Dave -
In 1985 I had 90' of Rohn 45 that was damaged when a large branch fell on a
lower guy wire during Hurricane Gloria. It compressed the tower leg on the
same leg of the tower about two feet above the ground. The leg bowed out
around 3" as I recall. The tower didn't fall but it took some work to deal
with the associated problems.
I had a commercial welder come in and repair the leg. I don't recall the cost
or the details but it was one of those portable welding trucks that seem to
work on things like commercial welding sites or farm equipment repair. While
the tower was still in the air they cut out the bad section of the leg (about
18") and placed a still pipe over the remaining pipe ends and re-welded it,
re-attaching at least one of the braces. After they finished I used some kind
of galvanizing paint to finish the job. When I moved to my current QTH a few
years later I used the same tower section again, this time for a 120' tower.
It is still in the air and working just fine today. Let me know if a photo or
two would help you out.
-- Tom/K1KI
At 12:05 PM 10/21/2016, Dave Leisman wrote:
>I need some advice. I have a 70' Rohn 45 and had a guy with a tractor back
>into and damage one of the legs. As well, the leg was
>hit hard enough to bend the diagonal cross support. I could probably, with
>assistance of a come along, bend the leg back into place
>and bend the diagonal support back into place as well, but that would not
>resolve the huge indentation which resulted from the
>contact with the tractor., e.g., the leg's strength would still be
>compromised. There is no antenna on top of the tower; I was just
>getting ready to place my TH-11. The tower is guyed at 30' and 50' at the
>current time.
>
>My thought is to rent a mobile crane with a boom long enough and significant
>enough to lift the 6 sections above the damaged section,
>in total (still bolted together) from the damaged section; then cut the damage
>away from the damaged section, and then lower the 6
>sections down to the now repaired section, drill all the holes and bolt
>everything back together. Is this possible? I am concerned
>about climbing the tower, because of the damage done to the leg - because
>somehow I need to strap the 6 undamaged sections to the
>boom of the crane.
>
>Another question is whether the stainless steel bolts holding the 6 sections
>together are sufficiently strong enough to hold the 6
>sections together while I work on the damaged section.
>
>I really don't want to start over because that means another hole to dig,
>expense of more concrete, placement of additional guy wire
>anchors (and more concrete), and waiting until late spring.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com YCCC --> http://www.yccc.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
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