> I am a relatively new crank-up owner (1 year) and have been following the
thread on crank-ups. Jim's post on "crank-up use and winter maintenance"
begs the questions of:
a. What do you lubricate the sliding surfaces with?
b. What should be used to lubricate the cable.
Howdy, TowerTalkians --
Here's the lowdown on crank-ups and maintenance.
Several people have mentioned using PreLube 6 on the cables - that is
correct. DO NOT use a grease or anything else that'll coat the cables. If you
do that, the moisture can't escape and it'll rust from the inside out. PreLube
6 soaks into the strands lubricating them and doesn't leave any residue on
the outside of the cables that'll attract any crud or pollutants that'll stick
to the cables. BTW _www.championradio.com_ (http://www.championradio.com)
has the PreLube 6. It's what is specified by wire rope (cable) manufacturers.
The PreLube is pretty thin and will wash out after awhile so an annual
or semi-annual application will be real helpful. Start at the top of the tower
and work your way down. It's pretty messy so you don't want to be climbing
up and down the tower doing this.
Don't worry about the pulleys. Modern ones (i.e. US Towers) have sealed
bearings so you don't have to do anything with them. It's difficult
(impossible?) to lube older pulleys that don't have sealed bearings so either
way
there's not much you can do.
The bearings can freeze up so a good thing to do is to paint a mark on
each one of them that you can see from the ground and then watch them when the
tower is moving to make sure that they're turning. Obviously one that isn't
turning is a problem.
As far as the motor drive mechanism, use a little grease gun on all the
grease nipples (zerk fittings) including the thrust bearing and keep
squirting it in until new grease starts coming out.
There are a couple of things you can do to prolong your cable life
besides lubing it properly. One is to exercise it occasionally; that is, run
it up
and down a couple of times a month to, literally, work the kinks out. The
other thing is to not always park it in the same spot when extended or
lowered,
usually where the limit switches are. If you do that, there's a good chance
the cables can take a set over time where they go over the pulleys. Leaving
it parked at different heights just about eliminates this potentially fatal
problem. ("Taking a set" means that the cable will be permanently deformed at
a
point where it goes over a pulley.)
As far as lubricating the sliding surfaces, I wouldn't worry about it.
The factory used to use a real sticky grease when assembling the tower, now
they just use paraffin. This makes it easier to slide the sections during
assembly but there's no easy or safe way to do it when it's standing
vertically in
use. What material are you going to use and how will you apply it? You'd
have to do it when the tower is extended and that's definitely NOT recommended
since you'd have to have your fingers in there to do it. A spray material
won't last very long so trying to lube the legs isn't worth it IMO.
Crank-ups require more care and attention but doing all of the above
will prolong the service life of the tower.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur
Cell: 206-890-4188
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