In this video I help out my sister by replacing the broken flex pipe on her Explorer instead of buying the really expensive pipe right from Ford. It's just one way to do it.
-Enjoy!
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--Eric & Vanessa O.
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South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
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Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
-Enjoy!
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using "Patreon" to help support us. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills. CLICK HERE: https://www.patreon.com/southmainauto
CHECK OUT OUR "SMA SWAG" STORE! Go on Teespring and get your very own SMA merch!
https://teespring.com/stores/the-sma-store
If you don't like Patreon feel free to use the "PayPal Me" link: https://www.paypal.me/SouthMainAuto
The South Main Auto Amazon Store:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/southmainautorepairavoca
AES Wave Automotive Diagnostic Tools: https://www.aeswave.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=2525b91fc8e906e8215984074c9d9e8f&go=https://www.aeswave.com/Miscellaneous-p9347.html
Thank you for all the continuing support!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
Viewers welcome back to the self-made Auto Channel Got my sister's card here. it's a 2018 Ford Explorer uh government work. probably not going to get paid on this one, but that's okay. uh she brought it in the other day because it sounds like NASCAR she said it's embarrassing me have a look at it and um so I did and the front flex pipe is broken so I said no big deal.
we can order one of these little guys from Ford It just goes from the converters down to the flex and that's it. Can't be too expensive, maybe 150 bucks. I told her and then I looked and seen that she would have to remortgage her house and sell a child to buy it. It was crazy expensive for what it was I think it was six.
Seven hundred dollars for that little short pipe. Didn't see anything aftermarket. uh through. Walker So we did the next best thing.
Called down a nap and got some flexis I measured it up I believe it was a two and a quarter inch. so I got us a 10 inch flex and I got us a 12 inch. This one has the ends on it. this one does not.
This is the one I I prefer to use I'll show you what it looks like under there and see what we can do and see if we can't uh Fab or Cobble something in there to buy her some time. Here's what we're working with. Here's what I'm hoping to do right? That would be ideal. This front pipe though, is like the Nissan so it's flattened out.
They give it the old squish where it comes underneath here. Maybe that's what makes it expensive? I don't know. All I know is everything's you know, pretty thin. We're going to kind of try to leave some of this alone.
I'm gonna take the Sawzall We've got to knock off that weld right there, which is going to make it pretty dang close. Uh, close to not fitting this one. That's why I grabbed one that's a little bit longer also. So if push comes to shove, you know we can chop these stubs off where we need to expand them how we need.
But ideally we would use this little guy here. I'm gonna cut that one behind the weld I'm going to cut this one in front of the weld is what I'm thinking we'll kind of clean stuff up because this pipe goes from round to Flat here pretty quick. I Like to stay up in this round section. leave that weld on there so we've got a little bit of beef.
where's the beef? and I think we can chop it off without holding anything because we've got a hanger there. We've got a hanger here and then this is bolted to the engine of course so we can just let's just get after it boys. I've got the safety glasses I've got the Sawzall Hopefully this blade can cut through it I should still be good. if not, we'll wear our weight through it eventually.
Foreign: These are the Diablo carbide. This one's been used quite a bit. as you can tell it's no longer red, but they worked pretty well, especially when they're new. All right, let's try it.
I'm gonna cut right on the face of that weld here. now. we just need some Putty I'll putty that baby back in there. Oh yeah, we're coming in clutch. The kids always see that's a clutch move man. I Don't know what it means but it means I did good. Oh boy. Um.
I'm gonna work on this I'm gonna clean this up a little bit with that grinder. There are little remnances of the Flex that we took off in there I Want to screw up our weld tubes? Too bad. So let me clean this up a little bit, clean this one up a little bit and then see if we can't just fry it on there foreign Weld and then just ground it down kind of at a taper. Hopefully that gives us some some meat there to weld again.
So left the inner pipe there, got rid of all of what was left of that little fella down there, and then same here. This is just just down to the regular pipe so it's cleaned up. It should be good enough to get a little bit of a well done. So let's get our weld on all right.
The last guy left at a mess. Perfect. I'm gonna see if we can't just get it tacked up here and just give this a slight taper. There we go just fits over.
We're gonna have to likely pull the whole exhaust system ahead just a little bit. Lots of room in the hangers. so I'm gonna take. We're just gonna attack that little guy right there for right now.
A little boogie right here. Ah, you jerk. Hall We're just gonna put a little tack right here. They put one on this side, one on the bottom Miss nailed up.
and then we're gonna pull the exhaust system forward just a little bit. about half inch or whatever. and then we're going to weld this one I put a little taper on this too. Actually, we probably don't even need to pull I could probably just hold it by hand here.
