[TowerTalk] Tower winch failure

[Alan NV8A]

On 03/17/07 11:58 am Al Williams wrote:

> What bad things are true of the Fulton 1550 winch?

>  I believe that its braking system is similar to the Fulton 2550.  I 
> replaced the k1550 with the k2550 because the k1550 being used in the 
> tiltover portion of LM470 squealed so strongly that it was a wonder that 
> neighbors didn't come running to complain. I calculated that because of 
> weight and cable angles involved that the winch was being overloaded.  This 
> occurred when tilting the tower back down using the initial sling setup i.e. 
> not changing tower to tilt at the ears at the top of the tilt fixture.  The 
> k2550 tilts the tower quietly.


The winch on my HDX-555 is the only one of which I have experience, so I 
too was surprised at the screeching noise when lowering (i.e., tilting 
down) the tower.  But closer examination showed that then one is 
actually driving the winch against a braking mechanism, so I assumed 
that the noise was normal.

Does anyone have one of these towers with a winch that does not screech 
when the cable is being let out? Or what about winches of this type that 
are being used for other purposes?

73

Alan NV8A