Bruce,
My experience with Universal Aluminum towers has been that they
disassemble quite easily when they are horizontal!
If it were my tower, I'd hire the crane to lower the tower and then
disassemble it.
To disassemble: [don't use a jack .. it will bend the aluminum
cross-braces and/or the welds!]
1. Place the tower on two 4x4's, one on either side of the joint you
wish to 'open',
2. after removing the bolts, temporarily place one bolt back in the
UPPER leg
3. putting some weight/force on the other legs will open those joints
quite readily, but don't be in too big a hurry.
4. as you 'open' a joint, place bolts in the holes that 'appear' from
the joints.
5. Roll the tower 1/3 and remove the bolts from the two legs that are
now 'down'.
6. repeat steps 3 thru 5, until the joint is apart.
7. repeat steps 1 thru 6 at each joint until the tower is apart.
I've disassembled my 70' tower in less than two hours ALONE using these
steps.
Good luck!
Don
N8DE
BruceAA5B@aol.com wrote:
>
> My tower has to come down. It's a very hefty 60-ft free-standing
> tapered aluminum job (Universal, I think) that's been in place for
> about 20 years, and I'm looking for advice on disassembly. I erected
> most of it by tilting it up on a hinged base (5 big guys pushing, 3 up
> on the roof pulling), but now there are trees and house additions
> that won't let the process work in reverse.
>
> I haven't tried to do anything yet, so maybe it'll go smoothly and
> I'm worried for no good reason. But just in case there's a problem,
> how about some tips? Is there some good stuff to spray into the
> joints ahead of time to loosen them up? Does heating help? Will a
> tower jack be necessary? Is it time to hire a crane to pick the
> whole thing up from the base and lay it down?
>
> Would like to hear from anyone who has had to dissassemble one
> of these after being up for so long.
>
> -Bruce AA5B
>
> BruceAA5B@aol.com
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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> Order online at http://store.eham.net.
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>
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One thing about separating tower sections:
________________________________________________________________________
Where do you get ICE bandpass filters & beverage matching boxes? The
same place that pays for the hosting of this list: The eHam Store.
Order online at http://store.eham.net.
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