Monster Tower Crack

[time2kyl]

Great service! I do not think they had to do that.

I don't think they had to either. I was prepared to have to pay for new parts. I'm pretty sure it was out of warranty. I think they are curious to figure out what went wrong. In any event they will get my recommendation for their customer service any day.

[dogbert]

That's just the way they are and that's why their customers, like me, will buy more of their stuff.

[time2kyl]

Got my new top section yesterday. The replacement they sent me even has the swivel tow point. Kinda gimicky IMO but awesome nonetheless!!!

[mneal]

Most of the tubing I have seen on towers is 6061 or 6063, around a temper of T4 or T6. That is not really a temper and alloy that is known for being bent, the bending required to make a tower member is really not very harsh as compared to a 5052 alloy or something typically used for sheet-metal and lots of forming. I am not sure what alloy Monster uses.

Look into the grades of aluminum used. There's quite a difference. For towers, you need something that will bend well.

I disagree, I am not talking about the seats and side panels, I mean the structural members, the guts of a plane? Almost every piece is bent and formed. The single load case strength of most common stainless steels is not much different then 6061 aluminum . Pick an typical SS and check, for example 300 series stainless has a yield strength of 39,900 PSI, as compared to a YS of 6061 aluminum is 36,00 psi . What you need to look at is yield, not ultimae because you are trying not to bend the tower.
There's not much (if any) bent tubing on an airplane. The fatigue strength of the grades of aluminum used on towers isn't anywhere near what stainless would be.

I did a finite element structural analysis once of a tower I designed and the loads and stresses are super low, you could put lots of fat guys on a tube and still not approach the yield strength of the tower, that certainly does not mean it will not fail under repeated loading or the structure that holds it (boat where tower attached) . You are correct though a larger diameter pipe is a great way to add stiffness, round tubes are really good section modulus shapes and like Monsters adds say, bigger is always better. :-)
But how many boat manufacturers are willing to pay for towers that are made out of 3" pipe? The majority of towers made are 1.5". If you put too many cross-members in it, nobody will like the looks. If you don't put enough, it will have increased failure rates.

I am talking the fatigue strength after repeated loading (S-N curve)
Are you comparing fatigue to Ultimate Tensile Strength? It's quite a bit different.

Aluminum has a higher stiffness ratio and stiffness reduces flex, any flex will causes work hardening , work hardening reduces strength over time. Of course all of these things can happen at far different rates, if the cycles to failure is 6 billion times then you don't worry about it. In military hardware design you try to get the expected lifespan to be 1x10^7 cycles for expected life. (long time)
In what way is aluminum going to be stronger than stainless?

I am not doubting or questioning your welding knowledge, I am simply saying it was not really a design flaw IMHO. I think we agree something out of ordinary happened, we just sorta disagree with root cause of that event. You are also right , you cannot have 100% inspection for a production anything unless you wan to increase the price 5X. I hope somehow thru this site or some other avenue we find out what the root cause was, I love failure analysis stuff like this, it is like a puzzle.
I knew back in the day Monster had the best customer service around, it is nice to hear that has remained with the sale of the company.
I believe it was a welding issue. I'm actually an AWS Certified Welding Inspector. It's part of what I do for a living. I'm not trying to criticize the company, as things like this will always happen. You just can't x-ray every weld on every tower. I do know they have taken some big steps in improving their welding quality. Test results have proven improvements in strength.




BTW, good to hear that Tom is taking care of this issue. He's a good guy.[/QUOTE]

[Domsz06]

Spoke with Tom and exchanged emails. Monster Tower is going to send me a new top section and a shipping label to send the damaged one back all under warranty. They rock.

Tom has always taken care of me with my racks.

He is a great guy, and they have a great customer service!!

way to be Monster!!!

[tessa]

hey!!!, it is not nice to make fun of old people. Make fun of the kids, make fun of the 45 yo old and under. But us old people have no memory left. We lost too many brain cells with bad habits in the late 60's and all o f the 70's. Man thats a lot of missing brain cells.