What You Are Actually Buying

These are not universal kits with a Toyota sticker on the box. Every system is built here for one specific application, and the specification is the same across the range:

  • 409 stainless tubing, ceramic coated. 409 is the stainless grade made for exhaust — it will not rot out from the inside the way aluminized tubing does. The ceramic coating goes on over the top and is what keeps the outside looking right after a few winters. Between the two, corrosion is not the thing that will eventually retire this system.
  • Straight-through 426 stainless muffler. No baffles for the exhaust to fight its way around. That is where the flow comes from and it is also where the tone comes from — deep and clear rather than droning.
  • 3/8" thick mild steel flanges and a 3" polished stainless tip. The flanges are thick enough to stay flat and keep sealing, which is the part most cheap systems get wrong.

Tubing diameter is matched to the engine rather than standardised — the 1985–1995 Pickup runs 2 1/4" and the 3RZ Tacoma 2 1/2", because oversizing the tube on a small four-cylinder costs you velocity and low-end response. Bigger is not better on these engines.

Everything is a direct-fit application. Hangers land where the factory hangers were and the tailpipe exits where it should, so it goes on with hand tools and little or no modification.

Cat-Back or Mid-Pipe?

We sell both and they are not the same purchase, so check which one the truck needs.

  • A cat-back replaces everything from the catalytic converter to the tip — mid-pipe, muffler, tailpipe, hangers. It is the full change in sound and flow, and it is what most of this page is.
  • A mid-pipe replaces only the section between the converter and the muffler. Less money, less change, and it keeps the factory muffler. On this page that is the 2010–2017 4Runner part — it is a mid-pipe, not a cat-back, and it is the one people most often assume is a full system.

Neither touches the catalytic converter itself, which is what keeps both emissions-legal in most states.

Pickup

Tacoma

On the second generation Tacoma the engine decides, not the year — a 2008 truck could be the 2.7 four or the 4.0 V6 and they take different systems.

4Runner

What to Expect

Being straight about it: a cat-back on an otherwise stock engine is worth a modest power gain and a substantial change in sound. The power arrives when the exhaust stops being the restriction, which is once there are headers ahead of it and something feeding the engine properly behind them. As one part of a combination it earns its place. On its own, buy it because you want the truck to sound like it means it.

We would rather say that than promise horsepower and fuel economy you will not measure.

Warranty, Fitting and Two Practical Notes

Does it void your factory warranty? On any truck young enough to still have one, fitting a cat-back should not void it. Under the Magnuson-Moss Act a manufacturer has to show the part caused the failure before denying a claim — an exhaust system is not grounds to void the whole warranty. Check your own terms, and keep the stock system in the garage if the truck is still covered.

Installation. It is a bolt-on and plenty of people do it at home on stands. It is also easier with two people, a lift and an impact gun, and a shop will have it done in an hour. The honest answer is that it depends less on your skill than on how rusty the fasteners are.

Two things to plan for. Use new gaskets and hardware at every joint — thirty-year-old exhaust fasteners rarely come apart twice. And on a lifted truck, check hanger clearance before you tighten everything down.

Browse by Truck

1989-1995 Pickup, 1995-2004 Tacoma, 2005-2015 Tacoma, 1990-1995 4Runner and 1996-2002 4Runner.

Not sure which system fits? Tell us the year, the engine and the cab configuration.

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