M25XP (and M25 Modified) Alternator Bracket Failure Report

[Stu Jackson]

I have just received a report from Duane Quick, Irish Whiskey, #635, 1988, that he experienced a catastrophic failure of his alternator bracket.

The bracket broke at the top, dropping the alternator.  It appears that what he describes as a weld at the aft portion of the top fork of the bracket failed first, leading to the failure of the front part of the fork as well.

Please note that this is NOT the type of bracket described in my earlier Projects write up here: http://www.c34.org/projects/projects-alt-bracket.html

It is a NEW failure previously unreported as far as I know.

Duane and Debbie's boat has an XP.  He has a 125A alternator with an external three stage regulator.  Many of us with M25 engines have replaced the old bracket with the "new" brackets that came "standard" on the M25XP engines, which make the brackets pretty much identical.

Even given this information, if you do have an M25 with the old bracket, read the post referenced above, and get the new bracket. Like, uhm immediately.  I had the bracket on board but "hadn't gotten around to it yet...(that was back in 1998)"  Duh...dumb!

Duane recommends that each owner check their brackets carefully.  He reports less than 700 engine hours.

As I get more information and pictures, I will post them here.

[Stu Jackson]

Here's a photo of the damage.

[Tom Soko]

Stu and Duane,
That looks like a NASTY break.  I wonder if the 125A alternator had anything to do with it?

[Stu Jackson]

Tom, could be the "heavier" alternator, but we've heard of many others who have installed Powerline 125s and have not reported any problems.  I had a long discussion with jvss over on co.com about the size of his larger one, too.  Not sure how much heavier in pounds the bigger alternator is and would think that with proper belt tension shouldn't be too much of an issue for that bracket.  jvss's concern was the bracket, too, and I'm sure he saw this.  The larger concern is side torque on the bearings of the water pump, which can be mitigated with a proper power management program on an externally regulated alternator, which i suggested that Duane consider.