MBRP Armor Plus Dual Exhaust System with Polished Tips; Rear Exit (09-18 5.7L RAM 1500 w/ Factory Dual Exhaust)

Video Review & Installation

So if you own an '09 to '18 Hemi-equipped Ram 1500 with the factory dual exhaust and you wanna upgrade that dual exhaust system to something that's nice, and deep, and throaty but you still wanna stick with stainless steel and you wanna do it as affordably as possible, then you should be checking out the MBRP 2.5-inch XP Series Dual Exhaust System, obviously, with the Split Rear Exit configuration. At around the $600 price point, this will be the most affordable factory 409 stainless grade system. Anything less expensive than this one will be made out of more entry-level aluminized steel. Now, what's nice about this system, again, since we're retaining the factory split rear exit, we do get these really nice 304 polished tips. Now, obviously, what matters the most is sound, right? And I'm happy to say that the XP Series does a fantastic job of really waking up that Hemi motor and making it sound how it should have from the factory, in my humble opinion. This is definitely gonna get a strong three out of five on my loudness meter. I'd say it's right on the edge of what you want for a daily driver if you don't wanna wake the neighbors in the morning and, again, if you don't want any drone inside the cab for that matter.The XP Series gives the Hemi motor a nice deep and lopey idle, and even at high RPM, there are no raspy or scratchy notes to speak of, it's just a nice throaty tone throughout. Now, as far as the install goes, it is pretty straightforward. I'm gonna give this a two out of three wrenches on my difficulty meter. And that's only because you do have to make one cut to the provided extension pipe, depending on your cab and bed length. That's not a guaranteed cut but I promise you, it's very straightforward and I'll actually show you guys how to get that done in just a moment. So, again, if you want one of the most affordable all stainless steel split rear exit cat-backs for your Hemi-equipped Ram 1500, go ahead and stick around. I'll show you guys what tools you need and then I'll walk you through the install step by step. All right, before we get started, at minimum, you'll need a standard drive ratchet with a 15-millimeter deep socket or a 15-millimeter wrench, and you'll need a 5/16 Allen key or Allen head socket. Depending on your cab and bed length, again, you might have to make one cut to the extension pipe, in which case you will need a cutting tool with a measuring tape. And you wanna be safe so you want some eye-pro. And optional but helpful tools including an air gun, a swivel socket, an extension, an exhaust hanger puller tool, some spray lubricant, and a pry bar. All right, first we have to loosen the two clamps on our tailpipes here. You'll need a 15-millimeter deep socket for both of these. All right, if you're working with power tools like me, it is a little bit of a squeeze so it might help to have a swivel socket. All right, now that those two clamps are loosened, we're gonna pull the tailpipes. You have to remove them from these rubber isolators here. These things can be a real pain the ass so it's helpful to have some spray lubricant handy. All right, next we're gonna pop the clamp here that secures the mid-pipe to the Y-pipe. Now, this is not a factory clamp. This has a 15-millimeter nut on it like the other ones. However, it is the same type of clamp for the factory one. The factory clamp is actually a 13-millimeter nut. All right, now, there are three rubber isolators left. You got two on the mid-pipe here. We're gonna pull these two then we'll pull the last rubber isolator securing the muffler of the vehicle. All right, now, this is the last piece of hardware that's holding the factory exhaust to the vehicle. So take your time when you remove this because the entire muffler and mid-pipe assembly will want to fall down.All right, so we have our factory cat-back removed. It's a good idea to mock up the new system, that way you can make some sense of all these crazy bends and where all these tubes are supposed to go, right. But while we have everything apart here, you can see some nice comparisons between our factory cat-back and the new one. And, obviously, the big star of the show is the XP Series muffler. You can see it's a hell of a lot smaller than the factory muffler, probably more than half the size. That's where we're getting all that deep tone and volume from. All right, besides the fact that the muffler is way smaller, you also get really nice tips on here. Those are actually made out of 304 stainless