Exhaust stud springs? Necessary?

[Captain Ledd]

Trying to put a new y-pipe on a K2500 with the 350, of course the old studs snapped and had to be torched the rest of the way off.

Anyways, they had springs on them (or rusted chunks that used to be springs), how critical are these? Can I just use regular bolts?

I can't find just the springs anywhere.

 

[oksleeper]

Autozone has them usually

 

[Captain Ledd]

I've got bolts, I was just curious about the springs. Autozone and Napa had nothing.

I'm not re-tapping the manifolds for studs.

 

[buckshotmudder]

If my memory serves me right, the springs were to keep constant pressure on the nuts to keep em from backing off from vibrations. I think its just a factory item. If you don't use em, at least check the bolts a few times after you put some miles on it. They may need to be snugged up again. An exhaust leak at the donut will eat the donut up quickly. Don't ask me why I know this.

 

[pillen140]

the springs also let them pivot... i would find them... not that expensive from the dealer, and all of them keep them in stock. plus they are in the "help" isle of every parts store like autozone or advance. they come as a package.

 

[Captain Ledd]

I ended up ordering some springs from Amazon. Probably a little stiff for what I needed but they were the right size. "Music Wire Compression Spring, Steel, Inch, 0.72" OD, 0.105" Wire Size, 0.758" Compressed Length, 1" Free Length, 58.6 lbs Load Capacity, 242.5 lbs/in Spring Rate". Hopefully they'll last several years until I get a better truck.

I drilled out the holes and used some 3/8" hot dip galvanized bolts long enough to fit 2 nuts on the end as a jam nut, along with hot dip galvanized washers to hold the springs on.

So far it's going alright. There's a exhaust tick somewhere, but there was also a broken bolt already on the manifold (the rear-most bolt on the passenger side) which is where the tick is coming from, so I think that's the cause.

 

[pillen140]

Seems like a lot of work for a $4 bolt set, lol. Theyre notorious on chevy trucks... those and everything that has moving parts, or flows fluid through them.

 

[Captain Ledd]

Seems like a lot of work for a $4 bolt set, lol. Theyre notorious on chevy trucks... those and everything that has moving parts, or flows fluid through them.

Everything I found was studs. I'm not re-tapping the manifolds.

The exhaust shop quoted me just shy of $500 to fix JUST the one side that was broken.

*edit: Also, everyone wanted A LOT more than $4 for anything that included springs.