The bolt that attached the muffler can to the engine loosened up on my customers Toro tractor. This allowed the heavy can of the muffler to bounce up and down, which caused the weld that attached the can to the pipe to fail in the heat affected zone of the weld.
Picture 1 & 2 show the cracked pipe
My customer had sticker shock when he attempted to order a replacement muffler because these mufflers go for over $200. He took the mower apart and wire brushed the parts and replaced them so that I could tack weld them together right on the mower.
Picture 3 shows the tack welded muffler.
Next we removed the muffler assembly and MIG welded it together.
Picture 4 shows the MIG welded muffler
Last but not least we installed the muffler back on the mower. This time we attached the muffler can to the mower with a longer screw, so that we could have room for a lock nut on the back side. I believe that the loose screw was the root cause of the failure.
Picture 5 shows the muffler installed on the mower.
Don