Ski Pylon Question

[Conehead]

Can anybody tell me what the black plastic part in the picture does? It is at the lower end of the ski pylon and cracked when I was trying to remove it. My assumption is it is some type of spacer to take up slack.

 

[Michiman]

My uneducated guess is that it’s to protect against a metal on metal situation. Even though it’s cracked, it’s probably not going anywhere.