust setup w/ LTs in this truck is this difficult to find. Since all 4 attempts have left me with drone and a pissed off wife im genuinely looking for advice. I’m at a loss at this point so hopefully someone has some insight.Thanks guys.

 

[hemihustlin]

one mans drone is another mans tone as i say.
for sure LTs with race cats and custom tune et cetra is going to be loud
with 3.21 for sure you are going to be more in the rpm area susceptible to drone
with all the driving you do i think you would really appreciate a properly set up x pipe dual exhaust. 2.5 or 3" X after the headers, then dual pipe all the way back with mufflers of your choice
twice the mufflers and smoothing the transition at the front, the exhaust pulses will no longer be fighting for place in the pipe after the LTs. as well you will pick up some scavenging effect, win-win situation!

 

[crash68]

Sound proofing the cab might help, but that will involve covering the entire inside of the cab with something like Dynamat.
Hearing a good sounding V8 is nice but having to listen to it while driving or towing on a daily is a no-go for me.

 

[Hagar1]

I'm almost deaf so most noises never get my attention. I can hear my lifters thought!

 

[Mojo88]

Anyone find an exhaust setup with 1 3/4” Stainless Works long tube headers w/ catted Y pipe that doesn’t drone? Truck is a 2021 Ram 1500 Classic Warlock crew cab 5.7L V8 3.21 gears w/ factory dual exhaust. 6.4 intake manifold swap w/ 6.4 air box hemifever 93 tune MDS IS TURNED OFF. .....

Man, that's a lot of effort, but I think you've missed out on the biggest possible drone cure. I really like this guy in the video below, I've watched him for many years. If I had a serious drone problem, I'd absolutely be following the instructions in the vid. I would have used a trombone style j-pipe, i.e., with an adjustable length piece of pipe, secured by a band clamp. That way the frequency could be tuned perfectly and easily.

using SCIENCE to ELIMINATE exhaust drone: I FINALLY did it!

I know, I know! You guys are probably getting sick of seeing exhaust builds on the GMT800 Stepside build, but this cammed 4.8 LR4 is kinda annoying do drive ...

www.youtube.com

 

[Codystair]

one mans drone is another mans tone as i say.
for sure LTs with race cats and custom tune et cetra is going to be loud
with 3.21 for sure you are going to be more in the rpm area susceptible to drone
with all the driving you do i think you would really appreciate a properly set up x pipe dual exhaust. 2.5 or 3" X after the headers, then dual pipe all the way back with mufflers of your choice
twice the mufflers and smoothing the transition at the front, the exhaust pulses will no longer be fighting for place in the pipe after the LTs. as well you will pick up some scavenging effect, win-win situation!

This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I’ve been fighting the idea of doing an X into 2.5” since I love that sound but was worried it’d turn into more $ wasted. Any recommendations on a decent X pipe and 2.5” tails? I do 99% of the work myself after work & wife is 9 months pregnant so dropping the truck off at a shop for a few days isn’t really an option

 

[Codystair]

I'm almost deaf so most noises never get my attention. I can hear my lifters thought!

The angle grinder at work is getting to me but thankfully I’m not there yet

 

[Codystair]

Sound proofing the cab might help, but that will involve covering the entire inside of the cab with something like Dynamat.
Hearing a good sounding V8 is nice but having to listen to it while driving or towing on a daily is a no-go for me

I did end up doing all of that. Butyl rubber / closed cell foam / mass loaded vinyl. It didn’t help much but it definitely made listening to music much more enjoyable. I don’t regret doing it at all

 

[MarshRam]

I use the + button on my stereo. That's all I got for advice! If my wife's in the truck and I'm not blasting, I just tell her to talk louder, yelling at me is OK to considering the situation

 

[hunterdan]

I don't have long tubes, but have been running this muffler for about 1.5 years. I've been extremely happy with it so far. Actually, I've been running their full exhaust with the same muffler. Drone is minimal. You can hear it in the cab driving around, but once cruising (285/65r20s, 3.21s) there's nearly no drone. It's actually really pleasant. I can't guarantee it'll be the same with your setup with long tubes.
C&L RAM 1500 Direct-Fit Aggressive Muffler R111016 (09-18 5.7L RAM 1500 w/ Factory Dual Exhaust) - Free Shipping https://share.google/1tuKBRHiso6WI7YRt

 

[DILLIGAF]

I side dumped my exhaust , No cats ,flowmaster 50 , no more drone. But Loud AF

 

[Wild one]

Wrapping the exhaust with header wrap helps dampen pipe resonances that contribute to drone.

 

[Hagar1]

I'm almost deaf so most noises never get my attention. I can hear my lifters thought!

