Don, I have replaced the cables on my TX472 with the tower in the vertical
position and without removing the antennas. I also replaced the bearings in
the pulleys while I was at it. I use an extension ladder beside the tower to
stand on when doing the work. The ladder has a bracket at the top which
prevents it from sliding sideways and I always tie the top rung of the
ladder with a short piece of rope to the tower to be doubly sure it doesn't
slip if you are leaning off the side to reach the bolts.
The secret is to have a post inside the tower, sitting on the cement base,
which will intercept the bottom of the section you want to work on as the
tower is lowered, releasing the cable tension. I have used a pipe with a
piece of all thread bolt (with the nuts on it) at the top. The all thread is
of a diameter that will slip inside the bottom of the corner vertical
section tubing. This assures you that the tower section bottom will not slip
off the pipe. The nuts allow some adjustment of the post length.
I have used the same scheme with a longer post to hold the top section out
of the tower when I need to access the rotator. The longer post needed to do
this will not go into the tower thru the side so I use 2 pieces with a
coupling, put them thru the tower side and screw them together hand tight
while inside the tower. For safety you may want to slip a bar thru the
tower to keep it from slipping while the work is being done.
re the bearing replacement, I went to several local bearing shops and they
found that the bearings in my pulleys are no longer available from the
manufacturer. The nearest thing was OK on the OD but the ID was too large.
The bearing guy suggested slipping a bronze bushing inside the available
bearing to reduce the ID. He had the bushings and it worked FB.
I do not know what the tower section bottoms on your tower look like but
hope you can use this system or adapt it.
73, Dan, N5AR
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don K5AQ" <donhall@myriad.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 10:12 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Recabling LM-354
I have the new cables and am getting ready to replace the old ones on my
TriEx LM-354.
Would appreciate any words of advice and/or wisdom from anyone who has done
the same.
73 Don K5AQ
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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