[TowerTalk] Need Help-Triex H 354 Tower (Not LM 354)

[jimlux]

kq6i at arrl.net wrote:
> James
>. I'm having better luck at finding hen's teeth than suitable replacement
> pulley's.  Tashjian Towers Corporation is a joke for replacement parts. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Archer [mailto:James.Archer at erm.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 4:53 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Need Help-Triex H 354 Tower (Not LM 354)
> 
> Thanks for reading this.  I have an old Triex H-354 tower that consists of three 20 foot steel welded sections that extend
> up to 54 feet via a manual cable crank winch.  This tower was made by Triex Tower in Visalia, California many years ago
> (Serial number 54003). 


"old"... "many years ago"

It's not surprising that it's hard to find exact replacement parts for a 
decades old tower made in small quantities.  The mfr probably bought a 
batch of pulleys and used them for the next 10 years, then when they ran 
out, bought another batch, slightly different, modified the design, etc.

I wouldn't hold that against the mfr.  I don't expect Nissan to still 
make all the obscure replacement parts for my 30 year old 280Z, and that 
was for a product made by the millions.

That said, I'm surprised that you can't find pulleys that are a very 
close match if you go to a specialty distributor like Applied.com 
(formerly King Bearing) (Not that they'll actually have pulleys, but 
that's the kind of place you need... they have thousands and thousands 
of parts of every conceivable size and shape)

What about McMaster-Carr or W.W. Grainger?