Tower keeps Cracking HELP!!!

[cmtaylor777]

I am a newby here but a Veteran on Supra forum. Wanted to reach out to you guys to see if anyone could help.

Last year I experienced an issue with my tower where the welds at 2 of the uprights cracked. I have no idea why. The only things that I have altered with the tower is that I added a Roswell bar and I tightened the tower at the screws that attach the tower to the boat. Other than that, all is the same. I had the cracks welded after the incident during the summer and thought all was good. A few days ago it cracked again in the same two areas. Not sure why since the boat has been sitting for the last 2 months. Could the freezing weather be the culprit for this incident? I am totally stumped and want to reach out to see if this is a problem that anyone else has experienced.

Thank you in advance for any help.

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[Razzman]

cmtaylor, sorry to see that happening. What boat do you have? While i can't say why it inititially cracked, I can only offer speculation. Your likely to get a dozen other responces as to why as well.

Other than the issue of too much weight on the tower which doesn't seem to be your case, it's also possible due to the application. Namely the boat, but not knowing that I couldn't say. I've seen cases where a newer tower was placed on an older boat and it cracked due to stresses placed on it in spots not anticipated.

As far as the re-weld, well that not uncommon for sure. Unless a re-weld is done extremely well most will re-crack. It could be there isn't enough material there to take the stress. It could be a defective tower, sub par material in a batch. It could be a perfect combination of things doing it. Who knows.

In other words it could be just about anything and it will be impossible to diagnose unfortunely here. I would call Extreme (I think they made that tower) and ask them and see what they say.

[maxpower220]

Please post a photo showing the bases of the tower mounted to the boat also. That seems to be a very unusual place for a tower to break.

[KSmith]

Could you get a better close up of the hinge fitting where the crack occurred? Do you or anyone yo know have macro capability on your cameras, preferably a SLR with macro and ring light would be nice.

I can't tell from the pictures really but it looks like the hinge and tubing are different materials but without having a good close up or at hand it is hard to tell.

A good set of panned out pictures from the side, front, and back might help to as mentioned previously to see the mounting points on the boat

Also what year and model of Supra is it, are you the original owner?

Edit: Is that the factory tower? I just can't place that configuration...

[DOCDRS]

Wow, I see your other leg is cracked as well. Your lucky that does not come crashing down on your gel coat

[sandm]

looks like this was handled on the supra forums. extreme offered up a contact and help.

[cmtaylor777]

Thanks for all the help guys. Cody at Extreme jumped right on this one over at the Supra site. He has been more that helpful on this matter and I know they will help in every way. Cody has been awesome and I wish all companies would respond this way.

I will keep everyone updated. Sorry for the lack of info before. I'm use to being on the Supra site where everyone knows me and my boat. Looking forward to getting to know everyone here as well.

I have a 2004 Supra Launch with the original tower. No tubing from the tower and no climbing on it. Its pretty much been babied this whole time. The previous owner was a barefooter so he didn't use the tower at all.