Pylon creaking.

[Wish]

Ok 1997 196. Pylon creaks under load. Skiing, tubing, loosely looped over pylon and synched.

 

I do not think it is the rope rubbing on pylon head and making the sound.

 

I have tightned 2 nuts affiliated with a u bolt below the floor on pylon.

 

Pylon does not seem loose nor do I see any significant movement when under load. No more then any other pylon I've seen in new boats under load.

 

Am I missing a set of bolts or something.?

 

 

[dbutcher]

I think so. There are two U-bolts near the bottom of the pylon on every Nautique I've seen. The bottom one is 2-3 inches below the top one and about 2-3 inches above the boat floor. They don't have to be very loose to cause the creaking noise. The Nautiques I've tightened required a 3/4" deep well socket. Don't be afraid to tighten as hard as you can pull with a normal ratchet wrench. Tighten both sides of the U-bolts as evenly as you can. If those nuts are as little as a half turn loose, the pylon will creak. I think the bottom of the pylon is in a bracket that is fiberglassed to the hull. It's not likely that that is loose, but anything is possible.

[ForrestGump]

One thing that can work for chronically creaky pylons is to remove the clamp, move the pylon out a bit, and then spread Loctite retaining compound(not thread locker) around the pylon circumference, then clamp the pylon back and let it set 24 hours.

[Tanner]

Once you have tightened both sets of u bolts and you still have issues you might check a few other options. I cant recall what the base of the pylon goes into but I remember putting shims in my 93 as the pylon set in a base and there was play at the bottom where pylon fit into base. If you have more of a glassed in bracket similar to an 2008, have someone really try and move the pylon back and forth hard while you watch the bottom bracket! I had a bottom bracket break, had to pull motor and glass in a new bracket, solid as a rock now! $1500 at dealer.

[JC McCavit]

I tightened the pylon on my 1997 196 a year ago. Pretty sure I found 3 U-bolts. I will check, but think one is real high close to the floor, kind of hard to reach.

[Edbrazil]

A little anecdote from the semi-Old Days, in the 1980's. You had to keep up with tightening

the bolts, more or less regularly. But the "creaking" reminded me of a quote from a Sr. Driver

of that era. He said you could tell when you were pulling the LaPoints, because they made

the pylon creak.

[MISkier]

A pro water skier from Michigan tore the pylon out of a boat some years ago. Not a lot was said about it, as you can imagine the boat company reluctance to advertise that incident.

[skierjp]

Are you using a shock tube? Be careful the strap from the shock tube is not between the pylon and the rope! This will cause a creaking sound and the rope will ratchet as the skier goes side to side.

[Wish]

@skierjp good advice but no. Shock tube attached below rope attachment point and it was doing this while pulling 4 teenagers on 2 tubes without any shock tube. Come to think of it, I will from now be using a shock tube while using the tubes. Crap load of load when they get swung out.

[davemac]

My buddy's '97 196 had similar creaking/loose pylon issue a few years back. It turned out to be fairly significant job to fix it (hopefully not the case with you). He suspected damaged happened pulling a "heavy" person on a tube. Off-season fix included fiberglass repair work where the bracket was glassed into stringer (not a very accessible location). I'll get more info from him tomorrow.

 

[Wish]

@davemac ...gulp!

[Cayman2]

I faced the same expensive glass repair. Instead, I had a buddy weld up a bracket that went from front engine mounts to pylon (under the deck). Worked peachy. Stronger than stock. I sold the boat, so can't send you a pick, sorry.

[Broussard]

Ouch, yeah two tubes is a lot of force on the pylon...

[Wish]

Great.... now my stomach is in knots.

[BrennanKMN]

If 2 tubes causes things to start failing it wasn't built strong enough IMO.

I have pulled 7 adults up on combos via deep water start and still no movement.

[Wish]

I will say that I cannot phycally move it or make it creak even with a short handle and leaning on it. So any idea on Ubolt locations or number of them beyond what's been suggested? Will have a look in the am.

[Waternut]

Sometimes a small creak can be as simple as the u-bolts/lower mounting bolt have worn the pylon slightly and now it's two smooth surfaces rubbing together under load. I bet if you took the mounting hardware out, you'll see some really shiney sections where everything has been rubbing. Either scuff up the edges, replace the hardware, or add shim tape, washers, or thin teflon pads between the contact areas.

 

Think of an old truck with leaf springs. Have you ever heard one drive by making an awful suspension noise? That creaking is the leaf springs rubbing at the edges because the anti-friction pad has fallen out or worn through. Same concept in my mind.

[Wish]

OK, got under there and found all 3 ubolts. One closest to the bottom, I put a half turn on both nuts. The upper 2 ubolts much closer to the floor were hardly loose at all. Maybe a 1/4 turn on a couple of the nuts. It still creaks...just not as much. Wondering if a little lube would temporarily quiet things down a bit and point to whats been said about above about using a material between ubolt and pylon. Thoughts.... Also how can you tell if the one embedded in fiberglass is failing.?....as in the glass failing.

[davemac]

@Wish I got some more details on my buddy's '97 pylon. He mentioned that he periodically checks and sometimes has to snug the (6) nuts on the (3) U-Bolts. It sounds like this may be all you need (along with that possible shim).

Several years back, he reluctantly pulled a large person tubing...who decided to bury the tube while starting off. The pylon (and the driver) did not tolerate the stress well.

Apparently the bottom of the pylon rests in a "shoe" that is glassed into the hull. The seating of the pylon was disrupted. The repair costs were a few grand, much going towards labor which entailed pulling the engine to gain adequate access to the area needed for the glass repair.

Good Luck.

 

 

[Wish]

@davemac ya, I make sure the tubes are nose up and riders are ready..always. And the starts are slow and easy till tubes are on plane. They are large, flat and I prob over fill them to keep them skimming vs dragging...more fun that way too. I let some air out when we are done, and refill for the next time. The creaking is only when I ski, and just during wake crossings or when both tubes are going with 2 teens on each. Have a 180lb 28mhp skier and a 130 32phh skier and a 150 36mph skier and none make is creak. I guess it's just my fat ass and some tube riders. May try the shims or some lube to see if that quiets things.

[Monkstr6100]

No idea how YOUR pylon bracket mounts to the hull itself, but on my Gekko it bolts into the stringers on each side with like 4-6 Lag bolts. I ended up stepping up from 3/8" lags to 1/2" and a little longer. And I even made shims to make the bracket fit tighter, for better clamping force. Also used marine sealant on the bolts and behind the shim plate to seal it up. This completely got rid of my creaking issue. The U bolt and set screws did nothing for the noise/slight movement. Could get a picture if any of this applies to your boat.

[Wish]

All pics welcome. And if ya want, just PM them but who knows, this thread may help someone else as well.

[Monkstr6100]

 

[Monkstr6100]

That's a before picture. Have to take or find a after one. But gives you an idea of where I had gaps. I removed the whole thing, sandblasted, drilled out to 1/2 holes, and made a stainless shim for it. Fits very tight now.