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Broken wedge


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Well we broke off the powerwedge on our 06 VLX today. Same fault as always. The bolts broke on one "leg" and bent the other one. I thought this was supposed to be fixed, but obviously its not. I haven't heard of this problem on a powerwedge before. It has 240 Hours on it and about 30 of those are from this year.

Has the design changed for 07 on the powerwedge too? I think its in on piece now, or is it?

I read about wakegirls change to a floating wedge that needed a new bracket, is the bracket for the powerwedge the same this year?

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Yea, all the new ones are welded. I think only the very early power wedges had bolts. I am sure they will replace it with a new style.

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Well I have 185 hours on my 06 with the power wedge no trouble yet, but I will have to keep an eye on it and make sure its solid before I launch. I know the 07 have a one piece foil and arm and my 06 has three bolts going into each arm. Hope this doesn't happen but if it does I will be demanding the new boltless wedge.

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It had 3-bolts. We heard a rattling noise just before noticing it and i think the way it happend was that 2 boltheads broke off and the third bolt fell off. I couldnt see very well because the boat is still in the water, and I was using goggles in murky water. Ill get pics when we pull it out.

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Wow, that was something that I didn't know, I thought that all of the power wedges were welded. And yours had 3 bolts, not 2 (which made up the majority of the old wedges that would have this problem). So were you able to raise the wedge up or is it bent enough to prevent that? I can't help you on the bracket, but I'd be surprised if they made a change like that.

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I haven't had that problem yet, hopefully never do, but my boat is out of service right now because one of the actuators or pistons, that bring the wedge up and down broke. Now my wedge is only 3/4 of the way up. I can't drive it now for fear that I might rip it right off, and I am in a slip all season, so my dealer is going to fix it for me. My boat is an 06 and this my first use of my wedge this season. I'm not too worried though cause my dealer, San Bar Marina, here in NJ is really good and should have me back up and running in no time. One question though, this should be covered under warranty right?

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I haven't had that problem yet, hopefully never do, but my boat is out of service right now because one of the actuators or pistons, that bring the wedge up and down broke. Now my wedge is only 3/4 of the way up. I can't drive it now for fear that I might rip it right off, and I am in a slip all season, so my dealer is going to fix it for me. My boat is an 06 and this my first use of my wedge this season. I'm not too worried though cause my dealer, San Bar Marina, here in NJ is really good and should have me back up and running in no time. One question though, this should be covered under warranty right?

Kronk,

If you need a pull PM me. I'm at Lee's Park. Although I am not set up for boarding, you would still be on the water with teeny tiny wakes, but any wakes are better than no wakes. Unless you're a skier that is.

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I've seen several of the old style wedges that have to screws to attach the foil to the arms and heard many descriptions about more breaking like this. In many of the instances there were one or two screws that broke and one that was gone. This happened to mine too. In my case where one was gone and one broke. I think that one actually loosened and fell out, the other broke because it couldn't hold the foil on under the pressure. Since I had it repaired I check the screws often and still find one a little loose at times.

Check your foil screws if you have them and you might prevent this wedge problem. I tighten mine with an impact hammer. (Yes, I have used lock tight too) This may not prevent all of the problems but I think it would have saved mine.

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Thanks Baddog will shoot you a PM if I get some time before I'm back up and running. Actually not a bad time to have the boat down cause I have to work and then will be away for a few days.

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Since the new fix is to weld the foil to the support arms, has anyone tried welding the older units with screws to avoid the fastener failure? Dontknow.gif

SAS

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  • 3 weeks later...

So they sent a whole new unit!

P6300489.sized.jpg

There is a small spacer that was welded on the outside of the old frame that is now located on the inside. This makes the "legs" of the wedge about 7-8mms narrower.

Swapping the thing was easy. Took about an hour. At least now we have spare hydraulics. Thumbup.gif

One thing Ive always been curious about is how the powerwedge gauge works. Now I know that it doesn't. There are no sensors in the wedge at all, so its just a matter of timing how long the switch is activated...

More pictures of the swap

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Those pics of the install are pretty cool. Now that you've installed the new power wedge.......

For God's sake, wash your boat. Tease2.gif

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Those pics of the install are pretty cool. Now that you've installed the new power wedge.......

For God's sake, wash your boat. Tease2.gif

I know!!!!! Its been in for a couple of months now so Its time for a big clean! Biggrin.gif

It looks bad, but it washes off quite easily.

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Check your foil screws if you have them and you might prevent this wedge problem. I tighten mine with an impact hammer. (Yes, I have used lock tight too) This may not prevent all of the problems but I think it would have saved mine.

I did this as well when we installed the wedge and have had no problems.

Thumbup.gif

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