I rented a 24 foot flatbed truck to move my HDX-5106 500 miles.
Piece of cake. Held it down with the ratcheting straps that
came with the truck. All 4000 lbs of it up and down over the
Grapevine.
Rick N6RK
On 2/18/2019 2:57 PM, Mac wrote:
Speaking with very recent experience transporting a HDX-589 with raising
arm fixture as well 'T' base plate over a 900 mile trek within the past
3 weeks. Using a 16' trailer is my words a High Risk effort.
By way of background, a local ham pal when he heard of my NEED and what
i was wanting to move showed and then offered to me a used boat trailer,
with ONE caveat, I could not return the trailer to him or his property.
EVER !
When i reviewed the trailer i could see what was good looking tires but
upon inspection 11 years old, the trailer offered however one very neat
feature, the tongue was a 2 1/2" square tube with what i call a Bulldog
hitch for a 2" ball. i bought 2 new tires repacked the wheel bearings,
and along the way asked myself your very question where or how was all
this going to lay out and pull safely with the 589 weighing prox 2,500
-2,800 #s .
The tongue was removable normally slid into a 3" sq tubing and bolted
into a fixed length but allowing the boat when carried to be weight
balanced and pulling safely, but no way was my 589 going to fit the
trailer single axle fixed location and not protrude 5-6' off the front
and back. Remember please the 589 fully retracted is closer to 29-30'
than 20 or so feet in length, so i was doomed at the outset with my then
16' boat trailer.
My solution was pretty simple really i bought a new 9-10' piece of 2.5"
sq tubing and welded a new coupler and drilled the receiving end out to
match the original tongue bolt pattern into the 3" boat frame tubing.
Arriving at my sellers location i knew he had ample lifting capability,
we experimented a few tries to be sure we had the C/G of the tower and T
plate, lifted up the tower and i drove the trailer back under the 589
and centered where my best experience said it was best and keep in mind
i was shooting for 400 or so plus pounds tongue weight onto my truck
[Tahoe] 2" ball receiver hitch. Being modest id say i nailed it damn
good.. Looking at the truck/trailer combination profile it was very good
.. we tied the raising fixture along and toward the front side.
When loaded it was however very obvious i had one giant flaw and this
circus was never gonna make Texas in one piece. That near 9' of new
tongue length had no support along it axis to hold the tower. But i had
achieved the perfect C/G and weight ratios. problem pretty easily
solved, we made up a block support the take up the void between the
tongue and tower void, as it turns out a 2x6 was the perfect fit. then
using the 2" ratchet nylon straps we just bonded the tower to the tongue
and every problem was solved.
Until the poor Mississippi I-10 roads and the entry and exit of bridges
bounce began to shift the tower to one side. Where i had gone in and
made a level line for every support point along the towers flat
horizontal side, by Vicksburg it was 2pm it was gonna be dark by 6pm,
the locals called it Home Depot but i found the name and credit card
receipts said Lowes I didn't give a rats ass. I had money and they had
materials ..
In prepping for this venture i debated what tools to take and hopefully
never have to use, it was too endless, i opted for a small hand tool
collection and the 3 ton shop alligator jack. We hit the Lowes and
bought a new battery drill package and 4x4 treated lumber plus screws. i
asked that the 4x4 be cut, crap you would have thought i was asking for
the moon, Oh no ! we are not permitted to cut the stuff ONLY sell it
[treated lumber] Ok fine i bought a small hand saw and we set up shop
out in the HD err Lowes parking lot. 4:30 and the sun is going down
faster than i want it.
I got my wife and GSD and making a mess out in the parking lot, I'm
gathering a crowd and the every 5 minute question is "Hey Man whatcha
doin" But in that group 2 of the nicest guys came forward, they had
grasped the problem and understood the objective. By dark the tower was
centered back onto the trailer and while the jacking process and pulling
the tower back parallel to the trailer supports had shifted the tower
forward about 6" we were set to go. The 6" shift effected road worthy a
bit where it had been safe to reach as fast as 80 mph the extra
load-shift forced us to never go beyond 75-76 or then trailer wagging
would set up and that is not a pretty sight or safe condition. By
Louisiana the rains had come back on our ass, when we reached Shreveport
we called it good, had no hotel reservations, while willing to
accommodate us the Marriott wanted $1.00 per pound for my GSD [=78.00]
the Hilton offered a flat $30.00 extra fee. But when it came time to
park the truck and circus trailer, well that was another 30.00 "fee"
$223.00 for the night and we got up next morning and hauled ass for Texas.
Drury Inn was the best and always most accommodating for my GSD. I
omitted i had bought and rigged up a set of magnetic lights to mount
directly onto the very end of the tower as well keeping the original
trailer lighting scheme.
The trailer, well the tower is still on the trailer awaiting installing
here at w5mc I'm taking down a TM-90' tower and will give or offer the
trailer to go with the tower in the very near future.
But to wrap up this "fishing story" IMO a 16' trailer you wont be safe
at all, too much overhang front and back, but i guess it also depends on
your overall distance, in town maybe ok, on the road not for me, and im
a risk taker, but not as it is contemplated in this original post/question.
If i can forward some pictures and measure some stuff let me know,
presently i have the tower while still on the trailer run out about 8'
feet trying to get measurements for the rotor plate and stuff.
The bigger stumbling block for me is adapting my TM-90 base plate to
accommodate the 589 T plate, me and the GSD did make a run to Houston
last Friday and picked up a 1" steel plate 40"x40" to help adapt to the
tm-90 base bolt pattern to the 589 T plate base.
Best: mac/mc w5mc
On 2/18/2019 1:42 PM, Wilson Lamb wrote:
OK, that's about it.
Of course I can estimate, but wonder if anyone has a CG location for a
nested tower, horizontal.
Yep, I'm calculating ballast for my 16' trailer.
Weight is trivial, but stability something else!
Wilson
W4BOH
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