[TowerTalk] Finally got my crank up tilt over

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

I paid three grand for the LM470 crank up, tilt over with a raising 
fixture, BUT I had a chance to inspect it on site. Whether the price was 
high or low, at 1.5 miles and a willing contractor to remove and haul it 
in his spare time was worth a good thousand dollars, or more  The tower 
was in good shape, apparently with little use and only about a mile and 
a half from me.  OTOH it was missing a few things.

The "problem" which I had seen, was they had built onto the house after 
the tower was installed and the raising fixture could no longer  be used 
to lower the tower.  OTOH it could be tilted over with a flat side 
down.  My contractor had a good size tilt bed double axle.trailer that 
would easily handle the 1300# and length.   He also had a good size fork 
lift with big tires.  Those big tires saved the day!  The forks were 
wide and on a heavy bar that let him align them with the flat metal 
bands on the bottom section.We also put 2 X 10s under the side rail for 
more than the width of the forks to prevent any bending
We had a LOT of rain and although that back yard was sandy, it was soft. 
Even those big tires sunk in, but he was able to lift the tower enough 
to clear the tilt fixture by less than 2 inches.  He told me later that 
he thought if he had to reposition one more time he wouldn't have been 
able to clear the base.

That would have meant a crane that could ave lifted the entire tower, 
base, and raising fixture as one, BUT the house was 100 yards  from the 
road with a very soft front yard.  It's doubtful they could have gotten 
a crane close enough to make the lift and would have completely ruined 
the front yard
He loaded it on the trailer and brought it here where we laid it on 
blocks.  I think he charged me $100 for the whole works.Weather and 
health conspired to make it over a year before the tower was up.  The 
bank owned the property with a sale closing just a few days away, they 
wanted that tower out of there.

So Make sure you can inspect the tower before committing to any thing.  
Crank-ups are far more vulnerable than the old self supporting, or guyed 
towers. There are pulleys, cables, winches, motors, control boxes, 
wiring, and limit switches, not to forget that a small bend or broken 
piece can render the whole thing inoperable
Then, don't forget to read the specs for the tower. Will it lift and 
hold what  you want it to with a bit of capacity to spare.?

Grant makes some very good points.

BTW One of those BIG trailers would be unlikely to make it down the 
street.  Big stuff, like heavy machine tools that come freight, I have 
delivered to the local airport with prior approval. The really big stuff 
like my old Bridgeport mill get delivered to a local freight depot where 
they transfer the cargo to a big tilt bed truck that can make it all the 
way to the big shop door.  I don't remember the cost from the yard in 
Detroit, but it wasn't much as it was piggy backed on a load of new 
equipment coming this way. IIRC The local Depot charged me $80, but due 
to a bad experience they refuse to haul towers.  They refused to explain 
beyond "bad experience".

Often Fairly big, new towers are delivered in two stages like that so it 
pays to check and know your options.  Prices, like used tower vary a 
lot. If you catch them at a slack time, in a good mood, after a hassle 
with a difficult customer, or how diplomatically you explain the special 
handling requirements. Many take offense at a customer telling them how 
to do something.

73,

Roger (K8RI)


On 2/17/2016 Wednesday 2:37 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:
> Used prices are all over the map - from "free, you take it down and 
> away, and btw it is hidden in the rear of the house and needs a crane 
> to remove it", to estate sales $500 to $1000 for a 54' or 70' manual 
> crankup, to $5k+ for motorized like a UST 589, accessible and on the 
> ground.  Then, how do you pick it up and move it?  Is it 500# or 
> 3000#?  What equipment can you rent, borrow, and will work on the 
> site?  Who can operate the equipment safely and rig the tower for 
> travel?  Then questions about what needs fixed - frozen bearings in 
> the sheaves (I paid $30 ea on ebay for NOS as no longer made), new 
> cables needed, new winch, might need regalvanized, is there a base 
> with it ($500 if still made plus shipping), is the manufacturing 
> outfit still in business and will they supply wet stamp drawings if a 
> permit is needed, will a local weld shop make a base, etc?
>
> All of this adds up, so sometimes cheap is not inexpensive. However, 
> there are often very good deals if you have the resources to manage 
> the logistics and know what problems need solved.
>
> Remember also, that a new tower arrives on a long haul flatbed truck 
> which you must unload, so those challenges are the same for "new".
>
> Grant KZ1W
>
> On 2/17/2016 7:58 AM, dw wrote:
>> Whats a common selling price for a used crank up or tilt over tower?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 16, 2016, at 01:28 PM, Ken K6MR wrote:
>>> I bought a used TH354 as my first tower in 1967. This was one of a 
>>> series
>>> of guyed crankups that Tri-Ex made in the 60s and a little into the
>>> 1970s. The series was the T, TH, H, and HS, in heights from 37 feet
>>> (-237) to 122 feet (-7122). Each version used combinations of the same
>>> tower sections depending on how tall and what section widths you 
>>> wanted.
>>>   I was in the tower business in the early 1970s and saw a number of 
>>> them.
>>> They were much cheaper than the self supporting models. But not 
>>> nearly as
>>> strong.
>
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-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)


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