2004 Yukon Denali exhaust pipe size and muffler recommendations?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

qthor

TYF Newbie
Joined
Dec 7, 2021
Posts
22
Reaction score
4
Location
Chicago
Hey I have a 04 Denali and my factory muffler has rotted through finally and its time to replace it... Problem is I can't seem to find the exhaust diameter size online that may be right. Ive seen 2.5, 2.75, and 3.0 inches. I haven't been under the truck yet to measure it myself and can't find a thread here with an answer. Also I'm looking for muffler recommendations. I want something that flows better and has a deeper more aggressive tone. Also wondering is it possible to run two exhaust pipes next to each other with two mufflers instead of one from original muffler position that could exit together on the same side? I will eventually be doing heads, cam, headers etc. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

MassHoe04

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2021
Posts
1,586
Reaction score
2,796
Location
Western MA
I have a Corsa Performance stainless steel cat-back system.
It is single pipe from the cat, but has a great sound without being obnoxious.
I could never afford it, but it was the PO's $...


It is only a very short snippet on start-up, but this video was a clip I did on YouTube.

It has that clasic V-8 lub-lub-lub sound driving around town, roars when you step on it and mellows a bit on highway cruises.

A co-worker has a late model Silverado Trail Boss and is proud of the how his exhaust sounds. He loved the sound of my 04 Z71 Tahoe with the Corsa system. He said "I was not expecting that, sounds great!"

It is an old Tahoe and only a 5.3L, but I love the way it drives and sounds. In a day, where many vehicles make practically no noise... It's a whole lot of fun to hear that V-8 announce your arrivals (and departures)!!
 

Tonyrodz

Resident Resident
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Posts
30,958
Reaction score
45,061
Location
Central Jersey
I have a Corsa Performance stainless steel cat-back system.
It is single pipe from the cat, but has a great sound without being obnoxious.
I could never afford it, but it was the PO's $...


It is only a very short snippet on start-up, but this video was a clip I did on YouTube.

It has that clasic V-8 lub-lub-lub sound driving around town, roars when you step on it and mellows a bit on highway cruises.

A co-worker has a late model Silverado Trail Boss and is proud of the how his exhaust sounds. He loved the sound of my 04 Z71 Tahoe with the Corsa system. He said "I was not expecting that, sounds great!"

It is an old Tahoe and only a 5.3L, but I love the way it drives and sounds. In a day, where many vehicles make practically no noise... It's a whole lot of fun to hear that V-8 announce your arrivals (and departures)!!
I hope mine sounds as good as yours does.
 

slypher25aussie

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Posts
289
Reaction score
260
Location
Orange County, CA
I also found conflicting information on the pipe size. I wanted to get a nice chrome tip for my stock exhaust. I may have measured wrong, but I swear it came back as 3" or 3.5". Couldn't find anything in that size.
 

Alex_M

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2021
Posts
348
Reaction score
641
Tailpipe is 3". The mid section where the muffler is varies some by year on full size GM's. 2.75" or 3". If the pipe going into/out of the muffler is the same size as the tail pipe then you've got 3".

As for a muffler recommendation... How loud and agressive are you looking for? Corsa makes a great system as already mentioned, but you have to buy their whole catback.

Borla makes some really nice mufflers. I like the ProXS a lot. Still not a "budget" muffler, but very good quality with a mellow but deeper tone. They have other lines like the Borla ATAK that are much more agressive, but I have never used them.

Flowmaster gets a bad rap, rightfully so. Generally drone a fair amount. They are tough though, great on off road rigs especially. The exception being their "FlowFX" line. Those are more along the lines of a Borla/Magnaflow design. Straight thru with a soft packing material around a perforated tube, as opposed to the traditional Flowmaster chambered style. There are also knock off chambered style mufflers that copy the Flowmaster 40 in both design and tone. The "FlowFX" mufflers are very reasonably priced. They've become my go-to.

Of course, there are always glass packs. Some hate them, some love them. I'm a fan. If you're looking for flow then make sure you get a perforated core style (Thrush) instead of the louvered core (Cherry Bomb, Jones, most cheapies as well).

There are also "turbo" style mufflers made by many manufacturers. If you're wanting improved flow, this is not the route to take.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
128,790
Posts
1,805,498
Members
91,773
Latest member
wbhidalgo17
Top