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G3 Tower Knob coming loose?


Fman

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Do you have the G3 Tower knob blues? We constantly had issus with this knob coming loose on the water. After a full season of wondering how I could tighten down the knob, I discovered something I wanted to pass along....under the knob there is an allen head fitting. Put the correct fitting on a ratchet wrench and you can really crank down the knob... since I have started doing this it has never come loose. Maybe I was the only one who never found this out, just wanted to pass the info along....

G3knob_reduced_zpsb27ba04f.jpg

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Good tip. What about putting a little medium hold lock tight?

I noticed that the polished aluminum of that knob is already starting to go dull. I had that issue with my the billet aluminum board racks I had on my last boat. After the first season, they never looked nice again and hand polishing aluminum does not work well and is very messy. This time around I upgraded my board racks and the G3 knob to anodize aluminum so they wont go dull with time. I know the anodize aluminum is not as shiny as newly polished aluminum, but I hope it looks better than regular billet aluminum after one or two seasons.

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I would not use any lock tight, especially for me because I put up and take the tower down often. The knobs never broke loose once I started using the ratchet wrench to tighten the knobs. Regarding the finish, a little mothers polish and they come back to brand new quickly. Mothers also works on the board racks as well.

I never knew you could order anodize aluminum for board racks and knobs. I had stainless on my '11, used Mothers once a year and they looked brand new all the time. Do you have any pictures of the alum knobs?

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I can't show you a picture of the anodized knobs (don't have one), but this video (

) does show a picture of the anodized billet aluminum G3 racks starting at 3:15 to 3:40 into the video (increase video quality to HD to see a good quality picture of the racks). The video even mentions the reduced maintenance of these racks. I had no problem shining up stainless steel bling in my boat, it was the billet aluminum that gave troubles. The G3 board racks are aluminum like my older racks were and after 1 year they didn't look very nice. Polishing aluminum requires a machine buffer (or so I thought) and I'm not sure how you would get at all the surfaces on the racks. When I tried to hand polish the aluminum it was super messy and didn't make any difference.

Were you really able to polish aluminum and make it look like new after a year or two without using a bench grinder with a polishing wheel?

Edited by Cory
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The upgrade price to anodize wasn't very much either. I also ordered the G3 name plates (tower bling), but those were not offered in anodized. So, I recently ordered a polishing wheel for my bench grinder so I can keep those looking new. Polishing board racks seems like it would be impossible--hence I ordered them anodized.

Edited by Cory
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The upgrade price to anodize wasn't very much either. I also ordered the G3 name plates (tower bling), but those were not offered in anodized. So, I recently ordered a polishing wheel for my bench grinder so I can keep those looking new. Polishing board racks seems like it would be impossible--hence I ordered them anodized.

I would like to see the name plates, those sound kind of cool, any pics of those? Great video, thanks for sharing... I like the anodized racks, but I think the polished go together better with the G3 hoop that is also stainless. Also like those ski racks they are making now....

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The name plates are show in this video starting at 3:18. I agree that the polished aluminum racks are nicer (when new), but I'm focusing on years 2 through N. I didn't have any success polishing my aluminum. I just ordered that Mother's aluminum polish on amazon. I'm still skeptical that it works without a polishing wheel. I guess I'll find out.

Edited by Cory
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The polish works better on stainless, its kept my board racks and G3 tower hoop in immaculant condition over the past two years. I really like the stuff, I never use a buffing wheel, all by hand it works great. Those G3 tower name plates are nice, assuming if you have the quad board racks the name plates go below it? I am going to have a fixed set on the top and the swivels down below, having the quad racks really makes a huge difference for storage in the boat.

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I wish Malibu would redesign the locking mechanism on the G3 towers to get rid of these knobs. Both Nautique and Mastercraft towers have easier and better locking mechanisms for their folding towers. .

I agree! That would be a nice upgrade...

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Fman, Malibu recommends that you use a Allen socket and turn it 1/4 to snug fit the knobs. How do I know this...ha they just replaced my tower and I questioned them about it at the Merced plant.

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Can't get the name plates if you have four board racks. They cover the unused holes in the tower if you only get a pair of board racks.

Bummer on name plates, those look really nice. They are going to look great on your boat. What boat model did you order?

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Mine came with an allen wrench looking tool that had malibu painted on it. one end of the tool was larger that fit the clamps for the tower, the other end was smaller and fit things like the tower knobs, etc...

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Mine came with an allen wrench looking tool that had malibu painted on it. one end of the tool was larger that fit the clamps for the tower, the other end was smaller and fit things like the tower knobs, etc...

So that's what that wrench is for?! I had forgotten all about that wrench!

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I've had my knobs come a little loose a few times because I have to take my tower down everytime I put my boat in my hoist, now the threads are actually rubbing on the inside of the tower when it screws in too. It seems like the tower could be a little out of alignment or something. I'm not sure what I should do about it.

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I think someone on this site had the same problem and the dealer had to re-align the tower somehow. I took my tower down often because I always kept the boat in the garage when not being used and never had an issue with threads aligning. Have you contacted your dealer about this?

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I think someone on this site had the same problem and the dealer had to re-align the tower somehow. I took my tower down often because I always kept the boat in the garage when not being used and never had an issue with threads aligning. Have you contacted your dealer about this?

I haven't talked to my dealer about it, I will though, is there a way to align it or does it have to be replaced?

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