Prestige Tour Suspension Grip Pallets

[Fearsome Forehand]

I picked a Prestige Tour mid up from the auction site and pallets creak pretty badly. I noticed the brown collar for the top of the pallets is missing but that doesn't seem to be the cause of the creaking. The butt cap seems to be on okay (but that might often is the cause of creaks so I will check it out first thing.) If the butt cap proves not to be the culprit, I guess I have to remove the pallets to see what is going on. I am hoping the handle isn't cracked.

Question: I have removed TK pallets off of other Tour Series rackets (Pro Tours and Radicals) many times but this seems like it might be a slightly different operation. Anyone does this before? Since the brown collar is missing, I don' t have to deal with removing that.

Also has anyone replaced the original honeycomb/suspension Prestige Tour grip pallet with a regular TK series pallet? Do they fit the molded handle of the Prestige Tour?

I would like to go up a grip size anyway so I may opt to swap out the honeycomb/suspension grip pallets with TK82's if possible but I will still try to use the gimmicky butt cap with the plastic insert because I know its mere presence will lift my game.

 

[nalvarado]

You cannot replace a suspension grip with a normal pallet, however you can get another suspension grip and swap that.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Thanks for your reply.

I take it then that there is no elongated rectangular handle underneath the Prestige Tour suspension grip pallet as is the case with the other Tour Series rackets (the Pro Tour, the Radical, etc.)

What is underneath the suspension pallet? Is it just one solid piece that is joined to the throat of the Prestige Tour and not a clam shell pallet that goes over the molded frame handle like the TK pallets?

 

[Rorsach]

Thanks for your reply.

I take it then that there is no elongated rectangular handle underneath the Prestige Tour suspension grip pallet as is the case with the other Tour Series rackets (the Pro Tour, the Radical, etc.)

What is underneath the suspension pallet? Is it just one solid piece that is joined to the throat of the Prestige Tour and not a clam shell pallet that goes over the molded frame handle like the TK pallets?

I cut one open a while ago:

As you see, it's just molded graphite with a few strips of rubber glued onto it.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Thank you. A picture is worth a thousand words. Obviously my thought to use a TK pallet is not going to fly.

How hard is it to remove the honeycomb overlay? Is it a clamshell design or one solid piece that fits over the molded graphite.

I'm really hoping the butt cap is the problem. Otherwise, this is going to turn into a project.

Maybe the creeking noise is not so bad after all.

 

[Rorsach]

How hard is it to remove the honeycomb overlay? Is it a clamshell design or one solid piece that fits over the molded graphite.

I had to dremel it off. I think that says enough.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

^ Funny.

Okay I get the picture now. Not going to be removing the pallet. Way too much of a project.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

I cut one open a while ago:

As you see, it's just molded graphite with a few strips of rubber glued onto it.

Looks like the handle was designed by Klingons.

Cause of squeek TBD; will post when I find determine the cause.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

I had to dremel it off. I think that says enough.

Are the butt caps on the suspension grips normally stapled on Prestige Tour Mids or glued on? I can't seem to locate the staples on the butt cap so removal may be a project. Was the butt cap glued on to your Prestige Tour mid? Do I need a mini jack hammer?

Also are the brown plastic collars fragile? How did someone break the collar off? Racket abuse?

Another bit of weirdness, the top plane on one side of the butt cap has this smallish triangular protrusion. It looks like it was molded that way maybe as a place to start the grip? Never seen anything like it on a butt cap.

If the d!ckhead who sold me this racket had disclosed this squeeking issue I would not have bought it. I hate it when that happens.

 

[Rorsach]

IIRC the buttcap was also either glued on, or sonic welded to the rest of the handle. The collar is a completely different kind of plastic, much more fragile, rather thin and more prone to cracking.

 

[nalvarado]

I was letting a friend use my PT660 for a bit. As he unwrapped the overgrip to replace it the collar ripped clean off. IIRC someone on this forum was able to swap out suspension grips by tapping out a small pin about 3/4th of the way to the buttcap then gently shimmying off the entire grip, buttcap included

 

[vsbabolat]

IIRC the buttcap was also either glued on, or sonic welded to the rest of the handle. The collar is a completely different kind of plastic, much more fragile, rather thin and more prone to cracking.

The collar on the Prestige Tour is a rubber. It apparently disintegrates over time.

 

[Rorsach]

The collar on the Prestige Tour is a rubber. It apparently disintegrates over time.

Wouldn't have guessed it was made of rubber. On mine i was very brittle, so i thought it was just some kind of cheap plastic, instead of disintegrated rubber.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

First off, thank all of you for educating me on this topic. Very helpful info and pics.

The good news is I think I may have solved the creaking squeeking pallet problem. The fix is still being evaluated but will report back when I have more definitive results.

I was letting a friend use my PT660 for a bit. As he unwrapped the overgrip to replace it the collar ripped clean off. IIRC someone on this forum was able to swap out suspension grips by tapping out a small pin about 3/4th of the way to the buttcap then gently shimmying off the entire grip, buttcap included

Did not notice a pin of any sort but will take a second look. I hope pulling the pin does not make the racket behave like a grenade.

 

[nalvarado]

Should be a little rectangular recess in the grip. I do not know how the poster removed it though. I will do some searching.

EDIT: Found it.

