It’s still a federal fine to remove a cat or remove the contents of a cat, regardless if it is under 5K or not. If feds know it was you who did it, they will fine you. As long as it is there, they prolly wouldn’t bother you anyway.
That being said, mine has been gone for about 13 years now & I’ve never had any issues. It has been inspected/emissions by garages who don’t know me & nobody even gave me any hassle over it. Cat’s suck & the High flow cats are too much $$ (if you are buying 2 of them). As long as you “know” the person doing the emissions, you should be safe.
Here is some pics of the headers & the front of the new 3" exhaust on my truck. Someday, I’ll get finished exhaust pics. Many Thanks to Jay @ Hybrid for modifying the headers & doing the exhaust. Jay at domination built the x-member.
You don’t see no cats here…