Exhaust clamp question

[Kedwinh]

Hello everyone

Well I was putting the exhaust back together on our 2007 Fleetwood Bounder C7 and came up with a problem. I noticed that the flex pipe that connects to the exhaust brake was loose when I took it apart but never thought much about it. Well turns out the clamp that holds the flex pipe on the exhaust brake flange doesn't exactly fit. The clamp won't tighten down on the flange and the flange isn't long enough to allow the flex pipe to slide on with the clamp. Is this normal? Is it supposed to use a standard offset clamp? I can figure out a way to do it but would rather do it like factory setup.
Thanks
Keith

[FIRE UP]

Keith,
Well, not really kind-a understanding your language pertaining to the mate-up of the down pipe to the turbo, I'll throw ya my interpretation. We have an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the CAT C-7 330HP and Allison MH3000 trans. I've had that exhaust joint at the turbo apart also. I had to re-wrap that down pipe with some fiberglass insulation due to the original stuff just plain wore out.

But, in removing that pipe for this re-wrap, I snapped off the T-bolt that is part of what's called the V-band clamp, that clamps the two flanges, one from the down pipe and the other from the Turbo together. Well, I couldn't find a new V-band clamp in our area so, me being me, I simply welded a new threaded end to the broken section of the T-bolt. It worked perfect.

Now, to your point, again, without pictures, I can really only reflect on how my exhaust system is linked and how things work. To me, it's not overly complicated. It's two flared ends of pipe, with a "donut" in the middle to form a seal. The donut, if I recall, is made of some form of asbestos or combination of asbestos and other components. But in any case, the design of that donut is what I'd call a "double-V" shape. That is, it is shaped so that it conforms to the inner bell of each flange of each side.

When the two flanges and the donut are coupled together, in and of itself, that joint, is almost sealed. But, where the V-band clamp comes into play is, by virtue of it's "V" design, it literally pulls both flanges and the donut together tighter and tighter. In fact, I have the same exact style V-band clamp used in the clamping of my two halves of my pool filter together with a 1/2" diameter O-ring that's 24" across as a donut in that case.

Anyway, that's how that system is supposed to be designed and how it works. Hopefully, this helps some. I'm linking a V-band clamp below just to make sure we're on the same page.
Scott

https://www.amazon.com/PTNHZ-Univers...435179058&th=1

[Kedwinh]

Thanks for the answer. I did finally get it together but modifying the band clamp. What I'm looking at it after the turbo is the exhaust brake. Out of the exhaust brake is a flange pipe that clamps to the brake. That has a short 4" pipe that a flex tube clamps onto. The only problem with this is the output tube is to short for the offset exhaust clamp to work the way it is designed to. The output pipe is not long enough for the flex pipe to slide on it and still have the clamp work.