[TowerTalk] Removing a Rotator

[Dick Green WC1M]

K7LXC wrote:

> You need to jack up the mast just far enough to remove  the rotator and
> you'll be good to go.

OK, that brings up something about which I've been curious: exactly how do
you jack up the mast? Someday I'll have to do that to get my Orion rotor out
for service, and I can't quite picture the process.

I'm assuming you attach a come-along cable to the mast and hook the
come-along on a tower rung. But where and how do you attach them?

I have two thrust bearings, one in the top plate and one in a plate between
the top plate and rotor shelf. There's about 5 feet of mast in the tower,
with about 3.5 feet of it above the middle thrust bearing plate. The
come-along cable would have to be attached between the top and middle thrust
bearing plates. That doesn't leave a lot of room to attach the come-along to
the tower above the point of attachment.
 
Seems to me a better idea is to run the cable up from the mast to a pulley
attached to a rung, and from there down to the come-along. The higher the
cable can run before encountering the pulley the better. Otherwise, the
cable will be pulling sideways more than up.

Do I have this completely screwed up? Is there a better way to do it?

It's not a problem in my installation, but if you had a heavy mast with a
lot of antennas, wouldn't attaching the come-along and pulley to a rung risk
bending a rung? Would it be better to u-bolt a piece of angle steel between
the legs and hang the come-along from that?

73, Dick WC1M