Genie tz-50 stabilizer pads

[arbor pro]

I'm wondering if any of you genie tz or tmz50 owners are having problems with your aluminum stabilizer pads? My 2005 tz model keeps dropping the 12" pads due to broken i-rings inside of the pad where it sits on the steel ball joint. If I could just replace the o-rings, that would be an easy fix but, the aluminum channels that holds the o-rings in place are cracked on all of the pads so the o-rings won't stay in place.

I'm looking at having to either have a machine shop do some welding/adapting work to keep the pads on the ball joints or looking into some other type of pad from another manufacturer. The ball joint bolts onto the stabilizer arm just like a 2" hitch ball bolts onto a vehicle so, if someone has a better stabilizer setup, switching things out shouldn't be too hard.

Anyone have this problem with your towable boom pads? Maybe if I find out it's a design flaw that's affecting a lot of machines, it'll give me some leverage to deal with genie in getting the problem fixed...

 

[arbor pro]

Update...

So I called the equipment dealer that I bought my lift from and, apparently, this problem is widespread enough that Genie Industries has come out with a 'retrofit' kit to replace the original outrigger pads. Each outrigger kit costs $117 (take that x 4 for the entire machine).

First thing that came to mind was, 'if this is widespread enough to justify a retrofit part, why didn't Genie issue a recall notice and fix the problem for free? The dealer didn't have an answer for that one (or didn't want to give it to me) so, I called Genie Industries.

According to a very nice service tech from Genie, they are fully aware of the liability posed by one of these pads falling off while going down the road and flying through a passing motorist's windshield - thus, the reason for the retrofit kit. However, what my equipment dealer failed to tell me was that my machine was available to get the retrofit kit for free. (Me thinks someone wanted to profit from the situation rather than install the part for free like they were probably informed to do so by Genie).

I'm still awaiting final order confirmation of the part from the dealer. He said he had to call Genie to confirm warranty coverage. My suggestion to anyone else who might be having a problem with outrigger pads on a towable lift is to contact the manufacturer to see if you can get a free replacement part to fix the problem. If you have a genie towable lift, pm me and I'll give you the contact info...