> I have the heaviest version of the Trylon "Titan" 72' self supporting
tower. It has been up about 9 years approx. About 3 years ago?this tower
experienced winds of about 100 MPH, as my location was in the eyewall of
Hurricane Ike for about an hour.
?? The tower only had a stacked pair of M2 432-13WL yagis on it at the
time. It damaged the yagis severely and put a slight?(permanent) bend in the
2" OD x 6061-T6 mast.
?? However, my concern is that we noticed, right after the storm?had
passed, that?the tower had a noticeable "lean", in the upper?third or
so.?toward
the east. The strongest winds during the eye were from the west. It is
hard to tell exactly, but when sighting up either of the legs on the east side
(it is leaning slightly to the east)??it appears there is a?change in the
direction of legs about 30' up. However, what bothers me is that it appears
there is a steady curving going up either leg on east side, making me
think the tower suffered a bend.
? A friend of mine told me that what I needed to do was to examine the
bolted leg junctions and see?where?the west-side leg pulled upward, with east
side legs moving downward.?Then, loosen the west-side leg bolts and pull
that side back downward, which should fix the problem.?I have examined the
bolted leg?junctions but really cannot tell if there was any movement.
? I thought I would ask: Would it?be more likely that the bolted leg
junctions?changed (due to uplift on upwind side and compression on downwind
side)?or did the tower just get bent??
Without a close examination of the tower and in the absence of an
obviously bent leg, I'd say that the tower just moved in the leg joints. Yes,
put a rope or cable on a leg so that you can put tension in the pull-back
direction and then put some good tension on it. Start at the bottom and
loosen up the nuts of the leg under tension and then re-tighten them. That
will
correct most of the lean. An hour or two and it'll be back to normal.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for amateurs
Cell: 206-890-4188
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