It looks like things are under control or will be shortly. The only
problem was that the pulldown cable came off the drum as I originally
described. The tower was not bound up in any way. Apparently, the
pulldown cable had stretched over the years and become slack. The
spring had already been compressed to maximum.
Actually, it looks like that, as a temporary measure, I can raise the
tower and get the pull down cable back on the drum as it unwinds from
the shaft. However, for the long term, I will have to manually rewind
the pulldown cable back on the drum after completely removing tension
from the spring and then retension the spring.
The bottom line here is that I really didn't understand how the cabling
worked until you guys explained it to me. I also had had some bad
experiences with an EZ Way tower in the past, and I didn't want to
repeat them. My mechanical intuition is at the far low end of the
distribution curve.
I am most appreciative and hope that I can return the favor some time in
the future.
A very happy holiday to season to you all!
73, Joe
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