[TowerTalk] Fractured Welds in New Rohn Sections

[Stan or Patricia Griffiths]

Towertalkers,

Most of you know I am a Rohn dealer.  Anyway, the last
couple of shipments I have received from Rohn have had some
serious shipping damage in the form of fractured welds.  The
nature of the damage caused me to believe it is caused by
the use of a fork lift to handle the tower during loading or
unloading the truck.  All of the unloading here is done by
hand since I don't own any power equipment to help me.

The shipment I received about a month ago was comprised
mostly of 55G and 25G.  Most of the 55G sections were
shipped with a 25G section stuffed inside.  Many of the
"inside" 25G sections had bent braces . . . bent OUT
slightly, rather than IN . . . and each weld fracture was
associated with a bent brace.  It would take only a simple
thump or two with a hammer to make the braces look good
again, but what do you do about the fractured welds?  These
welds were NOT broken completely loose from the tower leg .
. . they were only fractured.  But HOW DEEP was the fracture
and did it significantly weaken the tower section?  The
fractures were not visible except when looking at the INSIDE
of the leg welds.  For this shipment, the driver assured me
that the trailer he was towing had been loaded at Rohn and
was not unloaded until it reached me.  Apparently, Rohn had
used a fork lift to load these sections and had damaged them
while loading the trailer at the factory.  I took a bunch of
pictures and sent them to Rohn.  Rohn asked me to return
eleven 25G sections and one 55G section to them for
evaluation.  They shipped me eleven 25G replacements and one
55G replacement which I received today.

The good news is that all the 25G sections arrived in good
shape.  The bad news is that the replacement 55G section
arrived with . . . yes . . . a fractured weld and an
associated bent brace.  It appears this 55G section was
moved using a fork lift stuck into the end of it, too.  This
time, however, the sections had been loaded and unloaded
enroute once or twice so it is not possible to know if the
damage was done during loading at Rohn or at some transfer
point along the way.  Anyway, I took a couple more pictures
and sent them to Rohn today for their comments.

Since we can't clutter towertalk with pictures, I will
respond to individual requests for pictures of two of the
damaged 25G sections and both of the damaged 55G sections
for those who are interested in seeing what this damage
looks like for themselves.  Just send me an email and
request the "Rohn Damage Pictures".

This notice is not intended as harrassment to Rohn.  Rather,
it is to warn you guys there is a problem and to be on the
lookout for it.

Stan
w7ni@teleport.com



--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com