Hello Jonathan:
I put up a Tristao 54' crank up recently. I bought it used from original
owner who bought in, like, 1967. I noticed that it has a bit of a lean to
the top section. Not the 8" you now have, but still something I would rather
not have. It seems to go up and down fine.
Looking at the bottom of the top section, I can see that there are two (?)
rivets thru each one of the legs. On one of the legs the places where the
rivets go through the leg are semi-ripped-out and elongated. This allows
that leg to be pulled up more on that side than the other two legs. Thus, the
leaning of the top section.
My guess is that the previous owner had cranked this tower up very tightly
with all the mechanical advantage the winch provides. Then, maybe there was
some wind involved too.
Anyway, I suspect your Tristao might have a more extreme case of the rivet
hole elongation problem that I have.
My plan is to bring it down, pull the rivets out of that leg, get it lined up
properly and put new holes and rivets in. Then my leaning Tristao tower
should be back up straight.
As a footnote to the Tristao story and to the current Tower Talk thread about
Rohn quality control: when I was in high school (circa 1963 in San Mateo) I
bought Tristao tower sections from Amrad Supply (Burlingame) later known as
Ham Radio Outlet. When erecting the tower I experienced a problem with the
bolt holes not lining up. I notified the supplier (Amrad) and within a few
days Lou Tristao (owner) himself showed up at my parents' house with an
electric drill in his hand. He personally crawled around and happily took
care of the problem. And I was just some kid. That was real customer
service.
Cheers.....Alan K0AV (Colorado Springs)
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