broken muffler mounting bracket

[Johnny_B]

With less than 200 hrs on my 2008 GC2410 I was surprised to find the metal bracket that mounts the muffler has cracked...I guess its time to take it off and weld back it together. It didn't crack at a weld, it was cracked right across the middle of the plate of steel (hopefully the rest of tractor holds up better than this in the future). I guess I'm spoiled b/c I grew up around a 1960s Cub Cadet my dad owned and that thing could be crashed into trees and/or bricks walls and still keep on going (not that I would know personally ). He also had a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee that was submerged in a flood in 1972, he drained all the water/fluids out of it, refilled them and it has been running strong ever since...plus it has spent its entire life sitting outside...I guess they just don't build 'em, like that anymore.

 

[ray66v]

Mufflers on the original GC's have been know to crack there occasionally.

Some were replaced under warranty, and I believe everyone was under the impression the problem had been corrected.

Time will tell if other 24 series have this problem, or yours is a fluke.

 

[Johnny_B]

Thanks for the info. It was quite suprising b/c there aren't any unusual sources of stress there (other than vibrations assosciated w/ the engine). Not exactly sure what issues earlier models had, but it wasn't the muffler (nor the bracket welded to the muffler) that cracked, it was the larger bracket that goes over the top of the engine/valve cover and then there is the entire muffler assembly which bolts to it in two different locations (it is the same bracket that also holds the air filter on the other side). Anyhow, I took it off the other night and now I need to weld it back together/repaint it