cats need cutting?

Is there any given way to tell if your cats are stopping up? Mine (driver side) make this horrible (very loud) popping noise after the truck has been running for a few miles, and it does it forever after I cut the truck off, so I know one of them is getting pretty hot...??? WOuld I gain any increase in HP by removing the cats? I don't want to have to replace them w/a high-priced replacement...

I have buddies that have done this up here in WA. I did it on my 94 also. It will sound SWEET and you will gain lots of high end HP, BUT... on these late model trucks, it almost ALWAYS trips a code and might make the truck run worse. I got lucky with my 94, it didnt trip any codes. Do you have any O2 sensors behind your cats? If not, you might try cutting them off and test it that way, and weld them back up if it trips codes. I havn't done this myself just because I don't want to deal with the hastle of welding them back up if it trips codes or when I need to go through emisions. It would be cool to hook up cutouts to bypass the cats untill DEQ time.

Yeah, I do have the 02 sensors behind the cat, so I'm pretty sure if I didn't get some o2 simulators, it would throw a code, and I CANNOT stand the CES light to be on. I don't have to worry about emmissions where I live, so thats not a problem, I just don't really wanna loose much low-end torque, but then again the gain in high end might compensate. I dunno.....???

I lost a lot of low end torque... the '94 was SLOW off the line, but at around 4500, it pulled much harder.... kind of a give and take.. depends on what you use your truck for... street or towing/4x4