Short version so this is somewhat interesting.....

Heard a bag of marbles from under the truck - feared the worst, someone suggested exhaust leak - found manifold to header bolt VERY loose - stud broke pretty dang easy when I tried to tighten it.
Started to take manifold off and all 8 bolts were much more loose than I would of expected - torque is 36ft lbs and certain these were not...
Fixed the broken stud, replaced the gaskets and torqued correctly - now the truck runs smoother so I can only guess it was leaking there and I just didn't know it.
However, bag of marbles still rattling - found the cat guts came loose - three self tapping screws in the bottom for now to minimize the noise.

But here is the big question - I'm actually prepping this truck to sell and want some input....
Would you replace the entire Y Pipe with new Cats? $400ish from RockAuto isnt too bad and will be about the same as buying two cats and paying a muffler shop to weld them in. I can just swap the y pipe myself.
Or do you leave it and just tell the potential buyer about the state of the loose cat? It drives perfectly but will obviously need addressing at some point.
I'm leaning towards just doing it so I can advertise it as new and done... Just seems less stressful to read an ad and not think you have do anything right away <shrug>

 

All depends on what kind of price are you hoping to sell for imo. If looking for top dollar and capitalizing on the high market then I would absolutely put new in. But if there are other issues and more looking to offload then probably not worth the hassle as it is not effecting drivability and you solved the rattle for the time being.

 

Very valid point. Truck is in great condition overall so looking for good market value for sure.
I was leaning towards just doing it. I think it'll be good investment

 

Yeah just do it... Go with the new Y pipe option. Take your old cats to the recycler and get a little dough back.

 

For $400 bucks I'd do it. You will get a good part of that back at the scrap yard. Call around for the best price for cat recycling. I spent $600 on the Magna Flow cats and still feel like it was worth it.

 

Ordered this one... $468 shipped...

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...sn=818&jsn=818

 

i was going to say don't do it as those exhaust studs strip and break off easily. Pulling the headers a PITA to exchange studs and tap if needed( I use stainless)....

 

At this point I've had both sides loose or off. Just took the drivers side manifold off to fix a stud...

 

I was going to say the weld in cat's would be a higher quality vs some of those aftermarket Y pipes with cats. Most of the time those aftermarket Y pipes with cat's have AWFUL tubing and it restricts flow to be honest. If that pic for the item is accurate those don't look bad. I've seen several people use the Walker brand setup along with their O2 sensors without any issues. Personally for me if my Y pipe is in good shape I just have magnaflow universal cats welded into place and call it a day. No studs to deal with, and overall a better quality cat vs the aftermarket stuff.

 

You should be able to get a pretty decent penny out of those old converters. It's hard to find someone willing to pay what they're worth. Best bet is to throw them on ebay with the numbers off the converter in the listing as an auction.

I just sold a set of converters off an '00 Tahoe for $500, about to sell another set for $600. That's locally, thankfully, as I've found a couple good buyers.

I threw a listing up on Facebook Marketplace and told people I was looking for offers, that I wouldn't be selling them for a few days to see what they were worth. Be ready for a real flood of messages if you go that route, and a lot of low-ball offers.