The angle grinder at work is getting to me but thankfully I’m not there yet

Wear good hearing protection, deafness can't be fixed and Hearing Aids, well the only good thing that can be said is they work decent for hands free phones connections.

Hearing protection AND be careful with Antibiotics! Those things are great for solving a infection problem but they don't tell you about the risks of hearing damage from them. Part of my loss came from a 2 week course of Amoxicillin / Clavulin script.
No warnings on the bottle.

 

[16WhiteQC]

Corsa = no drone and probable the sound you are looking for outside of the truck.

I miss how quiet it was in the truck and regular driving outside the with the Corsa, I like the Borla more outside all around ...

I swapped Corsa for Borla Touring now that I have LT's, here is my take.

I have been running the Corsa catback for a few years now and have always been happy with it. I did miss the low tone burble and sound of the 18" mufflex I ran but not the drone. There is no drone with the Corsa, none, ever! Well, I recently installed ARH 1 3/4" LT's with cats...and well...the...

www.ramforum.com

 

[Codystair]

Corsa = no drone and probable the sound you are looking for outside of the truck.

I miss how quiet it was in the truck and regular driving outside the with the Corsa, I like the Borla more outside all around ...

I swapped Corsa for Borla Touring now that I have LT's, here is my take.

I have been running the Corsa catback for a few years now and have always been happy with it. I did miss the low tone burble and sound of the 18" mufflex I ran but not the drone. There is no drone with the Corsa, none, ever! Well, I recently installed ARH 1 3/4" LT's with cats...and well...the...

www.ramforum.com

I’ve actually read through your post a few times now, I’m eyeballing the Borla Touring set up big time. Do you have any videos driving around from inside the cab? Cant find any videos of what that setup sounds like except for your start up vid. I’d rather deal with some borla resonance over the Corsa rasp if those are the only options haha

 

[16WhiteQC]

I’ve actually read through your post a few times now, I’m eyeballing the Borla Touring set up big time. Do you have any videos driving around from inside the cab? Cant find any videos of what that setup sounds like except for your start up vid. I’d rather deal with some borla resonance over the Corsa rasp if those are the only options haha

I don't have any inside videos, I will try and make one. I can tell you any "drone" is very mild.

I have had some systems many years ago that drones so bad it made driving miserable, but sounded good outside. AKA I know what you are dealing with.

The Borla touring is the best compromise for LT headers, flow and mild sound to me.

Given that you have 3.21's it may be worse for you on the highway depending on what RPM you cruise at typically.

Now, what I will say about the Borla is when you really get on it, it sounds very muffled inside, not bad but not "loud" like you would expect.

I sadly have not heard what my truck sounds like outside with someone else driving.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Anyone find an exhaust setup with 1 3/4” Stainless Works long tube headers w/ catted Y pipe that doesn’t drone? Truck is a 2021 Ram 1500 Classic Warlock crew cab 5.7L V8 3.21 gears w/ factory dual exhaust. 6.4 intake manifold swap w/ 6.4 air box hemifever 93 tune MDS IS TURNED OFF. Truck is my daily & work truck and I drive A LOT & I drive like I like to drive.

Started with the carven progressive pre-headers and droned like crazy. Unbearable actually. 6 months of day dreaming about ripping the carven out every time I drove in the car with my wife. I LOOOOOVED the exterior sound but the interior sound led to me sound deadening & MLV’ing my entire cab, then inevitably upgrading both of my amps. Lol. Cant complain about noises you can’t hear am I right? The layers of Dynomat Butyl/CCF/MLV didn’t do **** for the exhaust headache but man did it make well-produced music sound the way it was intended to. I come from the music world so I’ve wanted to do that for a bit but didn’t have an excuse for the wife until the “drone-issue”.

Next up was the Solo Performance Mach 40. Sounded alright, boring but felt slick having a quiet truck again. Still had a resonance to it but my 1 year old was napping in the back seat and my wife noticed it was quieter but “still kind of annoying”. Wouldn’t call it drone more of an expected “not stock” sound. I was content. Sounded nice at WOT.

Mach 40 sounded fine preheaders but after? ******** it droned so bad my windows shook and my 1 year old would scream cry for the entire drive on those 2 LONG days I had it on. It sounded like sh*t. Like a kid learning to play baritone. Lol. My windows stayed up on every drive I was embarrassed to give it too much gas at lights.

Swapped the Solo for a Borla Pro XS into the factory 2.25” tailpipes with 5” Carven tips. Droned just as bad, slightly better but barely. I have always been a fan of throaty deep muscle car sounding exhausts & figured the tame-ish ProXS sound would open up a bit & pair nicely with headers. But man the drone…

I added a Borla resonator (401434) before the muffler and it helped. My wife and I can now TALK to eachother in the truck without yelling over drone/resonance. Absolutely substantially quieter than it was since I can hear my tires for the first time in years…..But….. It’s still too much drone.

