1260 muffler bracket keeps breaking

[philbuilt]

Hi
Ok my muffler's factory bracket keeps breaking. I welded it 2 times and breaks behind the weld. Was this bracket to short from the factory? I'm thinking that I should add a rubber spacer between, then perhaps it would hold. The muffler won't fall off without the bracket but I was thinking they wanted to keep the weight off of the manifold. see attached. Is this a common problem? http://home.maine.rr.com/bobob/tractor%20001a.JPG
Thanks
Phil

 

[JerryG]

I know on a car that a broken hanger can cause a broken manifold, but the pipe is so light and short that I don't think that you would have any problem even if you didn't fix it. I say this from have a MF 1250 and putting over a 1000 hours on it after the same break happening.