Get that where I want it? Give this a little tack. Oops, this foreign. There we go. I think we're in good shape.
What do you guys think I know what you're thinking. This guy's not a professional welder. You'd be right. But also, remember folks, we're not sending this baby to the Moon So we're going to do as good as we can with the skill set that we have.
I'm going to take and try to finish off these welds I'm not going to do them in one continuous speed because again, this is not a gas pipeline and we're not pipeline welders, but we are brothers. This is my sister. Let's fix it. I Don't know what that has to do with anything, but that's the best I can come up with Foreign Foreign? All right.
Thank you. First try. Oh see the beauty There You have it folks. welding in your new flex on your on your Ford that's part number 735 4797 fits like a glove.
Thank you High Temp Dino Tested. Remember if you're like me and you can't weld, learn how to grind and paint baby foreign well it certainly doesn't sound nowhere. It's near as cool as it did when I drove it in, but it's fixed now and she should be happy and that's a pretty common fix. We do.
We do tons of flex pipes here, all different makes and models. Walker makes tons of them I think from four inch up to 12 inch with and without ends on them. so there's all kinds of variations you can do and usually it'll save the customer a ton of money. Uh, in this case it's my sister so it's a little different situation. but if it was, uh if if a customer was paying for this uh at my shop I would have an hour labor. so I got a one hour minimum so it'd be 90 bucks and then the price of the park and I don't know what that part cost but it's probably somewhere is to you know, fifty sixty dollars in retail. So let's say you'd have you know 150 to 175 something like that for this repair. Depending on what Flex it was and and how long it took, most of them, you can do within that one hour window.
Uh, pretty easy without a lot of you know messing around and stuff. So uh so that's that. You know if you need yours fixed, plan on paying about that much I would guess somewhere's around there. Um but again, this is very specific to our region our time that it is right now in the year 2023 in my shop, labor rate and current price of materials.
So comment section folks questions, comments, concerns, see you and Steve Facebook and just remember viewers, if I can do it, you can do it. Thanks for watching foreign foreign.
My fusion flex pipe lasted 15 years (07-22). Mostly garaged and low mileage vehicle. Local muffler shop did it for $145. You are a good brother
Got all that YouTube money and cheap out on your sister, could of bought her a factory one to slap on there lol
90$ an hour seems really low to me. You are crazy skilled and own tons of special tools, plus have to pay for everything else a business needs.
OSHA Approved
Why did they use a flex pipe and not a solid pipe all the way towards the engine. This seems weird to me, this case as an example just one more thing that can fail.
Nice work
$90.00 doesn't fly in Westchester. Was that friends and family rate? Thanks for the vids!
Eric, you sure fooled me when you said you were not a welder. That weave bead you used was the giveaway. Great work.
Always clean your tips boys
Ford exploder
Another job well done
Good shape for the shape it's in 😊
All OEM parts from Ford dealers are ridiculously expensive.
I have a little sister and I can confirm…we don't get paid for our expert help 😅
No need to grind the weld. Nobody will see it.
amazing how the manufactuerer puts you in a BAD place…nice job!
Look at the restriction on that pipe
We couldn't just wrap used aluminum cans around the break? 😆
Jesus a 2018 and so rusted. Salt really does take it's toll up there!
I'm a much better grinder since I'm NOT a good welder😅
Welding on used exhaust, some of the worst crap work, especially with a MIG gun.
You made it look easy, but you did cheat. You had a lift, and you were sober.
Nice repair. Keep in mind as well if that is a AWD version, the PTU needs to have the oil changed every 30,000 miles, or it will fail. other than that they are usually reliable as long as they aren't a ecoboost.
You only charge $90/hr?!?! Holy cow, you’re worth so much more!
Big hug’s coming from sis ❤
Awesome dude, that's exactly what I probably would have done.
Safety squints
And Robert is your mothers brother.
What a nice brother. Hope she knows how lucky she is Bro.
Preloading those exhaust hangers and putting load on that flex flange. Not sure how I feel about that, but then again, it don't matter how I feel.
Est. cost of the NAPA flexies?
Only 90/hour?? Now i really wish you could work on my vehicles!!
Your. Very funny. Thanks
My sister stole my credit card and went on an online shopping spree. I had her arrested and put in jail.
You took that tape off so she wouldn't have to smell it for the next 10K miles ?
I always enjoy when you weld/repair exhaust not sure why maybe it's just you but enjoyable content.
You let her buy an Exploder?
What's wrong with a car that sounds like NASCAR? Come on people.! 🙂
Sometimes you gotta clean the tip… just the tip 😉
Who makes the light you’re using? Looks like an Astro color scheme but I can’t seem to find it anywhere
I wish you would wear some hand and arm protection when you weld.
I wish Mr.O was my brother in law!!