If I had one of those frames, I would post photos.

The procedure went something like this...

1. find and remove the small "square tape" in the middle of the grip. It's on bevel # 1 (or 5)

2. you'll see a metal pin. punch out the metal pin all the way.

3. pull, I mean pull hard on the grip away from the racquet. you'll see a really strange shaped hairpin.

4. insert alternate grip and just follow directions 3 to 1. you may want to apply some lubricant to the 4 rubber pieces that suspends the grip to make the grip slide on easier.

I know... photos would be great but I don't own a Tour. If someone does, it would be awesome to post some.

 

[nalvarado]

Also, what size are you looking to go up to? I have a 5/8ths with some bad court rash that I honestly don't see myself playing with. Shoot me an email if this is what you're looking for and we'll see if we can work something out.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Upon reading what was involved to replace the pallet on a Prestige Tour, I opted not to do it.

The pallet was a major squeeker for some reason. The collar was missing so there was a nice big gap in the top of the pallet. It did not seem like the butt cap was loose and the creaking/squeeking seem to emanate from the middle of the pallet.

So, I took some Elmer's glue (no, I'm not kidding) and slowly worked about a fluid ounce (too much) into the top of the pallet letting it work it way down the pallet via gravity. Not the best choice of material as it took a long time to set, but after about 3 weeks (and after removing excess glue, again via gravity) it seems to have filled the voids that were causing the pallet to creak. The creaking is not completely gone but I'd say it is about 90% reduced. Silicone probably would have been a better choice but I didn't have any around the house at the time; the Elmer's sufficed and "Squeeky" has been effectively muted.

 

[Pro_Tour_630]

^^^ FF there is a pin above the butcap that you can remove to change the pallet, that pin is the one that is making noise, put glue on that and the noise will go away only you wont't be able to replace suspension grip, this is part of the reason the suspension grip was discontinued, they were breaking and squeeking, but sure made for the best buttery feeling striking ball on the planet.

BTW some people hear know more than the folks who work at kennelbach :roll: nalvardo gave you a good lead about the pin but you wussed out:mrgreen:

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

The required surgery wasn't worth the hassle for one grip size on a 7/10 to 8/10 range frame that isn't even my primary racket. Better things to do, thank God. Besides if I removed the existing suspension grip pallet then I would have to scrounge around to find one in the proper grip size. Around here, that would involve a minimum of 157 emails.

Elmer's glue is actually a type of polysomethingorother plastic that has bonding properties. Would not recommend the manner in which I fixed the problem to others but it worked well nonetheless. The once rather prominent squeeking pallet seems all is now completely silenced. Plus the frame is a little heavier now (10 grams?) which is a good thing IMHO. I need to recap the beast and it will be 8/10 to 9/10 range which isn't bad for what I paid for it.

Coincidentally, the only other squeeking racket I ever had was a Pro Tour. But, in that case, it was simply a loose butt cap so re-stapling sufficed.

 

[Pro_Tour_630]

The creaking is not completely gone but I'd say it is about 90% reduced.

the squeeking is still there that would bother me even if it is 1%, all you had to do was put few drops of crazy glue to the pin and it would stop squeeking 100% that will take you less than few minutes much less time than dripping 15 grams of elmers glue down small hole via gravity which could have taken 30 minutes at least and made a mess.

anyway it seems you can find these frames in the worst condition on the bay for very cheap every now and then, no need for emails. If you really like the frame buy the crappy ones with the proper grip and swipe out the pallets since you now know who how to do it. It take less time than dripping 15g of glue down the pallet.

The required surgery wasn't worth the hassle Better things to do, thank God. .

like waiting for 15 grams of glue to slowly drip down via gravity into a very small opening:mrgreen: it is like saying I do not have time to cut my lawn thank god but I do with scissors

 

[Stein]

Thanks to this thread i found the pin.
After removing it i put a little silicon in the hole
Then put the pin back.

Absolutely no squaeking anymore
really easy to do and very nice result, because now the frames really play good again!
So if you can buy a cheap squeeker, just buy it and fix it.

 

[valentino_ua]

Upon reading what was involved to replace the pallet on a Prestige Tour, I opted not to do it.

The pallet was a major squeeker for some reason. The collar was missing so there was a nice big gap in the top of the pallet. It did not seem like the butt cap was loose and the creaking/squeeking seem to emanate from the middle of the pallet.

So, I took some Elmer's glue (no, I'm not kidding) and slowly worked about a fluid ounce (too much) into the top of the pallet letting it work it way down the pallet via gravity. Not the best choice of material as it took a long time to set, but after about 3 weeks (and after removing excess glue, again via gravity) it seems to have filled the voids that were causing the pallet to creak. The creaking is not completely gone but I'd say it is about 90% reduced. Silicone probably would have been a better choice but I didn't have any around the house at the time; the Elmer's sufficed and "Squeeky" has been effectively muted.

What’s a problem to put a new tk82 pallet on top of a suspension grip? Firstly polishing off extra rubber or plastic from suspension grip by a polishing tool?

 

[vsbabolat]

What’s a problem to put a new tk82 pallet on top of a suspension grip? Firstly polishing off extra rubber or plastic from suspension grip by a polishing tool?

Because the hairpin on the suspension grip racket is shaped like a “W”. Pallets won’t fit securely to the hairpin.