I would be very careful not to damage the convertor. I tried to take the middle and rear mufflers off and damaged the catalytic convertor. Then I had to replace all 3 pieces. I would suggest removing the middle muffler (resonator) and rear muffler very carefully and replacing them if they are leaking at all. These 2 pieces including all hardware were $498 from Mercedes for a 1991 300TE (3.0 liter). I ended up putting on an aftermarket catalytic convertor for $600 instead of the $1200 from Mercedes. It is a bit louder than the original.