If you have an Illusion XS Tower SAVE THIS THREAD!

[djheywood]

So I have an  08 LSV with the XS tower.  I have to raise and lower my tower every time I but the boat back into my garage.

At the end of last season, one of the metal guide wires that supports the load by stretching the spring under the gunnel snapped, leaving me with a tower that no longer had the nice assisted lowering or raising.  In the failure, two parts broke.  The first was the metal cable itself.  It snapped in half.  This cable is a metal cable with some pressed on ends that allow it to be screwed into the tower, and slip over one side of the spring.  I was able to buy two of these cables from Andrew at Bakes.  Luckily they still had two stashed away in the back room.

The other piece that broke was a plastic wheel (I learned it is officially called a pulley) that is held in place by a bolt under the gunnel and acts as a guide for the wire when the tower is lowered or raised.  Bakes did not know where to find this part.  Luckily for me, I noticed "Sava Ind" stamped on the back of the broken piece of the wheel I still had.  After a few phone calls and some internet sleuthing, I was able to locate the same part through McMaster-Carr.  I am posting this information here in case this ever happens to anyone else, you have somewhere to go to buy the replacement wheel.  They were about $3 each plus shipping.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#t/=17nrg4y

It is under the "Pulleys for Wire Rope for Horizontal Pulling" section and has the following dimensions: Diameter 1.75", Width 5/16", and shaft diameter of 1/4"

It is part number 3434T37.

Now I just need to put it all together, just waiting for my new set of bushings from Bakes.  May as well make the tower like new right?

 

I'm just guessing here but it appears the re-installation procedure will be as follows:

1. Unscrew the bolt holding the guide wheel and replace with the new wheel. (Only if yours broke like mine)

2. Unscrew the bolt on the end of the spring and make it as long as possible. (So the spring reaches as far possible towards the bow of the boat). 

3. Screw the cable into the tower in the collapsed position.  Drop the other end of the cable into the hole in the gunnel. 

4. Raise the tower and insert the rear pins.

5. Now grab the wire from under the gunner, route it over the wheel under the gunnel and connect the other end to the end of the spring. (I'm hoping it reaches.  This seems to me to be the only way you can re-install these things)

6. Once the cable is reconnected, tighten the bolt on the end off the spring plate to give more tension so the springs carry more weight.  It looks like I had mine set as tight as possible to carry the max weight.  Maybe that's why this thing broke?  Who knows. 

I'm planning the install this weekend.  I'll update here with the results.

Hopefully nobody else ever has to deal with this.

Brian

[djheywood]

So the saga continues.  I am unable to remove the pin that holds this pulley in place.  It is some kind of hollow pin that goes through the piece under the gunnel.  I can insert an allen wrench all the way through the pin.  It is not hex on the inside it appears smooth.  Same for the outside.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how this little pin comes out.  Of course, since it is in the gunnel there is very little room to work or see anything either.  Anyone have any ideas or thoughts?

[Malibuguru0515]

On May 20, 2017 at 0:10 AM, djheywood said:

So the saga continues.  I am unable to remove the pin that holds this pulley in place.  It is some kind of hollow pin that goes through the piece under the gunnel.  I can insert an allen wrench all the way through the pin.  It is not hex on the inside it appears smooth.  Same for the outside.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how this little pin comes out.  Of course, since it is in the gunnel there is very little room to work or see anything either.  Anyone have any ideas or thoughts?

i believe the pin that holds the bully in is a pressed "roll pin" or "split pin", probably be hard to get that out  while in the boat. you will probably have to take the spring assist assy out of the boat. probably a days job and a few people. if yo lower tower you can maybe tie it or support it from the ceiling in the center and at the side that needs work.  3, 3/4" hex bolts to unbolt the tower base, 2 #3 phillips screws that hold spring assist to gunnel, will have to remove some wires that run though the spring assist plate.  may have to remove the boat combing pad assy to get plate out. that only held in place by some 7/16" nuts and a few hard to find screws... good luck. its not hard work, you just have to take stuff apart...

[djheywood]

Thanks for the reply.  I fixed it yesterday before I saw your post.  Here is the walkthrough on how to fix or remove your Illusion X or XS Tower.

NOTE:  These steps assume your cable broke like mine did.  If your cable is still intact, you will need to put the tower in the up position, loosen the nut on the end of the spring assembly to create slack in the cable underneath, and remove it from the end of the spring.

I was able to do this by myself.  With the tower in the down position resting on my dashboard (under a towel) the tower really didn't move much when the bolts were removed.  I was able to nudge it around while the other side was still bolted down.

Step 1: Fish out the wires from under the gunnel that go to the side of the tower you are working on.  For my port side, this was just the tower speaker wires.  Pull them down into the cupholder area and cut them.  I labeled mine first so I made sure to connect them back up the same way later.  After you cut them, pull the wires out the top of the gunnel.

Step 2: Remove the three 3/4" socket bolts holding the spring assembly to the gunnel.  You will need a socket with an extension.  I think mine was around 9" along with a deep socket in order to reach.

Step 3: Now that the three 3/4" bolts have been removed you should be able to nudge your tower towards the inside of the boat, exposing the two hex screws holding the spring assemble to the underside of the gunnel.

Step 4: Remove these two hex screws, I believe mine worked with a Metric#4 hex key.  Once these are removed the spring assembly is loose underneath and can be removed by sliding it towards the stern of the boat and out the corner storage area.  (Be careful of the wires.  As I removed mine I accidentally unplugged the 12 volt accessory plug and the speaker.  Easy to fix, just glad I noticed)  Victory!  This is the bad boy you had to finesse out from the gunnel!

