Alpha Z HeliCoil Advice

[jschnip]

We had one of our racks on the Alpha Z come crashing into the boat (with only 1 wakeboard at the time). Luckily my friend's shoulder seems to be fine, but he was holding a small dog, which could have been seriously injured by the weight, etc. I had tightened the bolts that morning, but apparently you need to check them throughout the day. Tige suggested having a dealer put a helicoil in - and since we're 250 miles from any dealer, my father in law is going to do it for us. Luckily he has a machine shop and said he had the proper tools.

Any advice from others out there who have had to helicoil these mounts before we do it? We're going to do both sides, just to be safe. Strange we have board mount problems again - had to weld our '06 mounts (E? series tower) together so they wouldn't split apart (thanks to the heads up we got on this site, they never actually did shear off).

Note I've read about the bolts not being long enough - ours looked fine, but I've included a pic to be sure if anyone could elaborate what the proper length should be.

[River Runner]

Heli-coil might do just fine.

I prefer to use time-sert. Much higher quality for thread repairs than heli-coil.

http://www.timesert.com/

[Duncan]

I smacked my stock board rack on an upright pulling into our slip. Ripped up the threads. Our dealer put in a helicoil which worked fine.

Those board racks still make me nervous--I have gotten into the habit of checking to make sure they are tight several times during every day on the water. Nervous habit.

[GIZMO]

Heli-coil might do just fine.

I prefer to use time-sert. Much higher quality for thread repairs than heli-coil.

http://www.timesert.com/

2nd that on the time-sert, heli coil is just a band-aid. Time -sert better than new.

[jschnip]

We went ahead with the Helicoil (mainly because we didn't have the timesert) - didn't take long with the proper tap.

I'm still planning on checking them regularly for tightness, and hopefully no problems arise, but if they do, will definitely try the timesert.

Thanks for the tips.

[rmason256]

2nd that on the time-sert, heli coil is just a band-aid. Time -sert better than new.

3rd that on the time-sert. My girl friend slipped and used a wakeboard to help her from going in the water at the dock. She didn't even put all of her weight on it and she doesnt weigh much. I repaired it with a time-sert. Very solid. I also noticed that Samson gave bolts that were to short so I replaced the other sides bolt with one a 1/4 inch longer. The bolt they provided only used half of the threads in the tower.

[lohe]

4th on time sert.

But a helicoil will work, time serts are just stronger.

[ajholt7]

Have had good luck with these. http://www.hansonrivet.com/w65.htm
Similiar to the time-sert

[mooney08]

So after introducing my rack to the boat slip this past wkend ill be doing the thread repair thing this week as well. I was planning on going the helicoil route but after reading this thread seems timesert is the better option. Im repairing my alpha z for samson swivel racks. Called and ordered some longer bolts as well. Question is should i go ahead and place a timesert in the undamaged side as well? Would this along with the longer bolt be a better option than what i have or should i leave the good side as is? Lastly, would anyone happen to know what size kit i need for the samson bolt? Otherwise i can call tomorrow...Thanks

[Duncan]

So after introducing my rack to the boat slip this past wkend ill be doing the thread repair thing this week as well. I was planning on going the helicoil route but after reading this thread seems timesert is the better option. Im repairing my alpha z for samson swivel racks. Called and ordered some longer bolts as well. Question is should i go ahead and place a timesert in the undamaged side as well? Would this along with the longer bolt be a better option than what i have or should i leave the good side as is? Lastly, would anyone happen to know what size kit i need for the samson bolt? Otherwise i can call tomorrow...Thanks

Good luck on your repairs! I feel your pain having done the same (I think the first time I ever took the boat out).

While a timesert may in fact be "better", our helicoil repair is holding strong in its third season.

[91Terminator]

Tige kinda has a recall on this if you took it to your dealer they would put the helicoil in and a longer bolt, they are then supposed to drill through the side of the rack (towards the top) through the tower and out the other side of the rack and then cross bolt and nut them together. You may want to do that as well.

This is how they all come from the factory now. Ill post some pics up tomorrow so you understand what I am saying better.

[kerlee]

Tige kinda has a recall on this if you took it to your dealer they would put the helicoil in and a longer bolt, they are then supposed to drill through the side of the rack (towards the top) through the tower and out the other side of the rack and then cross bolt and nut them together. You may want to do that as well.

This is how they all come from the factory now. Ill post some pics up tomorrow so you understand what I am saying better.

The dealer cross bolted mine last year when it was winterized and it is fine, not loose at all.

[Duncan]

The dealer cross bolted mine last year when it was winterized and it is fine, not loose at all.

Does this cross bolting work with non-Tige ranks (e.g., Samson)?

[mooney08]

Would anyone happen to know what size timesert kit/insert to use for the bolt used to connect samson rack to z tower??

[91Terminator]

Does this cross bolting work with non-Tige ranks (e.g., Samson)?

If the samson rack mounts the same way i dont see why not and it definitely wouldn't hurt it to do it.

Here are the pics of a tige rack with the cross bolt. I Phone Pics not quality.