front pipe use donut gasket or not
 

When replacing the front pipe which is typically 2.5"od, the oem donut gasket no longer works, so what if any down sides are there to using a flat gasket to connect the front pipe to the oem axle back exhaust?

Also any downsides for not using the oem bolts which have springs on them and just hard bolting the two flanges together?

I'm assuming the oem design allows for a lot of flex in the system and by using a flat gasket and bolts that the system is now more rigid.

Which front pipe do you have? I know ours has an adapter so the doughnut gasket can still be used.

i have a j2 front pipe, which is true 2.75" through and thus does not have the step down for a donut gasket. it works just fine using a normal gasket and bolts flat to the midpipe.