Header Crack

[ECHO]

I Just Found A Crack On The Backside Of My Header Yesterday. I Bought The Header From Banks About 4 Yrs Ago To Replace The Cracked Factory Manifold. Would It Be Easier To Pull It Off And Take It Down To Banks In Azusa And Have It Repaired Or Replaced Under Warranty? Should I Have Somebody Else Weld It? Has Anybody Ever Had To Take Anything Back To Banks For Warranty Work? I Just Cant Afford To Take The Part To Them And Have Them Sit On It For A Couple Days Before They Give Me An Answer. I Read The Warranty Paperwork And It Sounds Kinda Flakey To Me. Thanks In Advance

[Jerry Bransford]

Welding a crack in your header won't last long, it will just crack again right next to where the crack was welded. Both Borla and Banks are known to crack since they have the same design flaw the original OE header had as came in your '98. If Banks won't replace it under warranty, and I thought it had a lifetime warranty, I'd select a different header to buy a replacement from.

The kind of header you want has flexible steel bellows on both sides, which flex instead of cracking at those locations as it will do without the bellows. The OE design didn't originally have those bellows but the improved version they came out with in '99 or so did. You can even find the improved design header that has the bellows on eBay.

You want a header that looks like this, notice the flexible steel bellows on both sides.

[Shadly1]

What I want to know is, has anybody put a Banks header on their Jeep without it cracking? I wanted one until I read the horror stories online.

[Giffer]

ive never had any header problems on my YJ?? is this a thing specific to the TJ. i dont imagine so but its the first ive heard of it. i do like those headers though.

[ECHO]

I Have Been Reading Some Bad Reviews On Some Other Sites Too. Wish I Had Known About This Before I Spent 450 Bucks On The Header. Mine Isnt Cracking Where The Bellows Are. The Crack Is Towards The Bottom About 6 Inches Above The Flange Where It Bolts In To The Head Pipe. Is The One Pictured Above The Best Way To Go?

[Materdaddy]

I'm on my second like the one pictured. I don't know how much better it is than a Banks. The first one seemed to be "off" a little bit for fitment, which probably accelerated it's cracking. That was an eBay header. The one I have on it now seems to fit a little bit better. PM me to find out where I got it.

[Shadly1]

They promote this sucker as being thicker metal than other brands. This is probably their weakness. The metal can't flex during the heating and cooling cycles.

[Kodiak Spirit]

Howard's Muffler in Victorville has a solution to yer header woes, it will cost about $35- for them to weld that sucker good. I know they there are sum dis-believers out there, but Howard's Muffler is owned by jeep guys and they know what to do. They fixed my stock header and that was years ago! you will have to take it off of course, but you can bring the tools and do it in the parking lot if you want. Bring a new gasket and you can do the whole thing in a few hours....

[ECHO]

I Thought About Having It Welded But Jerry Mentioned In An Earlier Post That It Would Just Crack Again. I Called Banks This Morning And They Said They Are Backordered Until The 15th. I Didnt Want To Drive Around With The Horse Sounding Like A Lawnmower For That Long.

[Kodiak Spirit]

Unbeliever!

ok, fair enough, cross yer fingers. now look at them. yer hand is the flange going back to the muffler and each finger is the seperate pipes that go to the header. yer crack is in there to right? ok now imagine you weld up that crack... ok it's gonna crack again ... so then you weld from the flange (yer hand), both pipes together (inbetween yer fingers), over the top and back down to the flange again. now the two pipes are one and yer crack is not coming back....

[Roger]

Howard's Muffler in Victorville has a solution to yer header woes, it will cost about $35- for them to weld that sucker good. I know they there are sum dis-believers out there, but Howard's Muffler is owned by jeep guys and they know what to do. They fixed my stock header and that was years ago! you will have to take it off of course, but you can bring the tools and do it in the parking lot if you want. Bring a new gasket and you can do the whole thing in a few hours....

I totally agree with Kodiak, Howard's Muffler is the best there is. Not only that, their prices are more than fair. If Banks won't back up their warranty, it is well worth the drive. But don't look around too much, you may want to move here to the High Desert

[Shadly1]

Why would I weld my fingers? Ouch!

[Kodiak Spirit]

Duh! it's stick welding! you'll just burn the hell outta them!

gosh, do I have to esplain everting!?

[Giffer]

Unbeliever!

cross yer fingers. now look at them. yer hand is the flange going back to the muffler and each finger is the seperate pipes that go to the header. yer crack is in there to right? ok now imagine you weld up that crack.......

i thought you were going somewhere else with this one. hahahahha, ohh god i need a life. maybe im just reallt tiered and its not runny funny. i dont know. read it slowly.

[Kodiak Spirit]

Giffer... :devil: Yer bad man, git sum sleep! :wink: