Here is the key thing to keep in mind, those folks having issues with the welds on the hangers not holding up are for the most part, taking their trucks to extremes. We are talking about a weld point on a single hanger that is in the factory location without another factory hanger location available to work with. These folks also did not weld the system in place, they just installed with the regular band clamps supplied with the system. This would be the same with any system designed to exit in that location regardless of brand. You see, if you do not weld the connection points in the catback, it has the ability to move during heavy duty offroading, the pipes twist within each other and put even more pressure on the hanger, then they continue beating on the truck and it quite literally pulls the hanger off the pipes. I have talked with Stainless Works at length about this issue and it is only happening to those folks that are pushing their trucks to the limits and not taking the added steps during installation to ensure a secure installation. However, they are currently working on designing a secondary hanger, but this too is problematic because that hanger will most likely require it to be welded in a non stock hanger location, so welding would be required.
All of that being said, if you do not plan to push your truck to the limits, you would be just fine with the installation in your driveway if you wish, without welding. Their lightning kits hold up very well for what they are designed for, a catback upgrade on a basically stock truck that isn't being used like a full on prerunner. If you plan to push the truck to the limits, you really need to take into consideration the abuse that ANY aftermarket exhaust system is put through. SW is not the only catback systems I have seen and heard of falling off in those extreme conditions.
All of that being said, if you do not plan to push your truck to the limits, you would be just fine with the installation in your driveway if you wish, without welding. Their lightning kits hold up very well for what they are designed for, a catback upgrade on a basically stock truck that isn't being used like a full on prerunner. If you plan to push the truck to the limits, you really need to take into consideration the abuse that ANY aftermarket exhaust system is put through. SW is not the only catback systems I have seen and heard of falling off in those extreme conditions.
