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G3 tower stuck upright - successfully repaired


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My first gen G3 is stuck in the up position. Somehow the top portion of the tower is shifted forward and down slightly relative to base. Now the front edge of the chrome tube hits the base and won’t allow it to tilt forward. And this shift means the head of the pivot bolt is trapped behind the edge of the access hole in the chrome tube. I can access the hex to turn the bolt but only about 5-10 degrees before the bolt head hits the inside of the tube. Both pivot bolts are tight.

When I push up on the tower, it appears the base pivot point moves slightly. Does anyone know how this pivot point ear that sticks up out of the base is attached? It looks like that ear is a separate piece from the base and sticks down inside the base. This ear seems to be leaning forward slightly causing the problem.

Only solution I see is removing the entire tower including base together as one piece from the boat deck. Painful. Plus I cannot find any connectors in the wiring. Will I have to disconnect the tower speaker wires at amps?

I already removed speakers and Bimini top. 

Does anyone have pictures or drawings of this area to better understand what went wrong and how to fix?

How heavy is the tower? Can two guys lift it high enough to get the base studs to come free from the deck and lay the whole tower down on some boards or towels right in place on dash and gunnels?

Edited by lonestar
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  • 2 weeks later...

The hoop has a plate welded inside about 4" from the bottom tube opening and in this plate is a tapped hole. Installed in the tapped hole is a threaded heim joint (or spherical rod end). This spherical rod end is 1/2-20 threads with a 1/2 hole. Mine was threaded in ~16 turns. The tower base has an ear machined into it that protrudes up into the hoop tube and this ear has a 1/2-20 tapped hole. The connection is a 1/2-20 socket head capscrew pivot bolt that is visible thru the hole in the hoop. It has a thin jam nut on the outside of everything. This nut is why I couldn’t get the pivot bolt to turn more than a few degrees.

Since my spherical rod ends were bent, I could not remove the pivot capscrew. I had to use a Dremel to grind open the hole enlarging it to gain access. Once this was done, I removed the screw and laid the tower down. I had to remove the gas spring attachment plate too.

I was able to do all this by myself once the speakers and Bimini were removed to lighten the assembly. And I did not have to remove the tower bases which I feared since the wiring would have to be cut.

I purchased the new rod ends at McMaster Carr and also bought some rubber hole plugs to insert in the access hole since mine are now unevenly enlarged.

edit: the hole covers did not work as the cap screw head once installed is sticking out too far, almost flush with the tube leaving no room for rubber grommet cover.

Edited by lonestar
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If you are going to keep it for awhile, I would recommend replacing the tower struts while you have it disassembled. I went from the 215lb ones to the 275s and was very happy with the performance of them. I got my struts from the dealer with a discount. There are a couple write ups on here on where to get them elsewhere for cheaper it seems.

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I am the one that found Gemini in Canada and posted it. I ordered 250 lb springs for my one pair of rev10s. They are a little too strong as my tower springs up and stays up on its own. My guess is 225-235 would be closer to what is needed for one pair. My 150s were perfect for empty tower as they make it weightless and it would stay wherever you put it. 

Edited by lonestar
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