[TowerTalk] Trylon 72' Tower

[K7LXC--- via TowerTalk]

>   I have the heaviest version of the Trylon "Titan"  72' self supporting 
tower. It has been up about 9 years approx. About 3 years  ago?this tower 
experienced winds of about 100 MPH, as my location was in the  eyewall of 
Hurricane Ike for about an hour.
?? The tower only had a stacked  pair of M2 432-13WL yagis on it at the 
time. It damaged the yagis severely and  put a slight?(permanent) bend in the 
2" OD x 6061-T6 mast.
?? However, my  concern is that we noticed, right after the storm?had 
passed, that?the tower had  a noticeable "lean", in the upper?third or so.?toward 
the east. The strongest  winds during the eye were from the west. It is 
hard to tell exactly, but when  sighting up either of the legs on the east side 
(it is leaning slightly to the  east)??it appears there is a?change in the 
direction of legs about 30' up.  However, what bothers me is that it appears 
there is a steady curving going up  either leg on east side, making me 
think the tower suffered a bend.
? A  friend of mine told me that what I needed to do was to examine the 
bolted leg  junctions and see?where?the west-side leg pulled upward, with east 
side legs  moving downward.?Then, loosen the west-side leg bolts and pull 
that side back  downward, which should fix the problem.?I have examined the 
bolted leg?junctions  but really cannot tell if there was any movement.
? I thought I would ask:  Would it?be more likely that the bolted leg 
junctions?changed (due to uplift on  upwind side and compression on downwind 
side)?or did the tower just get  bent??
 
    Without a close examination of the tower and in the  absence of an 
obviously bent leg, I'd say that the tower just moved in the leg  joints. Yes, 
put a rope or cable on a leg so that you can put tension in  the pull-back 
direction and then put some good tension on it. Start at the  bottom and 
loosen up the nuts of the leg under tension and then re-tighten them.  That will 
correct most of the lean. An hour or two and it'll be back to  normal.
 
Cheers, 
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for amateurs
Cell: 206-890-4188