Bill,
I purchased and refurbished a used rotating tower a year and a half ago.
For what ever reason I ended up having a few bearings stick (and they
were new) a few months after installation. I realized I had a problem
when the guy wires were bouncing around. I determined that a couple of
the bearings were sticking. I replaced them with free wheeling
bearings, problem solved.
I purchased 18 bearings (I have 3 sets of rings) on ebay so I didn't
have any recourse but to replace the 2 bad bearings. I purchased the
replacements and a couple spares from a local bearing company.
Mine is an original Dick Weber design which uses 6 cam followers per
ring set, 3 on each ring.
I would suggest replacing them before they go up it's a lot easier on
the ground, hi hi.
Rich - N5ZC
On 2/27/2017 1:24 PM, Bill via TowerTalk wrote:
About a year ago I bought a Rohn 55 rotation system from K0XG. After over a
year I finally got granted a permit to put the tower up. The tower is
scheduled to go up in 3 or 4 weeks and I was checking the rotating rings and
was in the process of using the grease gun on the fittings when I found several
of the bearings in the rings were not rotating like the others. Of the total
of 12 bearings, 3 were not moving as they should. 9 were able to be rotated by
hand, but the 3 were tight. I used the grease gun on all the fittings
including the three bulky ones. I am now able to rotate the three by gripping
with pliers with not much effort, but can not do it by hand.
Is this an issue? I called Richard at K0XG systems but have no heard back from
him yet.
The three bearings do not appear to be damaged in any way and look just like
the others that rotate freely.
My thinking on this is it may not be an issue. With 1100 pounds of torque on each of the
guys (5/16 EHS), plus the weight of the tower and antennas (another 1000 lbs) the sheer
weight will "force" the sticky bearings to rotate.
Has anyone had an issue similar to this? Anybody with advice, including how
difficult is it to replace these bearings, brand, where to find them etc.?
Thanks in advance for the help, and with a little luck KH7XS should be back on
the air by mid April.
Bill K4XS/KH7XS
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