If you really wanted to genuinely help out you would have just done so, not expect the world to recognize you after putting on YT.
Little confused as to why sounding like Nascar is a bad thing.
Perfect cheap fix, I like it.
Excellent repair. What a bargain. Shops around here are getting over $200 per hour for labor. An acquaintance was just quoted $1,200 to replace a harmonic balancer/pulley on a ‘06 Ford Mustang, which included 4 hours labor.
If anyone knows where to buy flex pipes that last more than 1 or 2 years, let me know!
90 an hour damn thanks for being honest most places here are 120 and up
When you found the problem, which did you say?
1 – There's your problem lady!
or
2 – There's your problem sister!
I've got the same car Eric and I like the fluid film. From outside Philly
Sunday morning South Main Auto, What could be better?
What kind of flashlight you have in the video
I understand your pain Eric. Like you, I know I am not getting paid when my sisters rock up with their motoring problems.
Fantastic videos that keep me sane though.
Greetings from Scotland for you and Mrs O
I'm old ooold codger, so this is just a question, to make me wiser. Don't you need to disconnect the battery terminals before [ ARC ] welding on a vehicle anymore?
Man, at $90 an hrs I'd go to you all the time. Over here I can't find a shop that does it for less then $125 an hr and usually more then that. Plus they don't diagnose anything they just change parts and the consumer better hope it was right.
Thanks to you and others those I don't use the shops and I no longer just r&r I actually try to diagnose 100% even if it's a straight forward repair
Another great job. That magnetic light is the cat sass!
Nice work…what type of welder setup do you have?
Earth orbit still counts
As Eric has said previously, "Grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't".
It’s what brothers do!
Maybe she’ll pay you with a rhubarb pie
175$ for a flex pipe all day long head over to the chain stores closer too 300$ great job Mr.O
I would feel guilty and couldn't live with myself if I charged a friend or relative, parts, yes
"Family Discount", u mean u charge ur relatives…Mrs. "O" 💃
Say what you want about your welding. It's better than mine.
How to properly fix a Frod !
Buy a Chevy
What's the brand and model of that rectangular magnetic floodlight?
Bloody good job E. Cheers from down under!
Exhaust pipes for the '18 Ford "Exploder" are $171 on Amazon. Tried posting a link but it was blocked.
Did you wake up next day with sunburned arms ?
Now will sound like a indy
Big brother to the rescue. A quality repair that'll last a long time.
Could we get a video or short on your perspective of disconnect or leave the vehicle battery connected with welding on vehicle?
Thanks!
Another good one and even painting!!
I can't believe you would send that car home with your own family with the quality of those welds. I mean, you are setting her up for total embarrassment at her next car show.
Little bummed we didn't get to meet Eric O's sister, with my limited imagination all I envision is Eric in a sundress, not good!
I'm sure bidenomics and the immigrant tsunami will soon lower parts costs and your hourly rate………not.
You were able to weld that exhaust pipe without burning a hole through it. Lol. I spend most of my welding time trying to fill the holes I made.
Clutch Cargo
Muffler putty is found in your local parts store, right next to the magic asbestos muffler wrapping tape.
Mate, I wish you were my brother!
Eric, always enjoy your channel and work! As a "shade tree" myself, what are your thoughts on disconnecting the battery when welding on a car. I have done it both ways and have never had an issue while leaving it connected. Just curious on your thoughts regarding that. Keep up the good work!
Bad Grinding and Paint don't make up for the Welder I aint…. 🤪🤪
$90 shit. I wish i can find a dependable shop with that rate. Here its around 120 and its questionable
I'm suprised unless 90$ is a family price. Here in Sacramento area most shops start at 125$ a hour. And dealers are @225$ and up depending on the make
What work light is that Mr. O
These pipes are worthless lol I had a Chrysler pacific that had 2 or 3 of these poc put on the last I just welded in a piece of straight pipe in and it's been going on 4 yrs now without any problems
I live in Southern California and my FORD dealer changes $195.00 per hour so your $90 per hour is an absolute steal! Eric, as always I really enjoy watching you and seeing how you make everything seem so easy.
Did you unhook the battery before starting to weld
You left out 'shop supplies'. NEVER leave out the shop supplies!!! 🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣
Shame we didnt hear what it sounded like before 🙁
Your a good brother, it feels really good to be in a position to help others especially family, good on you Eric!
I caught myself holding my breath while you were grinding.
Sawzalls are red
do your sister another favour and coat her car before the winter
Good job!
That labor rate is crazy low. But for a small town it makes sense. I do all my own work save for tires personally, but labor rates here in Austin Tx are between ~120 to 140 at private shops.
That is a really dandy rechargeable light.
Anyone know who makes it?