Is it worth it to rebuild? Consider:
HRO price for new HDX572MPDL $10k, tax $?, shipping for 1600#, about $1
per mile, so rebuilding can make a LOT of sense if the tower is
structurally sound.
The details:
Hot dip re-galvanizing 1300# (without hoist motor/winch/cables) $715
plus tax if you can provide the transport to/from galvanizer
Painting alternative: maybe $150 of paint+supplies plus lots of your labor
New cables: $400 for wire, thimbles, and crimping done professionally at
a rigging shop.
New anchor bolts $300 (they come with new).
So a "first class" new galvanizing rebuild ready to go into a new
foundation: maybe $2k if you have to rent a trailer for the galvanizing
vs maybe $13k for new. Plus the used tower cost, I've paid $500 for a
LM354 used, $800 for LM470, an HDX570 maybe $1k more? One I missed was
a HDX589 for $2k. So the difference in cost for a "like new-used"
HDX572 = $3.8k vs 13k.
Then all the great "free stuff" = antennas, rotators, cables, etc.
thrown in by the prior owner to get rid of it, makes for some very good
deals.
Plus the fun and sometimes excitement of rebuilding as I have done with
friends.
73,
Grant KZ1W
On 4/18/2016 8:43 AM, Kelly Taylor wrote:
If the tower is in good shape, is there really a difference between buying and
refurbishing a 20-year-old tower and having owned it from new for 20 years and
then refurbishing it?
The question of whether it’s worthwhile is in the eye of the owner: if getting
a good deal on a used tower and trading your own labour for the cost of a new tower is
the only way to afford a tower, as long as the work is done properly, is it really a
bad thing?
The thing about TT is the budgets of its subscribers range from those with apparently
limitless budgets to the rest of us who try to do our best while putting kids through
hockey, school and life…
73, kelly, ve4xt
On Apr 18, 2016, at 10:35 AM, Dick Blumenstein <rcblumen@centurylink.net> wrote:
HI Ed-
There is very little surface rust on the tower and I got it for a very good
price, especially considering the addition of the antennas, prop pitch motor,
Green Heron digital prop pitch motor controller and the 2 crank motors that
came with it.
I probably could erect it without rebuilding the pulley sheaves and wire rope,
but feel that it wouldn't hurt to check them out first. They might be in good
order, but as long as I have it that far apart, why not replace them?
Thanks for the feedback on the lightning rod.
Dick, K0CAT
=====================
Ed Sawyer wrote on 4/18/2016 11:23 AM:
A couple of quick comments.
Is all that work on restoring a 20 year old crank up tower actually worth
it?
Having experienced a total of 6 lightning strikes over 10 years with 2 - 85
foot tall structures, I can tell that only 1 of the 6 hit the top mast of
the tower (approximately 4 ft above the highest yagi to hold the trusses).
The other 5 either hit the ground in the nearby vicinity or in one case hit
my 10M yagi at the 30 ft level (go figure).
My personal opinion is that a lightning rod on the top of a tower is
useless.
Ed N1UR
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