I know I can't really go wrong with either choice, but I wanted to get feedback from people who actually own these headers and mid pipes before I purchase. Also be interested to know what you guys paid for them and who you purchased from.

I'm kinda leaning towards the Kooks for two reasons. I want a catted mid pipe, and while ARH does offer cats, they seem to be smaller. According to ARH's website this setup will cost me about $100 more than the Kooks, plus I need to pay shipping. Where as the Kooks ship free from the big guys. (who aren't sponsors, so they will remain nameless). Kooks do come with hardware and gaskets, not sure on ARH. I'm am absolutely confident about buying from the big sellers, and know customer service is excellent, returns would not be an issue if a problem came up.

Also with the ARH, the rear o2 sensor placement on the driverside seems to be real close to the trans cross member. Any issues with this?

I have a 2003 Reg cab 2wd. I did locate the ARH sponsor on this site, but he does not accept Private Messages, which I find strange.

So unless ARH offers some type of forum discount, plus free shipping, I can't see why I would chose them over Kooks.

Please feel free to offer your experiences with either.

Thanks

 

I have kooks, they are very nice. My one complaint was that the mid pipes I got (dual for 6.0) were clocked wrong. Had to cut the weld that held them together to get them to fit right. Wasn't happy about that and for the price I would expect that not to be a issue. I never contacted them about it as I had eventual plans to modify the midpipe and add v band clamps so I just pressed forward. The headers are very nice, I liked the figment and primary routing better then other brands.

6 of one, half dozen of another I suppose.

 

I have ARH and have had a great experience. They fit great and came with all the hardware needed for the install.

His inbox must be full, let me see if we can notify him. There may be small discounts for forum members, but I will let him decide.

ARH and Kooks are going to be very comparable. I think its hard to look at one vs the other and claim its better.

I will say this... I know GMPP uses ARH on their COPO builds... just sayin!

 

Did the connections leak? Why did you feel the need to get v bands?

I ask, because my current LTs had slip fits, and they sucked. I welded in V bands. I'm not looking forward to modifying $1600 pipes.

I plan on running the merge pipe anyway, so hopefully it wont be an issue.

 

I wanted v bands because I was eliminating the portion that steps down to 2.5" to mate to the factory exhaust. I built a true dual 3" into single 4" merge.

For the time I did run them with the 2.5" and slip fit they didn't leak at all though. I am talking about the exhaust hookup portion, the headers have ball flanges and they work great.

 

I have put on both on nearly identical trucks. If it means anything, I think that the ARH are actually the better product between the two. The reason I say that is that the kooks have a multi-piece y-pipe which makes installation easier, but adds weight and has leaks at the slip joints. Also, it may be a fluke, but I absolutely cannot get my Kooks to be leak free at the cylinder head. I started out using their gasket, then swapped to the original factory GM, I replaced that with a new GM gasket, and then I tried copper gasket spray on top of another new factory GM gasket, and now I have two factory GM stacked. I still hear it leaking when I start the truck from in the cab. The ARH I installed sealed tight first time with a reused factory gasket, never a single bad noise.

 

The biggest factor driving me to upgrade is to eliminate the leaks. I have the same leak on the head surface right now. Good point on the Kook mid pipe having multiple joints. I really don't like slip fits, as they always leak on me.

Are the ARH mid pipes hard to install being a single piece?

 

I see. Thanks for the info.

 

Do either of these brands require you to extend your o2 wiring harness for the upstream sensors? The rears will be eliminated.

And do they come with plugs in the bungs?

What size is the outlet from the merge pipe on the ARH? 3inch or 3.5?

 

I think I did extend mine... but im not positive you have to. I forget... i put my headers on way back in 2010... lol. That and I no longer use my O2 sensors.