Brand new exhaust hanger - already broken?!

In February I replaced all the exhaust hangers with some Bosal ones from Rock Auto. I was under the truck yesterday and noticed that one of them is broken! The other ones have lots of tiny little cracks in them too. Other than crappy, poor quality rubber hangers, what would cause it to break like it did? That particular hanger was a bitch to get on, as in it seemed like the hanger was at least 1/2" too short from hole to hole. Is it possible for the exhaust to sag somehow? The other hangers went on fine.

Truck is a 99 5 lug with 187k miles. Thanks!

 

You said it best, “crappy, poor quality rubber hangers”. Try OEM hangers if it happens again then you know there is another issue.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking. Rock Auto wants me to buy new ones, pay to ship the defective ones back then they'd credit the replacements. I get it - that's how the warranty works but it's $10 in parts and would probably cost me more than that to ship them back! I guess the good news is it's only $10 in parts...

 

Two points:
I've read that some aftermarket hangers are composed of a stiffer polyurethane rubber than OEMs and will not stretch without failure.
Secondly, you use a silicone based grease to mount the hangers and reduce the stress in mounting them.

 

Yes, the exhaust system can sag. Remember, its heated metal and there is a lot of leverage pulling down on it. Especially when run with no or worn out hangers. But in my experience, if it really was only 1/2" off when you installed the hanger, that's not bad. I assume you mean you had to lift the pipe up 1/2" to get the hanger installed. However, since your others went on okay, possibly welded on out of position. If you know anybody who and cut and weld, just have 1/2" removed from the hanger. That would be an easy fix.

I put RA muffler and new hanger on my Dad's truck over a year ago. No issues. I would take RA up on their offer and try a second set. Possible that part had a bad compound. Rubber compounds can be improperly formulated and/or produced and make them perform poorly.

 

The Bosal mounts seemed to be softer rubber than the original hangers that were removed however they were 20 yrs old so not a fair comparison. I used WD40 to help slide off the old ones, wiped down the mounting points and didn't use anything to slide the new ones on because they went on fairly easily, with the exception of that one hanger. I don't think grease would have prevented that one hanger from breaking in half though would it?

Correct, I had to lift the pipe up to get the hanger installed. I'd be surprised if the mounting post was out of position because it's never had an issue until after replacing the hanger. The hangers that were replaced were original to the truck but were still intact, just hardened.

 

Hmmm, sounds like a weak part. Sometimes there is enough depth on those hanger brackets you can shove two rubbers on them. You might try that if the old one is still in one piece, use it to help support the replacement. Or, spend the money for OEM.

BTW, I used to live in Morehead City. Also, went to East Carolina for 2 years. I miss North Carolina. Great state with mountains and coast.

 

hmm, that's a cool idea. I'm bummed I didn't keep the originals...

We love NC, moved from SoCal 10 years ago and no regrets!