Replacing the muffler on a Jeep Cherokee XJ

How to replace the muffler on an XJ Jeep Cherokee

When Dad finished painting my son’s Jeep Cherokee he sent it to me for some mechanical issues. The first one I tackled was the loose steering and off center steering wheel. Next on the list was the holey muffler.

Rusty Muffler

I began by cutting out the old muffler with a sawzall. I cut the tube off close tot he muffler housing leaving the pipe on the adjoining pieces.

Cutting out old muffler

Next, I used a cut off wheel to slice the old pipes being careful not to cut too deep into the pipe below as I was reusing those. I then used a chisel to open up the cut pipes and use vise grips to peel them off the pat I was reusing.

I then used a grinder to clean up the rust on the old pipes so they would slide into eh new muffler easily. I had a little trouble with a too tight fit of the tail pie and that required cutting a slot in the muffler outlet tube to allow it to expand enough to let the warped tail pie to slide in. The tube had been distorted by the old muffler clamp.

I removed the two hangers on the tail pipe to get the alignment right and then reinstalled them. I then installed new clamps on the muffler.

Jeep cherokee Muffler

I then lowered the Jeep and started it up. It is much quieter now and he should have no trouble ordering in drive thrus now.