I’m trying to track down an exhaust leak and the first thing I tried was looking at the connection between the headers and the y pipe. Drivers side is locked in with three nuts. However when I went and looked at the passenger side from underneath I saw two bolt heads directed up and the third hole looks like it has a stud coming through the bottom but there’s not enough sticking out to thread a nut. On the top side, the two bolts stick right out the top with no nuts and the short stud from the third hole looks like it goes right into the meat of the exhaust header. Is this right? Seems to me like there’s a lot missing here, maybe that short stud should be sticking out more so I can nut it, and those two bolts should have nuts on the top side.

Also, the previous owner left out 1 of 8 bolts mounting each manifold to the cylinder heads. Odd. I even got 2 bolts to slip in there but the holes aren’t lined up, guess that’s why he left them out.

 

Maybe the stud was inserted incorrectly. One tread is longer than the other. If you think you have an exhaust leak, just tighten it or get a complete gasket with stud kit. These trucks get all kinds of leak including the exhaust parts. If you cant align the bolt to the manifold, just loosen them and with a help of a jack, jack up the exhaust pipe or a part of the cats slowly to align the bolt.

 

Supposed to be 3 studs in the exhaust manifold and y-pipe held with 3 nuts per side. Short stud likely broken and other studs had been replaced by the bolts. You can purchase replacement stud/nut sets and gaskets.
......