[TowerTalk] Split legs

[Steve Maki]

It COULD be done without a crane, but obviously by someone with experience.

The idea would be to rig up clamps on the tower and three hydraulic 
jacks. On a calm day the guys could all be loosened up enough to jack 
the tower up enough to effect the modification of choice. There are a 
number of upgrades that might be reasonable - I would favor a pier pin 
mod of some sort.

-Steve K8LX

On 4/20/2013 12:20 PM, Gary K9GS wrote:
> Hi Jerry,
>
> Some head scratching here and some ideas.
>
> First, the towers legs split because the base was installed incorrectly
> without adequate drainage in the legs. Water/condensation filled the
> base section and when the water froze it split the legs.
>
> Even if you were somehow able to repair the splits you still have the
> drainage problem.
>
> Here's a suggestion...I'm not a tower guy but maybe others will chime in.
>
> 1)  Rent a big crane.  I don't know what you have on top for weight and
> antennas but the idea is you want to be able to pick up the whole tower
> enough so that you can un-bolt the damaged section.
>
> 2)  With the tower suspended by the crane, torch off the stubs sticking
> out of the concrete.
>
> 3)  Drill a hole between the torched-off stubs and epoxy in a pier pin.
> While you're at it, seal off the holes left where the cut of stubs were
> to eliminate water getting inside the old buried base. This assumes the
> base is adequate to begin with.
>
> 4)  Replace the damaged tower section with a brand new Rohn 25 section
> fitted with a pier-pin plate.
>
> 5)  Lower the tower back onto the pier pin, re-tension the guys and you
> should be good to go.
>
> This is NOT a simple repair job and must be done by a professional that
> knows what they're doing.  A 180 ft tower, or any tower for that matter,
> is nothing trivial to deal with.  You've got a very dangerous situation
> on your hands.
>
> It might just be simpler to replace the whole tower.  Especially since
> the original installation was faulty to begin with I'd be worried about
> what other mistakes were made, such as inadequate base, guy anchors, etc.
>
> Again...call in a pro and see what they say.

> On 4/20/2013 7:48 AM, Jerry Head II wrote:
>> I have a 180' Rohn 25g, the bottom section is cemented in the ground.
>> This section has developed a 1" split in two of the legs. Is there a
>> safe way to repair these splits?
>> My apologies if this has been covered before, I am fairly new here.