[TowerTalk] winch handle free spin

[Al Williams]

The first LM470 tilt fixture that came with the tower was purchased during 
the short time
that First Call was handling the selling for Paragon (If I remember 
correctly) and it had a k-1550.  It was very hard to tilt the tower up even 
without any antennas mounted.  Also on lowering the tower its screeching 
could be heard for miles!  I didn't change the cabling as directed to take 
advantage of the motor weight at the butt end of the tower because there was 
no pulley advantage in their setup.  I did a rough stress calculation and 
determined that the k-1550 was being used exceeding its specification.  I 
then replaced the k-1550 with the k-2550 and at the same time added two more 
pulleys and replaced the cable with a longer one.  One pulley at the tower 
and the other new pulley at the top of the tilt fixture. The US tower HDX572 
uses four pulleys to tilt the tower,  My setup is now easy to crank but 
takes longer so I use a drill motor.

-- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike" <noddy1211 at sbcglobal.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] winch handle free spin


I thought that the tilt over winch for the LM-470 Tower was a Fullerton
2550, at least that is what came with my LM-470 tilt over fixture.  It is
hard work to pull the tower up from its 8' horizontal elevation to vertical
with the 2550 winch if you do not use a counter weight at the motor end of
the tower, even with a small 3 element Steppir attached to it.  I can't
imagine what it would be like with K-1550, hard work I would guess.

Plus the cable routing from the winch as standard is wrong and puts undue
stress on the winch, which tends to want to peel off the mounting plate.

Mike, K6BR

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Al Williams
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] winch handle free spin


Yes, it happened to me but I was able to grab the winch handle (k1550) and
stop
the "freewheel".

This is how it happened to me:  The application of the winch was for the
tilt fixture of the LM470 tower.  The tower was nested and I pried the tower

to start its rotation to tilt it down.  After the tower had been tilted
erect, the winch can get into a free wheel mode.
If it remains in the free wheel mode i.e. by not winching it back taught, it

is free .

You can test this action by backing off after you get the winch taught and I

think that you
will find the winch gets into the free wheel mode.  It needs to be winched
until the table is
again taught to engage the clutch.

I don't know the mechanism of the winch--this is what I have observed.

k7puc



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe" <wd0m at wd0m.com>
To: "luke webber" <luke_webber at hotmail.com>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:15 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] winch handle free spin


Hi Luke,

First - you're right - you are NOT supposed to put grease on the
friction plates....they're supposed to have "friction", not be greased,
even accidentally, as you point out in your note.  That ensures they
will hold, rather than freewheel.  I've had a Fulton K1550 for a decade,
and had no problems with it.  I've recently replaced it with a K2550 on
my US Tower TX-455, just to make it a bit easier to raise and lower with
the extra mechanical advantage.  Both winches use the friction plate
method, and both work very well.  I've heard the "rumor", but never seen
any documented failure as you describe.  I'm certain you'll hear from
others....

73

Joe
WDØM

http://www.wd0m.com

luke webber wrote:
> i've heard claims that a clutch pack, braking system, on a fulton K1550
> winch can slip even when a person is trying to raise a tower.
>
> is this possible?  what could cause this to happen?  could it be out of
> adjustment, perhaps grease on the friction discs, or the pawl being out of

> alignment?
>
> thanks
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