Modifying a titan tower

[danadog]

I have found few great deals on a couple Titan 2 and 3 towers but they are all to wide for my 93 Echelon. Have any of you cut or have you heard of cutting down a Titan to make it narrower then welding it back together? I know I should save up more cash and just buy one made for my boat but cash is a little tight.

Thanks

Edited July 23, 2010 by danadog

[stroker-ace]

I have found few great deals on a couple Titan 2 and 3 towers but they are all to wide for my 93 Echelon. Have any of you cut or have you heard of cutting down a Titan to make it narrower then welding it back together? I know I should save up more cash and just buy one made for my boat but cash is a little tight.

Thanks

Buy those towers, then flip them on Ebay for profit and buy a tower that fits. Or pocket the money. That is my opinion.

It takes a very experienced TIG welder to weld stainless steel.

[Bill_AirJunky]

No, I have never heard of anyone doing it.

How much difference in width are you talking about? Seems like the rear hoop could be cut & sleeved pretty easily. If you can weld it, that would be better, but bolting it together might work too (see Skylon's Swoop). The new joint might add some unwanted flex in it though. The front wishbone might be tougher to mod though. Have to be a pretty talented fabricator to do it. Then it would need to be re-coated. Seems like it's getting expensive & time consuming pretty quickly.

[68Slalom]

I'm not sure what kind of deal your getting but I would think that having the tubes bent so the brackets mount in the proper location would be the safest way to approach this, but by the time you get done paying someone to do that your going to be in it much more than buying one that fits properly.

[martinarcher]

If you can get them for a decent price I would say go for it. It's just stainless tubing. Have a competent shop cut and weld it toward the joining plate and you'd hardly notice it. Just keep in mind Titan said you can move each leg up to 2 inches from it's manufactured position so if your close you can squeeze the tower in a bit to work with your boat width. Mine was bent apart a couple inches when I got it. A rachet strap makes quick work of narrowing it back up a few inches.

[danadog]

Thanks for the input guys,

I am off to talk with my fabricator buddy to see what his thoughts are.

Stay tuned

[Faceplant409]

How much are we talking?? If its only a matter of a few inches I'd consider just bending it slightly. It would not be that hard at all!

[danadog]

How much are we talking?? If its only a matter of a few inches I'd consider just bending it slightly. It would not be that hard at all!

Faceplant,

The front is 6 inches to wide and the back is 10 inches to wide. How would you recommend bending it and would that be to much to try for?

Thanks

[martinarcher]

Faceplant,

The front is 6 inches to wide and the back is 10 inches to wide. How would you recommend bending it and would that be to much to try for?

Thanks

You could probably give the front a go, but 10 inches is quite a bit for the rear.

I used a couple ratchet strap wrapped around the legs of my rear hoop to bring it in two inches. It was really easy.

[Levi900RR]

You could probably give the front a go, but 10 inches is quite a bit for the rear.

I used a couple ratchet strap wrapped around the legs of my rear hoop to bring it in two inches. It was really easy.

I would think 4-5 inches would be about as much as you would want to try and bend it...

[danadog]

Well,

I ended up picking up a Titan 2 from Tommy's on Friday and with a little help from some cam straps and my neighbor the tower is installed. I will work on posting some pictures soon.

Thanks to everyone for your advise.

Shawn

[martinarcher]

Well,

I ended up picking up a Titan 2 from Tommy's on Friday and with a little help from some cam straps and my neighbor the tower is installed. I will work on posting some pictures soon.

Thanks to everyone for your advise.

Shawn

Sweet. So you whacked that thing 10 inches narrower with just straps? How's it look? The Titan's narrow pretty fast at the top so I doubt it looks bad at all. Nice work!

Edited August 14, 2010 by martinarcher