[TowerTalk] LM-470 Tilt Winch Question

[Al Williams]

I haven't taken the time am not good at visuallizing your written 
description of the winch cable connection.
However, it seems to me that the problem is that the cable was attached to 
the winch on the wrong side of the drum.  I have confirmed with a spare 
Fulton winch on the bench that the clicking mechanism when clicking will 
reel out or reel in depending on which side of the drum that the cable is 
first attached on.

BTW, the brake mechanism has a free running mode so use caution when 
lowering using the brake to be sure that it is engaged.  I have a previous 
posting that described the tower beginning to run-away to the ground but I 
grabbed the handle to stop it.

If anyone can describe in detail how the brake mechanism works I would sure 
appreciate it.  A google search on brake winches did not produce any 
explanation.

k7puc
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Giacobello" <k2xx at swva.net>
To: "towertalk reflector" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Cc: <KJ6Y at aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 2:25 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] LM-470 Tilt Winch Question


> About a year ago, I changed the original tilt winch on my LM-470 from
> the original Fulton 1550 to the heavier duty Fulton 2550.  In making the
> replacement, I essentially duplicated the cable arrangement on the
> original. The cable comes down over the front of the drum in front of
> the spacer bar through the lower pulley and is connected to the front
> leg of the tower.  When I turn the handle in the CW direction to raise
> the tower from horizontal to vertical, the drum also turns CW and the
> cable winds onto the drum with the ratchet engaged.  It works fine and
> there is no contact of the cable with the drive shaft or the spacer bar.
>
> I recently acquired another 470 but it was manufactured by a different
> manufacturer.  It also came with a 2550 tilt winch, but the gears on
> this winch are arranged differently and when the handle is turned CW,
> the drum turns CCW with the ratchet engaged.  The cable on this winch is
> wound on the drum so that it goes down over the back of the drum.
> Consequently when raising the tower , the cable winds onto the drum from
> the back of the drum in a CCW rotation with the ratchet engaged.  The
> problem is that the cable rubs against the drive shaft.
>
> I would like to orient the cable in the same way as the first tower to
> avoid the contact with the shaft.  The Fulton instructions strongly
> advise that the ratchet must be engaged when pulling or raising the
> load.  It looks like if I remove and reverse the orientation of the
> ratchet tooth relative to the gear, I can have the ratchet engage when
> the drum turns CW, but I'm not sure.
>
> I'd appreciate any advice on this problem.
>
>
> 73, Joe
> K2XX
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