BEWARE! Gen 3 catalytic converters are as easy to steal and Gen 2's.

Good thing we are making it easy to find this information.

 

Anyone out there who’s had a shield of any brand through a couple of winters where roads got salted? I am concerned that the shield will hold salt slurry against the car frame and exhaust system, which could maximize damage.
Also, down the line, how much time will the installation add when any part covered by the shield needs work/replacement?

 

This. OP's post, just like his matching one in the other thread, reads like a theft primer. I'm surprised he didn't set up a GoFundMe to publish a map of the coolant lines so it was easier for the Sawzall to avoid them.

There, it worked. You got my attention. You win the Internet.

 

G4 cats are probably just as easy to steal as G1-3s are.....there is just not enough demand for those cats yet because the G4s are mostly young enough not to need them.

The idea that posting the fact that G3 and G4 cats are as easy to steal impacting their rate of theft speaks for itself.

You cannot repeal the law of supply and demand.

 

Or the 4th gen cat is harder to access? Or has even less precious metals? From what I’ve read the stolen cats are mostly being broken down and their precious metals extracted.

 

sure can, the government just has to step in. Government in other countries stepped to run their AG businesses and wrecked it as history shows.

 

I mean, the US too. Look at farm subsidies and government-funded efforts to increase pork and beef consumption in the 80s and 90s along with current efforts to increase ethanol use.

Or more directly, the roadway system, which is heavily subsidized by income and property taxes (gas taxes pay only a portion of state and interstate highway costs and none of local road costs). The more roads there are to drive on for free, the more people drive. The name for this phenomenon is "induced demand" and the federal and state governments have intentionally created a driving culture and increased demand. Ironically, efforts made to decrease driving are often called "socialist" when the US has the most socialized transportation system in the world, in which my wealth as an urbanite that drives relatively little is redistributed to rural and suburban folks that drive a lot (in the form of free-to-use rural roads, etc.).

(Friday afternoon is a good time to hit the beehive with a stick)

 

How is this done? I read in a review on Amazon that a mechanic who installed the cat shield bent the shield using a 2x4. I assume it's done by laying the shield over the 2x4 (2x4 placed front to back, down the middle) and applying body weight to the shield on either side of the 2x4?

I'm going to install my cat shield today.

Also, any advice on how to get the Prius (Gen 3) high enough off the ground to use the heavy duty riveter, using only a floor jack, ramps, and jack stands? Oh, and some 4x4 lumber, if I need to place that between the jack and the car to gain extra lift. I'm shooting for at least 15 inches of clearance between the frame rails and the ground.

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6 ton jack stands and a 3 ton floor jack with 20” or more floor to top-of-cradle?

thinking too: if you put any amount of crease in it, will that mess up the hole loc’s? Not sure.

 

Putting a "gentle" bend in the middle, I'm thinking more "a curve, than a crease", will not affect the four large holes at the front edge of the main shield, as there is plenty of clearance/tolerance (slop?) on those. All of the remaining mounting holes are to be drilled into the frame rails using the shield's holes as a template, so offsetting them slightly won't be a problem.

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Something I’ve done, a little involved but works, will gain you maybe 3”:

Raise with floor jack, as high as it’ll go.

Settle on jack stands. (Preferably at front end of longitudinal body rails, much more solid/stable than scissor jack points.)

Roll out the floor jack, slide in 4x4’s; make a raised cradle. Through bolts so the timbers stay together is good.

Wrestle the floor jack atop the timber cradle, raise again, increase jack stand height.

 

That's what I was thinking too, using the 4x4s to raise the jack, except I might strap the 4x4 cradle together using ratcheting webbing, front and back.

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I did sim with 2x4’s on edge; drilled holes at both ends, ran threaded rod through, nuts and washers.

 

Hmm, I do have some threaded rod, nuts, and washers...

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Cut a couple of sheets of 3/4” OSB too, same dims as the 2x4 cradle, and laid on top. Smoother rolling surface, and another 1.5”.

I hardly ever need it now, is cumbersome, but something like that can gain you the extra clearance if you need it.