2011 Epic 23V Tower - Won't Fold Down Father than 8'???

Hey guys,

New Epic 23V owner here as of yesterday. Got a 2011 23V....but one problem right now. I'm attempting to follow Tuneman's process below to get the tower under 7 feet, but that thing ain't budging 1" below 8'. I'm a decent sized guy and I have a budy trying to help me do this, and we're putting quite a bit of pressure and it ain't moving. Did Epic change towers for 2011 or am I just an idiot?

Any help would be greatly appreaciated because I sure do want to get this thing in my 7ft garage and not have to pay a storage fee.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tuneman
Ok, to get the tower to under 7 feet:

Unscrew the two levers and let the tower fold down (make sure your racks are turned 90 degrees to the back!). At this point, it'll fit an 8 foot garage.

Now, climb under the tower so you are standing in between the dash and the tower (if you aren't there already). Turn around, so you're facing the transom. On each side of you, there will be an arm from the tower pointing toward you. These arms have the threaded shafts on the ends from the levers you just unscrewed.

Apply an even pressure on both arms and push straight down. The folded sides of the tower will then go over-center and the whole tower will lower another foot. Voila!

At the lowest point, your racks might rest on the vinyl on the sides. I used a life jacket for extra padding between the racks and vinyl.

did the uprights fold in half?

The '11's are a different tower than tunemans. The pre-2011's are samson towers, the '11's are I believe Skylon? They r different though. I even think some of the 2010 models have the new skylon tower

Yes the uprights folded in half but they won't go any farther. Man that sure is disappointing if that's as far as they'll go. My own fault for not checking though.

and your racks are folded completely out of the way? I know with my samson tower, I can push it down just a bit further if I really wanted to, to make it level with the highest hinge.

How much more room do u need to make the clearance? I know guys who only needed a couple of inches more would deflate their trailer tires a bit to make the clearance. Just a thought depending on how much more room u need.

It needs way more than a couple inches - about a foot. Thanks for the suggestion though. I've looked at this thing every which way, and the only solution I see is actually unbolting the entire tower, which I ain't doing on a weekly basis.