There's been a few posts on exhaust replacement lately so I thought I'd share a find.

IF you decide to do it yourself, there is a very nice tool to help you put new pipes in old mufflers. You know how the old clamps deform the pipes well this tool, LISLE #32500 is the perfect tool. You place the tool in the deformed pipe and as you tighten the bolt, these fingers expand and and round out the pipe again. I've done exhaust repair for years (and hated it)I stumbled across this and bought it. It's the best! Another secret of mine is using Liquid laundry detergent as a lubricant to help join the pipes. Slippery stuff.
Other companies make them but they work with a hammer. I didn't like the fact that you adjust the tool for the pipe diameter then you have to bang the tool through the deformed pipe. It's very spastic when the pipe is on the car and it beats the heck out of the welds if you are trying to true up a muffler.

http://www.lislecorp.com/tool_search_results.cfm?PageNum_rsList=1&Search=exhaust
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

Hi Tony,

I borrowed such a tool last year but found it needed MAJOR force to open up a crushed pipe, like I needed a strong air racket or somthing... It worked a bit wit ha long boxed end wrnech but REALLY needed force.

Just my experience, helps though.

Greg

Last work I did was made easier, nay feasable at all, by such a tool rented from AutoZone.

There were problems, however. First, I made the mistake of not thoroughly inspecting the tool before taking it to my worksite (driveway) and attempting to use it. The main bolt had the threads stripped off. Wouldn't work.

Took it back to AutoZone. They had another one that looked OK. It was for a larger size pipe range, so we cannablized the two to get one good one. Took it to the worksite. The main nut was stripped out. Wouldn't work.

Found another AutoZone store. They had one the right size. Took it to the worksite. Looked at it, and at the one with the stripped nut. Found in BGVPD junk box of old pack-ratted stuff a few nuts that fit. I think they were from the shock absorber mounts of my 1969 Ford, or maybe the 1960 Ford or the 1955 Ford. The nuts had the right fine thread. They fit.

Put a seroius amount of Lubriplate super lithium-based chassis grease on the main bolt, put on the "new" nut, and went to work. Worked just fine.

Long story - short moral - if the store (AutoZone) does not charge a rental fee or a deposit, the tool has a very high probability of being damaged. Caveat Rentor.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

PS Both AutoZone stores charged a deposit, but the amounts were not the same!

I think the second tool would have been returned to the Counter via the Front Window.

When I bought this tool, the first thing I did was take it all apart and Greased up everything that rubbed, touched or threaded into any other part of the tool. Sorry you had a nightmare. Rental tools are, well, beat-like-a-rented-mule, as they say.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

I swear by the services of the good Dr Acetylene. If the parts are well dosed with Never-Seez (the high temperature nickle stuff) they may even come apart again. You can even reuse the clamps!!!

OH YEAH!! The 'Smoke Wrench' is my tool of choice too. It's just rerounding the pipes that caused me grief until just the other day when I invested in this tool. Slightly pricey but when you don't have to go nuts trying to get new pipes into old ones... I'm happy.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

I've never had an exhaust pipe come apart where I butt welded two sections together, although it can get kinda tedious. I use the finest of metal coat hangers as welding rod.

Harbor freright sells a cheap expander tool, and it is cheap in every sense of the word A good prelubing of the tool will usualy keep it goin for at least one system, and subsequent replacements are free. I have noticed that the cheap expanders work best on the cheap thin guage pipe sections they sell at Kragen.

I think my curent favorite exhaust tool is the Sawzall. It works equaly well on pipes, hangars, and clamps, leavs a nice end where you cut, and I have a cordless one to take into the salvage yard. The Milwaukee 'torch' blade works realy well, and lasts forever if you water it as you cut.