Been experiencing a lot of heat coming up from the floor boards. After highway driving for about 45 minutes, the inside of the cab heats up considerably. Shot a temp gun on the seat rails and they came back as 118F which is pretty warm. I know I can put some radiant barrier down but my bigger question is “Is this normal?”

Obviously the center muffler is directly below and is what is generating the heat. I have confirmed the heat shield is still in place. The muffler did have some leaks around the pipes which I repaired a while back with some JB extreme heat which seems to have held up. Muffler still seems solid but does have some white surface corrosion on it in a few areas. no codes and the truck runs well.

I was going to add some additional heat shielding but thought I should first check wit be the community to see if there was any additional commentary on the subject.

 

@cvhyatt Judging by the front of it just replace it, but it may be sitting too high.

I am not sure what you could do for additional heat shielding but anything above not touching the muffler should be ok

 

Consider the thickness of the beer can floor, that is covered in foam and carpet...on the other side is catalytic converters and exhaust.
There's nothing to prevent the cab from heating up.
The radiant barrier works.
I just put new carpet in my Dad's '97 Dodge Ram4x4 on Saturday, and I put radiant barrier down first.
It's much quieter too(did the back wall of the cab as well).

 

I had to laugh at this. My wife always says she hates riding in my unheated tin can. lol She's spoiled by her X5 and all the climate control comforts.

 

@Sixpack577 so your saying these temps are normal. I’m all for putting down the radiant barrier. I just want you to make sure there isn’t another issue I am masking.

 

Radiant barrier does not work properly under the carpet, it requires an air gap to work. You would be better off to put a shiny aluminum heat shield between the muffler and truck. Google radiant barrier and how it works. I cuts down on heat from radiation, not conduction (touching).

 

I know it's touching the metal floor in places, but there is still air between it, as it's not glued. I would think it was better than nothing.
It is still great sound deadening material.
I wonder how much it would improve heat and sound with the floor sprayed or rolled with textured bedliner?

 

So I am still trying to find out if I have a muffler problem that is causing high heat or is this normal? This muffler looks to be OEM.

 

Shoot it with a heat gun and tell me the temp and I can compare it to one of mine.

 

Thanks @Extinct This thing definitely has hotspots. 405 F on the sides - 288 F on the bottom.