Breaking tower bolts

[deeluk]

I have an '04 Mobius LSV and have been having a recurring problem
with my tower. The front tower bolt on one side (driver's) shears and
breaks once or twice a year on me. During my head to the lake routine,
I tighten these front tower bolts. They loosen up quite a bit. Presumably
from raising and lowering the tower. What could be causing the bolt on
the one side to break so often?

I have a custom made support for the tower that holds it up so it isn't just
resting down on the front of the boat. My thinking was that this would
alleviate some of the strain being placed on those front bolts while the
boat is in the garage. But they're still breaking....

[deeluk]

OK, I came up with a theory on this. When I lower the tower, I have never loosened the tower bolts before lowering. Just removed the handle screw thing and swing it over. Well, on the driver side, this motion actually tightens that front tower bolt some more. Maybe this additional stress is the cause of my problems. That's my theory for now. We'll see how it works out. I'm going to start loosening the tower bolts now before lowering the tower...

[Buttafewcoe]

Prolly.....whenever I lower my tower, I loosen the two socket head cap screws. It's a wonder you haven't pulled out the thread-sert in the mounting bracket.
.
B

[jburnside]

Deeluk,
That is for sure the problem. By not lossening the bolts you are actually twisting the metal and eventually it just breaks. Take a look at the piece that you extract from the tower and examine it, I bet it looks "twisted". If you follow Buttafewcoe's advise and loosen the two tower bolts before you put the tower down you will never have a problem again... unless you overtighten them or forget to tighten them when you put the tower back up. Have a great summer!