Rogue CTM-1 Functional Cable Tower

Lots of reviews covering the usability and functionality - like those I agree it is awesome, solid, feels super overbuilt. This review is more to help those who like me are/were worried about ordering due to reports of quality issues and assembly problems. Ultimately I had no issues with material quality, no defects, no misaligned bolt holes, everything worked out of the box. No parts required return. Luckily I don't have the floating weight stem problem a lot of people have reported, everything is smooth and works as I hoped even with only the 20lb top plate in use. That said, assembly is still arduous. It took me many hours over an entire weekend including unpacking/cleanup. A few things caused hiccups with made this longer: - Initially the weight stem was floating ~1/2" from the top of the weight stack, so there was no way to engage the weight pin. In order to avoid this make sure to attach the bottom crossmember as high up as possible. To do this: - Step 3A - make sure to use the bottom "snowman" bolt hole when connecting to the rear upright - Step 3B - when connecting the bottom crossmember to the front upright, notice the bolt hole is an oval, pull the crossmember during/before tightening. This only moves the crossmember about ~1/8"-1/4" but it is enough to mess up the weight stem height. - Step 5 says to make sure the top crossmember endplate is flush with the top of the rear upright - this is apparently out of date information and the new design means the crossmember is about 1/4" proud (see photo). I had to put one bolt on the top bolt hole which is correct even if it seems wrong because its hard to get a wrench inside the crossmember to tighten - The standalone base hardware kit came with an extra pair of 1" flat washers, I ended up not using these but wasted a lot of time trying to make sure I wasn't missing something - Step 20 should come after Step 23, the shrouds hide most of the weight plate surface so you might not see the weight stickers, just apply the stickers after the shrouds to avoid having to peel/reapply (which I had to do...) Two minor but annoying details that I wish were fixed: - The base should really have a 1" hole on top so you can rest the lat seat on it securely - There is no way to secure the weight pin if you are using just the 20lb weight stem, the pin just dangles and clangs around and gets jammed between the shrouds or weight plates. I ended up just not attaching the pin and storing it inside a bolt hole in the upright.

i’ve dreamt of having this piece for a while now and after finally getting jt, the hype is real. this thing is so amazing. i use it almost every day and my wife loves it too

Dude. I absolutely love this thing. There’s SO MANY POSSIBILITIES for exercises!!!!! The cables and pillows feel so freakin smooth. The weight stack (300lbs version) is gonna take me forever to work up to in the long run. I won’t be held back for sure. I absolutely love the functional trolley that can be moved up or down. I have nothing but good things to say about this cable tower. I absolutely love it. Also, I have read of and seen videos of the floating top weights whenever under light weight or no weight selected. Well, thankfully I don’t have that problem at all, for what it’s worth. That was actually a big for me getting this. So, all n all, I’m obsessed and can’t stop using the machine.

My wife and I purchased this cable machine to complete our home gym. We have had a cheaper/less expensive cable machine before but Rouge is far and away better quality. It was totally worth the money. We are so happy with the quality and functionality of the tower. We added the extra 50lbs and the seat. Set up was pretty straight forward. took about 2 hours to complete. Overall, we love the cable machine and look forward to more well rounded workouts going forward.

So I was very excited to finally get my new gear, including the CTM-1. Directions were great and everything went smoothly until I Installed all of the cables and gave it a test run. It wasn’t gliding smooth at all as if it was rubbing somewhere. The weight stack rod was rubbing against the weights so bad that it wouldn’t return back to its original position with low weights. When I pulled it to pull extension I could see the rod veering lateral. I investigated and found that the guide tubes wouldn’t spin freely. The weld of the center trolley was angled just far enough that the nut was pushing the cylinder and therefore preventing the whole thing from gliding smoothly. I had to get the nut off and cut out a notch to make the nut clear before it would glide smoothly (pictured). Just a little bummed that I’d have to “modify” things for a high end piece of equipment. Other than that, everything seems great and it would be 5 stars. It’s a newer product so just something that I think should be looked at.

I purchased the rack attached version and converted my RM-6 into a Frankenstein monster cave using the CTM-1 as a wing out. The distance is 43inch but may leave or get a 70/72 inch crossmember to add more space not sure yet. I chose to get the CTM-1 instead of the FMR series and not have it built in and I love my decision especially the lat pull down with the multi use seat it makes doing pull downs amazing especially for a at home gym. I’ve been playing around with all the different ways I can use the seat and I do love it. For me going the CTM-1 is the best option makes being able to set up the rack for barbell movements and immediately jump into cable movements so versatile and going vice versa. Not having to worry about the trolly being in the way is the best. It does limit to single are movements mostly unless you use certain attachments but for now that’s fine by me. For the seat when adjusting the rollers the pin does not pull all the way so it scratches us the hole adjustment slider all over which brings sadness every time I use it. When assembling I did run into a few hiccups with the labeling arrows that were miss placed so routing the cable took me a bit longer to figure out due to them being in the wrong place. I attached pictures showing the mistakes. Overall the directions were straightforward and easy to follow as long as you don’t rush and take your time to read. Off of mind there was only 2 instances where the directions don’t mention exactly how to install the top cross member and the shrouds, so I had to watch the video to see how it looked, so that is fine. My issue was when looking at the crossmember it should mention that the front upright slides into the crossmember while the back does not go into the rear upright but bolts onto it from the outside. The shrouds don’t mention exactly what holes to use to make sure they are level so I had to adjust a few times to get them perfect. Other than that assembly was easy as pie. I did it by myself and took me about 2/3 hours with just help to lift the top crossmember since it was heavy. Everything came packaged great and the shroud did get scuffed up with almost a foot long scratch and the top crossmember was a bit damaged on the rear. But overall great packaging. I do wish the front 2 bolts for the low row and bottom crossmember came with washers so it would protect the paint and I was missing a washer for one on the top bolts. The dual pin safety is nice but the small pin should be coated to protect the paint might have to add a rubber cap on it since using I have scratched it 2 times so I have to be extra careful when sliding the trolly up or down which can be annoying. The pin for the weight stack when using the lowest weight has no storage to place it so it just hangs and on the way down always gets smashed. I did see in a form that rouge solved this for the FMR series racks so I might have to reach out to see if I can get one. They is almost no sway unless you are actually trying to move it side to side but when in use like your supposed too it’s built like a tank. Overall great equipment and over built

The CTM-1 is a very solid machine with excellent build quality. I am currently experiencing the common issue where the top plate doesn't seat all the way down at low weights, along with a slight noise halfway up as if it's hitting something. I have already contacted support, but I haven't been able to resolve it yet as I am still waiting for the adjustment instructions. It’s a great piece of equipment, and I’m looking forward to having it 100% functional soon.

Great machine and goes together ok. But would have been a lot better if i had (or if order information said i needed) another foot of ceiling beyond the 91.5 inches it says you need to help with assembly.