I know that there will be some exhaust noise with a louder exhaust but I feel like I’m bashing my head against a wall at this point. Maybe I’ve gotten more sensitive to the sound … I’m at the point that I’m ready to buy another stock school bus muffler.

It makes driving the truck feel like I’m in a cheap rusted out 2500 work truck again. I actually had a more comfortable ride (sound wise) in my lifted ‘99 XJ than I do with this ******* drone. Ok that’s a lie but you get it. Very disappointed that after all of the work I’ve done to the truck myself, that I can’t enjoy driving it with my family with music off anymore.

Will a Borla Touring cat back be the solution? X pipe into Dual Borla proXS’s? Magnaflow? I don’t know which way to go. I’ve read almost every thread on the forum involving headers/drone/resonance/j pipes/resonators/x pipes/y pipes/h pipes so on and so on… I’m genuinely at a loss on how to solve this.

Is it just my truck? Is my truck the ONLY one that every “drone free” muffler somehow has drone? Makes it harder too since headers typically involve custom exhaust work & finding (good) videos of exhaust combos with LT’s is difficult. It feels like I’m ******* money away with guess work on what could’ve been a nonissue.

I cannot believe that a drone free exhaust setup w/ LTs in this truck is this difficult to find. Since all 4 attempts have left me with drone and a pissed off wife im genuinely looking for advice. I’m at a loss at this point so hopefully someone has some insight.Thanks guys.

That "Drone" is resonance. You "let the smoke out of the wires" so to speak when you changed the exhaust.
The long winded story about firing the parts cannon at it leaves the real problem out there like a sore thumb.
An instrument specifically designed to point out the source of the noise (NVH tool with software and a laptop) is called for.
You should find a shop with that tool and the knowledge to pinpoint the noise. THEN fix it. Your wallet will thank you! Your ears will heal!

 

[Codystair]

That "Drone" is resonance. You "let the smoke out of the wires" so to speak when you changed the exhaust.
The long winded story about firing the parts cannon at it leaves the real problem out there like a sore thumb.
An instrument specifically designed to point out the source of the noise (NVH tool with software and a laptop) is called for.
You should find a shop with that tool and the knowledge to pinpoint the noise. THEN fix it. Your wallet will thank you! Your ears will heal!

This is a fantastic idea and I’m mad that I didn’t think of it myself thank you

 

[Codystair]

I don't have any inside videos, I will try and make one. I can tell you any "drone" is very mild.

I have had some systems many years ago that drones so bad it made driving miserable, but sounded good outside. AKA I know what you are dealing with.

The Borla touring is the best compromise for LT headers, flow and mild sound to me.

Given that you have 3.21's it may be worse for you on the highway depending on what RPM you cruise at typically.

Now, what I will say about the Borla is when you really get on it, it sounds very muffled inside, not bad but not "loud" like you would expect.

I sadly have not heard what my truck sounds like outside with someone else driving.

Awesome thanks man. I can deal with resonance, some noise is totally fine. I had a carven progressive at a point and loved it except for the drone lol around town, highway it was fine. Apparently I live in an area where 90% of my driving is “city” driving with stop signs every 30 seconds. A lot of stop & go. Gotta love Long Island New York, the traffic and roads here make me miss living in Florida. What gets to me is the acceleration drone driving around town. Sh’t vibrates my head and clashes with my subs. My ears freak out haha. I’m looking forward to hearing it.

 

[16WhiteQC]

Awesome thanks man. I can deal with resonance, some noise is totally fine. I had a carven progressive at a point and loved it except for the drone lol around town, highway it was fine. Apparently I live in an area where 90% of my driving is “city” driving with stop signs every 30 seconds. A lot of stop & go. Gotta love Long Island New York, the traffic and roads here make me miss living in Florida. What gets to me is the acceleration drone driving around town. Sh’t vibrates my head and clashes with my subs. My ears freak out haha. I’m looking forward to hearing it.

My main commute is stop & go, there is only one rpm zone where there is a little "extra" noise that has that very very mild effect you are talking about. There is no "cabin shaking" resonance at all. On the highway (70+) there is no "drone" but you do hear the hum/mild grumble of the exhaust, honestly my worn tires are just about as loud lol.

If you still have the stock tailpipes a cheaper alternative is the Mufflex 24", basically the same size Magnaflow muffler as the Borla, factory resonators in the tail pipes and swap the tips for 5".

Dual Exhaust For Ram 1500 Mellow – Mufflex

mufflex-performance.com

5" tips - https://www.totalflowusa.com/totalf...gwtcBJFoMVW6q3X3Azt_fYQg49LspXFE2sPdTdcTiyDiQ

Almost went the mufflex way but had a couple extra bucks so went with Borla