Alpha Z Tower rattles

[phm118]

I have an 09 Alpha Z tower - love it but I have two issues - when in rough water lots of rattling. Next, the tower pins get stuck. Any tips.

[jschnip]

Our '10 alpha Z makes some noise - here is what we have deducted:

1)the wakeboard rack bolts seem to have worked themselves loose..sortof; when we try to tighten them, they seem relatively tight. The rack it self actually rocks back and forth (didn't have that gap when we got it), and looks like its rubbing the paint off the tower
2)we have one lock/unlock pin that likes to rattle towards unlock; tightening it back to lock gets rid of some noise
3)not related to noise, but make sure you have removable locktite on your wakeboard binding set screws - one of ours rattled out this weekend, luckily the binding held with just one until someone noticed it.
4)make sure to balance out your boards, especially if you are carrying surf boards and wakeboards like us, play around with the combination's to see if that helps
5)one of our swivel lock release buttons appears to be loose, which makes some noise - it appears to be a replaceable item, its actually fallen out of the hole a few times, luckily we havn't lost it

I read in another post that the Z wake board racks alone are $1,600? I preferred the usability of the E series racks, seemed a lot better (we did however weld our E series to make sure the internal bolts didn't sheer off). The Z tower is so low, that when you try to swivel the rack in, its pretty much impossible with speakers on your tower. Everyone likes the way the Z looks - but I think if they would have made it 12-18" taller, with some sort of integrated bimini system, it would have been much better.

I'm going to take the wakeboard racks completely off and see if I can some how get rid of the gap that's causing them to rattle/rub. Anyone else noticed this?

[Duncan]

Be sure you have the longer factory wb rack bolts. Tige initially included bolts that were too short; as a consequence, they would frequently loosen or when the rack was struck, pull out (yeah, that last one was me).

[dingleberry]

On our '09, I think that I remember our dealer mentioning once after a service that he had replaced some bushings with an updated version, which he said should make it a little quieter. Maybe check with your dealer if that is correct/available.

Also, one of our swivel racks will regularly begin to loosen up. I just tighten down the allen bolt and it holds for a while. I really should get some loc-tite to help hold it better.

Regarding the main pins getting stuck, I didn't have that problem until this year. Before taking it out for the first trip, I pulled the pins and lowered the tower just to make sure everything seemed in order. One of the pins was a real PITA to get out. Found it went much easier when I applied a little force with one hand on the tower itself (moving it back - toward the folded position). It moved the tower very slightly, but enough to allow the pin to pull out easily.

[phm118]

Thanks for the input - I have some areas to look at this weekend.

As for the rack - Get Loc-tite on your rack and the longer bolt. I was doing the same routine of periodic tightening. I think I had the short bolt as the threads lock <.5 inch. The bad news - I was out running across the lake at 28mph against a 15mph cross wind. The combined force ripped the rack, board and all from the tower.

[Guapo]

The only issue I've had with my Alpha Z tower is the board racks coming loose. I lost one driving down the interstate at 75mph. Went back to get it and it was bent up, but surprisingly usable. The dealer replaced it under warranty. Don't know the cost of the factory racks but the sampson racks are around $500 to $600 each. I have a samson surf/surf rack on the port side. (I also have the original damaged factory rack and the replacement rack...lol).

As far as the other issues and having to balance out our boards, rattling, etc....I haven't had to do any of that. My Alpha Z is rock solid...

[Duncan]

The only issue I've had with my Alpha Z tower is the board racks coming loose. I lost one driving down the interstate at 75mph. Went back to get it and it was bent up, but surprisingly usable. The dealer replaced it under warranty. Don't know the cost of the factory racks but the sampson racks are around $500 to $600 each. I have a samson surf/surf rack on the port side. (I also have the original damaged factory rack and the replacement rack...lol).

Hah! I have a Samson rack on the port side and a factory rack on the starboard side--twin RZ2s!. My factory port rack has a broken aluminum finger but is otherwise ok. I will soon replace the starboard rack with a Samson but I really want a triple finger (wake/surf/wake).