I took my '97 to the shop because the exhaust was blowing just before the muffler. He welded one tear and sent me home. I thought it still sounded a little bit loud so checked under the jeep again and can feel it blowing still. i took it back, but he is telling me that the tear is meant to be there to let water out otherwise it will build up and rust the system.
I have never heard of anyone leaving a hole or tear in the exhaust to let water out, but I could be wrong.

I would be very grateful for any help

Mike

Ummm....BS flag here. No exhaust should exit the vehicle until the end of the tailpipe. Rust....may and probably will happen. Every time you shut off the vehicle in the cold, condensation will happen. How many times have you seen water coming out of the tailpipe in a freshly started vehicle? A small bit of water in the exhaust pipe will be blown out/evaporated by the hot gasses. Have the guy fix it correctly.

Most factory mufflers have a very small like 1/8 or 1/16 inch weep hole in the bottom, I know my XJ with factory original has one as does one of my TJ's, the other TJ has an aftermarket that does not.

Most mufflers have a small factory-drilled or punched hole in them to allow condensation to drain out so it won't rust out from the inside out. Mine certainly did, and so did the shorter aftermarket Thrush brand muffler I had installed after I installed my long-arm suspension. If your muffler didn't come with a factory hole in the bottom of its sheet metal, it would be reasonable to introduce a very small opening in it to allow condensation to drain out to prevent rust.

Hmmmm.....learn something new every day.

The tear isnt in the muffler, its in the pipe about 2 inches before the muffler, just under the tray.
i can see how a small drilled hole in the muffler would drain water, but a tear in the pipe?

If it is in the pipe then this guys BS meter just pegged out to the max

Right I'd probably go somewhere else so you didn't have to wear hipboots

there is a small hole in the end of the muffler but not in the pipe...

Have the hole in the pipe welded up or if they "cant" do it then get an aluminum Hvac system tape, wrap it around the hole and then put a clamp over where the hole should be to hold it tightly.

the tape costs 4-5 bucks and the clamp is maybe 1$ so 7-8 bucks to fix it with the tape.