I have a 525SC that recently broke an exhaust stud rocker. Stud does no appear to be ARP so i got a set and will be replacing them all with ARP. Questions is would it be worth it to invest in some stud girdles to prevent future problems.

no, with the camshafts and spring pressures most of us run in our boats not needed....ck lifters as well....could have another issue that caused the stud failure...very rare by the way...of course could be some cheap chinese junk part....tons floating around being sold under brand names !!!

On my Merc 420's I broke studs every other weekend. (Exhaust side) I had no idea how old they were and I would run those engines with the sticks to the wood all day. I removed the intake to check lifters, cam, looked for broken springs and never found out the problem. (Not saying that I didn't have one) I replaced those Manley with ARP and never had a problem again.

well unfortuntly it has scarred the camshaft when the lifter broke. so engine will be coming out the boat and the cam changed. prob upgrade to a roller. as wel. i pulled the rocker studs and noticed on a few it looked like it was starting to pull the threads, so im pretty sure thats what led to failure. but like i said. they will all be changed with good ARP stuff.

First time I've read about that problem on a 525SC. The stock spring pressures are not that high to begin with. I changed to the ARP studs when I upgraded my cam to a Crane 731 roller in my 525SC. Never had an issue, but the spring pressures were close to the max recommended for the 3/8 bottom studs.

Which cam is that griff? I was looking at the crane cam 139011 roller to go back with.

Crane 168731. Its the same specs as the 139011, just for different Gen BBC's.

oh ok, so youd def recommend to go with that cam. i see alot of guys go with the crane cams. i found one by comp cams almost same specs. but alot cheaper. is there a reason i should spend the extra money to go with the crane? or is it just a brand thing. Also i know my boat is a 98. but not sure on the year of the engine. im guessing only way to tell is the serial number? to make sure i order the correct cam