99 Dakota R/T cat & exhaust ?

This past weekend I was completing a big road trip that went from Phoenix,AZ to Atlanta,Ga to Syracuse,NY and back to Phoenix. I was driving my 99 Dakota R/T pickup with 55,000 miles on it. While passing thru "absolutely nowhere, nothing but dirt and scrub brush" New Mexico. The truck lost power on the Interstate. In the blink of an eye I went from cruising along at 75 mph to limping down the shoulder, trying hard to stay above 10mph. I exited the freeway for another deserted side road to nowhere. Not a house or building to be seen. I quickly became aware of that sick, nauseous feeling one gets in the pit of their stomach when you know "this ain't good" After I got over the what the hell am I going to do now questions to myself I began trying to diagnose the problem. The truck would idle but as soon as you gave it some gas it would stumble and cough. There was also a rattling sound coming from the catalytic converter. I have never run into this problem with any car I have owned, but figured something must have gone wrong internally. Fortunately I did have a few tools with me. I took out a chisel and big pipe wrench (didn't have a hammer) and began to puncture a hole in the cat. After a few choice profanities and some blood loss I had made a 3 inch gash in the front of the converter. Praying that this would solve the the problem I climbed back into the car and started it up. Blocking the giant header leak sound from my mind, I crossed my fingers and reved the engine without any power loss or backfires. I was back in business heading west again, only losing an hour or so. So now I need a new cat. I see Magnaflow sells a direct replacement unit for about $125.00. Has anyone used this pipe or any other brand they would recommend? Also do you think my muffler my be full of pieces of the cat? Any feedback would be appreciated.

I've seen many catalytics fail but most of the time it's rattling for months before it comes to a point where it's a problem.

Glad to hear you got yourself on your way. Hopefully you will have more power with the new set up.

After doing a little more homework. I don't think the Magnaflow cat I mentioned earlier will fit my truck. The cat I have has two inlet pipes and one outlet. I definitely want to upgrade to a free-er flowing cat. Which brands and models are best for this application? The truck is a stock 99 5.9 R/T. Thanks

Look on ebay--there's some good deals on there for replacement cats and I know I've seen the two in/one out on there.

Thanks for the suggestions. Are there any "bolt in" kits around to replace my cat? I don't want to go to headers, but would like the best flowing cat I can find. On my truck the two head pipes are separate and each goes directly into the twin inlet cat exiting thru a single opening that leads to the muffler. If my muffler ends up being full of pieces from the cat I will most likely replace it with a Magnaflow unit as well. I suppose in the end I could just go to the muffler shop and have them weld up something, but they always seem to do a less than average job. Mickey Mouse welds, poor routing, etc. Any muffler shops in the Phoenix area that take there exhaust work seriously?

I had my complete system made up for under $400. I used a flowmaster 2 into 1 y-pipe (2.25/2.25ID into a 3"ID) into a dynomax hi-per 3" converter and had the rest bent. Any exhaust shop can do it. There are not to many bends to make. I also used a set of Summit headers, easiest headers I have ever used...and the bolt right up to factory y-pipe.

The dealer fixed mine under warranty. '99 Dakota R/T. It's an emissions thing so they cover it for a long time.

Bobby66, I thought emission related parts had a longer warranty period too. I checked with the dealer and they said it wasn't covered. I wonder if they are BSn me? When did you have your truck fixed and how many miles were on it. I also think I got a letter from Chrysler one time regarding the cat. I'll have to look for it.

Crap, Just found the letter from 12-05 and it states the coverage is 8yrs or 80,000 miles. Which ever comes first. May be time to upgrade my exhaust. Not really sure I want headers, but if I go that route which ones are recommended and which ones should I avoid?

My truck was only a few years old when it went out. I thought it was 10 years on emissions but I've been wrong before.