My 06 ram 5.7 exhaust manifold is leaking and possibly cracked. Bolts don`t appear to be broken, just very rusty. Are the aftermarket manifolds any good? They are about $100 vs $200 or more for a mopar one.

When mine went I bought a set of shorty headers from Ebay that bolted up to the original Y pipe and it made the truck run better and cost less than manifolds,gaskets and bolts.

I did what Stumpy did and bought some Chinese shorty's from Ebay. Going into my 4th year with them and so far so good. They're not the best quality stainless and have some rust on them but nothing bad (We use a lot of salt here in the winter). Use 6.1 SRT8 bolts and factory MLS gaskets, don't use the stuff that comes with the Chinese headers.

I used the bolts but went with a better gasket.

I have already bought the OE bolts, gaskets and heat shields for both sides so I probably stick with manifolds. Thanks guys.

RockAuto lists Dorman exhaust manifolds for around $75.00.

Yea, I found them for $78 shipped on amazon but I was wondering about quality and if they fit and held up well. I don`t want to go thru the trouble of changing it out and have it still leak. Honestly, I usually stick with all mopar parts but the cost difference is so much I was leaning to trying one. But then again it may be a red flag too I dunno.

I believe that if I went through the work of pulling the manifold at the head, I'd probably pull it off the pipe as well so I could give it a good inspection. Would suck to put it all back together only to find the manifold had a slight warp that cased the leak in the first place. Gene

I am betting no crack just the crappy stock bolts that have lost their heads. My 06 did both sides on the HEMI and my wifes Aspen had both sides done now. Every time is just the stock bolts popping.

Cheers Don.

I doubt it's the manifold. If it's anything goes like my 4.7 the bolts are to blame. Ditch the heat shield and get some SS bolts.
Matt

Ok, Finally got around to replacing the exhaust manifold gasket and installed new bolts. The manifold wasn`t cracked but I probably could have used a new one due to pitting from rust. The replacement mopar gasket was somewhat different from the OE gasket which was all tin. The replacement gasket has a graphite side which I installed towards the manifold. I hope that was correct?