and they are 4-1/2 inches in diameter. I think those will actually fill out the holes on the rear bumper really nicely, make everything look flush, and it's just gonna look better, overall. And, fun fact, those are actually made out of 304 stainless. That's considered the best stainless steel you can get in an exhaust. So it's safe to say, you will never have to worry about these things rusting or corroding on you. They should polish up nicely even if you take your truck off-road or you go through rain or snow a lot.And while we're on the topic of stainless steel, this system is also made out of factory grade 409 stainless just like the original setup is here. Our truck, obviously, has some miles and we do live on the East Coast, we do see a lot of that rain and road salt, and this thing is holding up just fine. So you won't have to worry about the new system developing pinhole leaks or rusting out on you anytime soon. But besides that, other cool similarities here, we do have to make some minor cuts to the provided extension pipe. However, everything else is considered a bolt-on application. We do retain all of our factory hanger locations, so you don't gotta drill any new hanger locations inside the frame anywhere. So now that we have everything mocked up here, let's go ahead and make that cut to our extension pipe. We're working with a 140-1/2 inch wheelbase so we have to make that pipe 23-inches. Let's go and head over to the chop saw. All right, so I marked this for 23-inches in length. We're taking 8 inches off since again, we're working with a 140-1/2 inch wheelbase. All right, now that we have the cut made to our pipe, we're gonna go ahead and throw it on our Y-pipe. Make sure you grab one of the 3-inch clamps provided in the kit. You wanna face the fasteners up. It's a little bit easier to wrench on them.All right, you can see I left this front pipe a little bit loose. You want some play in there, it's just gonna make it easier with our install. What you wanna do next is throw your mid-pipe in place. Now, the instructions tell you, you wanna throw one of these hanger clamps on there, as well as another clamp. But if you made that cut to that extension pipe to 23 inches like we did, you can actually use this for a two-for-one. You can use this as the hanger and you can also use it to secure the front pipe and the mid-pipe together. You'll need a 15-millimeter deep socket for that one. All right, with the front pipe and mid-pipe in place, go ahead and grab that other hanger clamp here. We're gonna throw our muffler in place. We want this little tab facing up with the logo facing out towards the passenger side. Go ahead and throw the clamp and the hanger in place first, before you throw the muffler on. And again, it's helpful to spray that down, make it easier on yourself. Now that our muffler is in place, we can start installing our over axle pipes. We're gonna start with the passenger side here. It's got a little more of a crazy bend in it than the other one. It's a good way to find out which one is which. Before we throw this on there though, make sure you spray down that rubber isolator with some spray lubricant, make it easy on yourself. And then you wanna put a 2-1/2 inch clamp on the outlet of the muffler. You'll need a 15-millimeter deep socket for that one. All right, both our over axle pipes are in place. Now, we can install our tailpipes. And, again, before you throw them on, make sure you got those 2-1/2 inch clamps on the end so you can secure them to the over axle pipes. All right, both our tailpipes are in place. Now we can throw on the exhaust tips. These are Allen head bolts here, so you're gonna need a 5/16 Allen key or an Allen head socket. All right, both our tailpipes and our tips are now in place. Now, it's time to actually get everything lined up and looking good, right? So you wanna play around with fitment a little bit, play around with how you wanna rotate all the pipes, make sure both the tips are flush with the holes in the bumper, then you can finally tighten down all the clamps and drive them home all the way. Again, you'll need that 15-millimeter deep socket. So once you got all those clamps tightened down, go ahead and do a quick once over, make sure none of the pipes are rubbing against anything underneath the truck and you should be good to go. Pretty straightforward install, right? That also wraps up my review of the MBRP 2.5-inch XP Series dual exhaust system with the Split Rear Exit, fitting your '09 to '18 Hemi-equipped Ram 1500. I'm Travis, thanks for watching. And for all things, Ram, keep it right here at americantrucks.com.