MBRP Armor Lite Cat-Back Exhaust (04-06 Jeep Wrangler TJ Unlimited)

Video Review & Installation

Hey, what's up guys, Ryan here from ExtremeTerrain. Today, I'll be reviewing and installing the MBRP Installer Series Cat-Back fitting your 2004 to 2006 Jeep Wrangler TJ Unlimited also known as the LJ. This is for the LJ owner looking to ditch that factory setup and upgrade for some additional power and sound. So whether your system is just worn out or it's time for a change, you should be checking out this cat-back from MBRP. This is a great upgrade for any Jeep owner that's looking to get a little more rumble out of that four-liter and it comes at a very affordable price.Now, this is an easy bolt-on system that swaps out with the factory and reuses all of those factory hangers so there's no drilling or modification required to install. This system is constructed of heavy gauged steel tubing that has an aluminized coating. This is gonna provide corrosion protection. It's also gonna make it a more affordable option versus a stainless steel option. The mandrel bent tubing is gonna give you a smooth flow and is designed for a perfect fit and the high flow muffler is gonna free up that exhaust ultimately giving you more usable power, and this is really gonna benefit you whether you're daily driving, towing or hitting those trails. That's very reasonable and one of the few options to choose from owning the site for the LJ. Currently, this is coming in right around $210 which isn't a bad price for a cat-back. It has a ton of positive reviews and even comes with a three-year warranty.Now, as far as loudness goes on a scale of one to five I'm gonna rate this a very light three out of five. This is a little louder than stock. It's gonna give you a very nice tone and rumble without being too obnoxious. Now, as far as installation goes I'm gonna give this a two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter as you can get this thing installed in about two hours just using basic hand tools. So with that being said, let's hop into the install.Tools that we used for this install: 3/8th drive impact, 9/16th socket, 9/16th wrench, 3/8th drive ratchet, and an exhaust hanger removal tool. Other suggested tool is some lubricant so you can get your hangers out. So the first thing we need to do to kick off this installation, we need to crawl underneath of the jeep. Now, there's two ways you can do this. You can do this on the ground or you can do it on a lift like we're doing it. Now, we need to separate our cat-back from here. This is our flange and we need to take off these nuts sitting on the back side. Now, you're gonna have a skid plate here, this isn't necessary to remove to get this bad boy off but we did it just so you can get a better idea and see exactly what we're gonna do. So the first thing we want to do is spray everything with lubricant. After you do that you're gonna go ahead and take a 9/16th ratchet and we're gonna take these two nuts off. So you can use some sort of WD-40, PB B'laster or really any kind of rust blasting lubricant. So we'll get this last nut off and then we'll work on getting those hangers free. So next we're gonna spray our hangers. We have a hanger right here over the axle, we're gonna spray that with some stuff and then you're gonna have a hanger at the rear as well. So the next thing we're gonna do is disconnect this rear hanger, this is bolted into the frame. You may have a different setup, we're gonna use a half-inch socket to get this bolt out. So the last thing we're gonna do before we pull this thing out, we're gonna disconnect this middle hanger, so I'm gonna use an exhaust hanger removal tool. You'll also want to get someone to hold onto the exhaust while you get this hanger off, that way they can catch it when it falls. So the next thing we're gonna do, we're gonna slide it back so we can get it out of this front bracket and then we're gonna pull it out towards the front of the vehicle in the middle. So if you're doing this by yourself you want to grab a friend to help you out, and if you're doing this on the ground most likely you have to cut this exhaust system because you won't be able to get it out of the jeep in one piece. So we finally got that factory system out. We're just about ready to install this new system from MBRP, but before we do that and since I have both these conveniently placed next to each other for your viewing pleasure, want to take a moment to point out some of the differences between your factory exhaust and an aftermarket exhaust such as this and also some of the benefits that you're going to get with an aftermarket system.First thing I wanna point out is that rather large factory muffler. So your factory muffler is very large and it does a great job at quieting your exhaust. But while quieting your exhaust it is limiting exhaust flow and that's how it reduces sound. Now this system from MBRP is gonna come with a high flow muffler, so that muffler is going to free up that back pressure, it's gonna allow your engine to get all of that exhaust out faster which is going to allow it to pull air in faster making it more efficient, also unlocking power you didn't even know you had.Now, like I said this is made of heavy-duty steel, it's mandrel bent so it's gonna give you nice smooth curves that's gonna increase exhaust flow and not hinder it. And this is covered in aluminized coating, so that's gonna be relatively good for those states along the East Coast, but if you're looking for something that's a little higher quality and it's gonna withstand all of that salt and water, then you want to go with a stainless steel system. But this is a great system for the money. Like I said, this thing goes exactly in your factory hangers, so what we're gonna do is switch over this rubber one here and then we're gonna get this thing installed, show you what it looks like on the jeep and also what it sounds like. Slide this in place, then we're gonna start with this section. So like I said, the first thing we're gonna do is install our muffler section. So what we're gonna do is pull this thing up here and we're gonna hang this rear hanger up on the hanger up there. We're gonna slide that on there, that's gonna hold that in place while we get this front section bolted together. So we'll push this back, slide this up on here, and then we have brand new hardware to install this. So you're gonna have these bolts, all of them were already put together, they got two washers and a lock washer on, so what we're gonna is just separate all that stuff. A bolt head is gonna get a flat washer so we're gonna go through here and we're gonna do a flat washer, a lock washer, and a nut. Then we'll do the same thing to get this other side installed. All right, so we're gonna leave that loose for now and we'll get the tailpipe section on. So now, the next thing we're gonna do is install our tailpipe section. Now you may need to drop that muffler down a little bit because it looks like this is gonna contact the track bar a little bit, but once you get that on you can push this back up, get that to sit in the hanger. So over the back, we get this brand new hanger with a rubber mount on here. This is actually going to attach on the inside of this frame rail, there's a hole that passes all the way through the frame rail. So the first thing that we're gonna do is slide this onto this hanger right here.So we're gonna take this shishkebab bolt that they give us, we'll put that flat washer on the outside, we're gonna pass through this whole. I'm gonna have Tony help me push this up on the other side, then we're gonna align this bracket up on the inside. Once we get that through we'll put our lock washer and our nut on the back side. All right, so then we're gonna get some wrenches and tighten that up. So to tighten up this rear bolt we're gonna use a 9/16th wrench and a 9/16th socket. Then we'll go all the way up front here to our flange joint. We're gonna tighten these bolts up so we'll use that same 9/16th socket and wrench to tighten those up. Try to tighten them as even as possible. So the last thing we're gonna do is install our U-bolt clamp over here where our over the axle pipe is connecting to our muffler. So we're just gonna slide this down and around and we'll put this bottom clamp section on. We'll reinstall these nuts and then we'll go ahead and tighten it up. Now, you want to make sure that this pipe is slid all the way into that other pipe before you tighten this up. Once you make sure you got that, we'll tighten it up, we're gonna use that same 9/16th to tighten it.So once you get all this installed, you want to drive it around and then you want to recheck all those clamps just to make sure that they're tight. However, that's gonna wrap up my review and install. For more videos and products like this, check us out at extremeterrain.com.