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Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Replacement - what would you do?

To: Mickey Baker <fishflorida@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Replacement - what would you do?
From: Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:35:18 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

On 6/18/2013 8:13 AM, Mickey Baker wrote:
As many of you know, my LM-354HD broke a cable and crashed recently from a
fully extended position. The reason for the crash is that the previous
owner had provided the wrong replacement cable for the tower. I was luck in
that my beam was not on the tower at the time, but the tower is a mess.

I've been looking for a replacement that would fit on the current base -
RCB-70 in a robust base as specified for the LM-470 and the LM-354HD. No
towers in good shape have popped up.

A while back, I reached out to Tashjian and learned that freight from their
factory to my place is about $3,000 - more than half the cost of the
replacement tower itself.

My questions for the group:

1. Has anyone engineered a way to use the Tri-Ex/Tashjian base for another
tower? Aluma tower is relatively close by and, if I could make the current
base work, I would save shipping and have a lighter "temporary
installation" tower that is light enough to easily move.
=== The Tashjian "bury part of the base in concrete" design makes it harder, but a competent ME & fab shop should be able to design/build a frame that bolts to the existing flanges and connects to a new frame suitable for the new tower you want, particularly if you aren't constrained in the tilt direction. I have an LM354 w/o a base and am building a "bolt on" base frame in a new concrete foundation ala UST designs so I have flexibility. I don't need calcs since the steel sizing will be from my HDX589. Another choice - burn off the LM354HD flanges and drill for anchor bolts grouted/epoxied into the concrete for a new tower base that is bolted onto the new bolts.
2. Has anyone worked out a way to save shipping costs from Tashjian? For
example, if two or more people from the same geographical region (or on the
path to Tashjian's facility?) ordered towers, they could hire or take their
own truck and trailer.
=== Even though Tash should have a low contract rate (unless freight is a profit maker) check with Freightquote.com. They specialize in LTL (Less Than Truckload) freight and also put jobs out for bid. I used them a few times for machinery and heavy equipment and had good results at a great price. It depends on the freight flow and availability of dead head trucks and driver owned rigs, so each bid is for a specific "ready to go" load. Towers are shipped on flatbeds so a forklift can load/unload them from the side, easy to rent if you go that way. Get some appropriate slings also, a steel tower on steel forks is super prone to sliding. Remember you are responsible for unloading and drivers don't like hanging around (unless there is a tip). I know UST is careful with carrier selection as it is easy to damage/bend a crankup. I've never dealt with Tashjian.

A Penske 26' rental truck (10k lb legal payload) will handle 3 of the biggest UST & Tash ham crankups if you can figure out how to load/unload them. Check their rates, and if it is a slow time they will negotiate. However CA>FL is not good, too many CA escapees like me. To move my shop CA>WA, I rented 7 Penske 26 footers plus a rigger and 53' flatbed. The Penske moves were spread out over a few months to sequence installation and the price varied from $650 to $900 for San Jose to Seattle one way, 900 miles; 4 days included and a Class C license is ok. Plus fuel, motels, and one way air fare and soon they cost as much as commercial. I have a friend with a Class A license, but I couldn't find an interstate rental for a tractor/trailer.

Grant KZ1W

I'd appreciate the group's thoughts on the above.
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