[TowerTalk] Stuck tower is unstuck!

[david jordan]

The Triex tower line has an electric safety switch that prevents 
extending the tower past the recommended height.  It also has a postivie 
pull-down cable which can be configured to act as a back-up fail safe to 
the switch but this would be a last resort that could lead to component 
failure of the pull-down system. The electric winch power cut-off 
feature goes a long way to help prevent operator errors.  Perhaps folks 
should let US TOWERS in on the secret!

enjoy,
dave
wa3gin
Happy Owner of a CT-100

David Greer wrote:

>In November 2003, my new US Tower TX-455 became stuck
>in the fully extended position and I could not crank
>it down. I asked for suggestions, wisdom, similar
>experiences, etc. here on TowerTalk. I received quite
>a few replies. Several suggested the sections might
>have jammed, some said high winds might have bent or
>twisted a section and a few said to check the winch to
>see if it was jammed.
>
>After having my brother-in-law, the mechanical genius,
>over for a July 4th cook-out, he determined the
>winch's clutch had malfunctioned causing the winch
>brake pads to seize. He rather easily got the clutch
>to work again properly and we lowered the tower. 
>
>I had already ordered a replacement parts kit from the
>winch manufacturer so Mike replaced all winch
>components and now the tower is fully functionally
>again.
>
>Here is what I learned so I am passing this along to
>others in hopes you can learn from my mistake. Like
>most hams, I had wanted to get my antennas as high in
>the air as possible. I had always cranked my tower up
>to the maximum height. That was fine until the night
>last November of very high winds. I went out in the
>dark and stupidly cranked the winch in the wrong
>direction. That's when the clutch malfunctioned and
>the brake pads stuck.
>
>The solution? Not to crank the tower up all the way.
>Cranking it up to within a foot or two of the top
>would have given me a margin of error to have realized
>I was stupidly cranking in the wrong direction and I
>don't think it would have become stuck.
>
>Yes, the winch is marked for which direction to crank.
>Stupid me failed to take a flashlight outside that
>fateful night so that was another problem -- I
>couldn't see the winch decal telling me which way to
>crank to get it coming down. 
>
>It's down now for feedline maintenance, but when I
>crank it back up later this week, believe me, I will
>not crank it up to the full 55 feet. Sacrificing a
>couple of feet of height is well worth not repeating
>this incident again!
>
>BTW, Mike says he's not too impressed with the Fulton
>boat winch on the tower and recommends we consider
>installing a more heavy duty winch in the future.
>
>I hope this experience will help someone else in the
>future avoid this type of situation.
>
>73, N4KZ
>(Soon to have a 3-el SteppIR yagi at 53 feet instead
>of 55 feet!)
>
>=====
>David Greer
>
>
>		
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