Step 5: The spring can be removed from the cylinder if not already removed.  If you are replacing the pulley like I had to, you will notice there is a bent press pin holding the pulley in place.  Why they didn't use a smooth shaft screw or pin with cotter on the other side is beyond me, but whatever.  Guess that's why Metcraft went out of business.  Using a hammer and a bolt matching the same diameter, I pounded the pin out far enough to replace the pulley.

To be continued...

 

Thanks!

Edited May 30, 2017 by djheywood

[djheywood]

Step 6: Replace the pulley and pound the pin back into place.  I suppose I could have replaced with a bolt but I didn't.

Step 7: Place the spring back into the holder and loosen the nut on the end (7/16" I believe) so the spring is moved as far forward as possible.  This makes reinstallation of the cable possible. (But don't reinstall yet like my picture shows.  You need to drop it through the gunnel first) Positioning the spring lined up with the cutout will help you when you try to connect the cable.

Step 8: Connect your fixed spring assembly to the tower.  (Same #4 metric hex key worked for me on this bolt)

Step 9: This was the hardest part for me, and where I could have used a second person.  Place the spring assembly back under the gunnel (avoiding all the wires) and screw it back in using the two hex screws that hold it to the gunnel.  I had success by lining up the bolt closest to the bow by feel of my finger and getting a few threads started, then I was able to get the back bolt.  Having a second person would make this much easier.

Step 10: Nudge your tower back in place and reinstall the three 3/4" bolts holding the tower to the boat.  If your rubber gasket was out of position like mine was this is a good time to replace or at least move it where it belongs before you reconnect the tower.  I wish I had sourced a new one but I did not.  Oh well.

Step 11: Drop the cable down the hole in the gunnel.

Step 12: Place the tower back up and insert the pins so you have slack on the cable to reinstall over the spring.  Route the cable around the pulley and into the forward end of the spring.  Now go back to the 7'16" nut at the stern side of the spring assembly and tighten it as far as you can to tighten the cable.  Mine still had a little slack on it in the tightest setting, but once the tower starts going down it engages the spring.

Step 13:  Drop your cut wires back into the gunnel and reconnect them using wire nuts or waterproof crimp connectors. 

 

Pat yourself on the back.  Your tower now raises and lowers again with use of the springs!

If you need to remove your tower for whatever reason you just follow these steps for both sides and lift the tower off with the help of a friend.

 I hope this helps other owners out there.  It has been a long road but i'm very satisfied that I was able to fix this and return my tower to the way it was.

Edited May 30, 2017 by djheywood

[minnmarker]

Very good how-to.

Thanks, but I hope I never have the need to refer back to it!

[chiefoh]

I know I'm coming into this years later, so my appreciation for these instructions may fall on deaf ears, but I cannot begin to tell you how much this helped. It was concise and well written so even I could understand what to do. Nothing better than knowing what to expect when you don't know what you're doing.
Gotta love the internet!

[djheywood]

Happy to help and thanks for the reply!  I put a lot of time into that fix and wanted to pay it forward.  Good Luck!

[jonthefireman]

Same here, this post helped me a TON!  While I didn't have to do this entire job, it helped me understand what was involved in replacing the bushings. 

[chiefoh]

One thing I can't quite put my finger on  is how were you able to tighten the spring while it's mounted up inside the gunnel? This may be what's wrong with mine, because it appears it's no longer attached on the threaded end & somehow became disconnected.
Any hints?

[djheywood]

I didn't have to tighten mine, just hook everything back up when the tower is up, which allows to spring to remain at rest.  You should see on the end of the spring where it connects to the end without the cable, there is a long screw with a nut and hole to fit over the end of the spring.  If your spring has been stretched out a little bit you may be able to adjust that nut a bit and the end cap to get the spring tight.  If not you may need a new spring.  Just my thoughts.

 

Good luck.

[chiefoh]

Hmmm, it appears the threaded end has come unthreaded, or it's broken off. I'd be ecstatic if I could re-thread without taking it out. But it doesn't appear there's a way to adjust while it's installed in the gunnel. 

**** Since the colleges are all online now, my son is home for the year & with his good eyes and he found two options! The first way to access the nut on the back side of the spring is through the rear ballast compartment. It requires a small bodied person or someone extremely flexible, he was able to see what he was doing. The second option is to remove the corner seat cushion, & reach up inside the rear side wall gunnel, where my forearm fits up with a wrench or a socket. The downside is there's no way of seeing what you're doing without a video snake camera. ****

Edited March 30, 2020 by chiefoh
found a solution!

[Patrick65686]

Anyone know where to get the cables for this? I have a 23LSV that has no cable on either side and cannot find the parts for it. I have not tried the dealer yet but I'm hoping I don't have to. Any info will be great.

[GR8TOW]

2 hours ago, Patrick65686 said:

Anyone know where to get the cables for this? I have a 23LSV that has no cable on either side and cannot find the parts for it. I have not tried the dealer yet but I'm hoping I don't have to. Any info will be great.

https://www.mcmaster.com/wire-rope/diameter~1-8/attachment-type~eye/material~stainless-steel/wire-rope-coating~uncoated/

The cable for my tower is 1/8" x 21" long. This site only had a 18" or 24" stock cable. You can special order the length you need, it is just more expensive. I opted for the special length to make sure I had the room to adjust the tension.

You can see in this picture where my cable broke. I also had to replace the plastic pulley.