Hi Lon.
I have been using Universal Towers for 28 years. I have put up several for
others. I have moved my Universal Tower to two other homes. I have always
tipped it just for initial installation and for changing out beams. For
maintainance and for rotor repair or replacement I climb the tower and since
my tower is the
same size as yours I can tell you that is an easy tower to climb. But use a
belt!
I dont suggest that you pull the tower up any less than one third from the top
and
I suggest you be very careful cabeling it close to the bottom. You put huge
pressure and leverage on the tower if you pull it up near the top and could
bend it. I think that
would could have the same potential bending action too close from the bottom.
I tie a cable to the top of my home with a rope and run the steel cable one
third down from the top of the tower. It then goes through a pully at that
level and then down the
side of the tower to a winch. I crank out cable and the tower tips. I
crank cable in
and the tower goes right back up in place. (Sometimes you have to give it a
start with a bit of a push to get it to start tipping) This way you can
crank the
tower up and down without any help. But since I only do this on rare
occasion
and prefer to climb it when possible it doesnt get raised a lot. I mount a
winch
on a plate and U-bolt it to the tower when I need it or otherwise store it in
the
garage.
Be careful not to place you main large beam more than about a foot up the
mast from the neck of the tower. More than that puts a lot of bending
leverage on
the neck and could damage the Universal. A thrust bearing is really handy to
allow you to replace rotors and take the weight off the rotor.
Good luck with your Universal. A great tower.
73
Mike
K0BUD
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