[TowerTalk] winch handle free spin

Wed Nov 11 09:20:24 PST 2009

I found out that it was impractical to move the tilt fixture from my first 
LM470 to the second LM470 when I wanted to tilt the tower so I ordered a 
second tilt fixture.  By that time Tashjian had started his company to build 
towers.  I specified that the tilt fixture should use a k-2550 rather than 
the k-1550 and told Tashjian that I thought the k-1550
would be overloaded.  Maybe that helped to change what was used in the later 
sales.

k7puc

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Williams" <alwilliams at olywa.net>
To: "Mike" <noddy1211 at sbcglobal.net>; <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] winch handle free spin

> 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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