Working on my 92 Dodge Dakota

[MRX37]

Last couple days have been a lot of labor for little result.

Had the exhaust all nice and buttoned up, sounded nice and quiet...

Then the weld at the end of the Y pipe broke.

The pipe from the Y pipe to the muffler was pretty rusty, so I measured it and walked to the closest exhaust shop to buy the length I needed and had them flare the end to fit over the Y pipe (was a clean break, Y pipe wasn't damaged)

Then I realized I needed to put in a slight bend to line it up with the muffler.
Then I had to find a way to bend it.
Then I had to walk a block to a nearby renovation dumpster and use that to gain enough leverage to bend the pipe.

Then had to walk back there because the bend wasn't enough.
Then had to walk back there AGAIN because the bend still wasn't enough!

Then I had to wrestle with it for hours because it didn't want to line up with the muffler or Y pipe.
Then it didn't want to go into the muffler.

Then the tailpipe didn't want to line up. So I went back to the dumpster to bend it.
Then it still didn't want to clear the shocks. Had to bend it some more.
Then I messed up the end that goes into the muffler.
Then I had to use a hammer to bang the end into a shape that would go inside the muffler.

Fought with it for 12 hours with the damn exhaust system kicking and screaming and fighting me every step of the way before I finally got it lined up enough to function! Leaks slightly at the Y pipe end. Only way I could secure it was with a band clamp, and even that wasn't easy what with the transmission and frame giving me almost zero room to turn a wrench!

All that was yesterday.

Today I decided to track down that power steering issue. Vise grips and a large crescent wrench would not remove the lines from the rack and pinion. Finally broke down and got a proper sized wrench for those lines.

Then they came off easily. Go figure.

The connectors and O rings look perfectly fine. Cleaned them up anyway and put it all back together. a short drive didn't reveal any more leaking so hoping and praying that I've fixed that headache!

Oh, and did I mention that for September in Michigan, it was insanely hot and humid today? I sweated off about 5 pounds working in the heat, then drank a quart of water and ate 3/4ths of a pizza.