[TowerTalk] Trylon joint bolt confusion

[Ryan Niemi - AV]

Hi everyone,

I'm just starting to put up my T700-56, but ran into some confusion on the
Trylon installation drawings and the bolts that were included with the
tower. I tried Emailing Jack at Trylon, who had provided other technical
info in the past, only to find he's on vacation until January.  I know
there's a few of you out there that install Trylon towers, so perhaps
someone can shed some light on the problem.  Below is a copy of the
message I sent to Jack Fonseca at Trylon:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Jack,

It's finally come time to assemble our T700-56 and lift it into place on
our recently poured foundation.  I ran into some complications with the
bolts and conflicting specs on the instruction sheets that came with the
tower though.

On the sheet marked "Titan Towers Instruction Sheet", there's torque specs
for 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" bolts, and the sheet that shows all the sections
and dimensions of each notes that sections 2-8 use 1/4" bolts, 9-12 use
5/16" bolts, and 13 uses 3/8" bolts.  All good so far, and these seem to
match up with what's included in our bolt kit.

Now, drawing 000001.610.0001 has different info at the top, listing
sections 2-6 using 3/8" bolts, 7-8 using 7/16", 9-10 using 1/2", and 11-13
using 5/8" bolts.  These seem to match up much more accurately with the
sizes of the holes actually drilled in the tower legs than the sheet
specifying the smaller bolts.

I would have been inclined to believe the first two sheets that matched up
with the bolt kit contents, except that the heads of the 3/8" bolts just
barely overlap the metal around the holes in the bottom of section #13,
such that they almost pull through the leg.  And they're a very sloppy
fit..  In contrast, some 5/8" (grade 5) bolts as specified on drawing
000001.610.0001 seem to fit the holes in the bottom of section #13 and the
weldments very well, while the 3/8" bolts just kinda flopped around and
didn't seem to fit well.

So, which sheet should I believe?  We attached section #13 to the
weldments today with locally obtained 5/8" grade 5 bolts (which were a
really good fit, unlike the 3/8" bolts) and bolted it to our foundation.
But now I'm lost as to what to do for all the other sections.  Should I go
with the specs for the smaller, looser fitting bolts that were included
with the tower or go with drawing 000001.610.0001 and obtain additional
bolts (grade 5 of course) locally to join the sections?  Did we get the
right bolts for the T700-56?

By the way, section #13 looks impressive standing triumphantly upon our
massive 8 cubic yard block of concrete.  Can't wait to get the whole tower
standing there..  Still need to chat with you some more about the Titan
T1500's when we have a chance.

Thanks,
 -Ryan


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