[TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN
Bob K6UJ
k6uj at pacbell.net
Fri May 13 17:47:11 EDT 2016
I contacted Hub City (who makes our US Tower reduction gears) and they
recommended
using a synthetic lube, lasts longer, and the gear box runs cooler. I
went to a synthetic
lube. It is easy to change. There is a fill plug near the top of the
gearbox and a
drain plug near the bottom. (Attached is info from Hub City.)
You don't have to use Hub Citys synthetic lube. I used Mobil Glygole
synthetic lube.
(specs on Mobil's synthetic attached)
If you decide to go with synthetic gear lube, they recommend you drain
and flush the gearbox
before you add the new synthetic. It takes one quart to fill my HDX589
gear box
so I ordered 2 quarts. After draining the existing gear lube, I added
one quart of the
synthetic lube ran the gearbox for about 10 minutes till it was warm,
then drained and added
another quart of the new snthetic.
(attached is the supplier I used for the Mobil synthetic lube)
My gearbox runs quieter and much cooler than it did before with the old
lube.
After extending the tower all the way up before the gearbox was hot,
not super
hot but uncomfortable to have your hand on it. Now it gets barely warm.
hope this helps,
73,
Bob
K6UJ
On 5/13/16 12:52 PM, Les Kalmus wrote:
> Bob,
>
> What did you re-lube it with?
>
> Les W2LK
>
>
> On 5/13/2016 3:50 PM, Bob K6UJ wrote:
>> I would like to add something to the list of maintenance items. The
>> reduction gear used
>> for the motorized winch on the US Towers is a worm drive unit. The
>> lube in these worm drive
>> gear boxes should be changed periodically. Because of the sliding
>> contact with the worm gears,
>> the lube becomes contaminated. I had never thought of the gearbox
>> and never changed the lube
>> on my US Tower HDX589 tower since I had it installed 12 years ago. It
>> was giving a high pitched
>> squeal and the case was getting hot. Anyway, I drained the old lube,
>> (looked like dirty motor oil
>> when you change the oil in your car) and filled the box up again, ran
>> it for awhile to flush out any
>> remaining crapola, drained it again, then put in fresh lube. Hub
>> City, says for our usage, they recommend
>> doing this every 5 years or sooner depending on how much we run the
>> gearbox. I plan to
>> change mine every two years now. Its easy to do.
>>
>> 73,
>> Bob
>> K6UJ
>>
>>
>> On 5/13/16 11:44 AM, Alan Swinger wrote:
>>> Thanks all. - Alan
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Fred Hurd <fred.hurd at cox.net>
>>>> Sent: May 13, 2016 12:51 PM
>>>> To: K7LXC at aol.com
>>>> Cc: towertalk at contesting.com, awswinger at earthlink.net
>>>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN
>>>>
>>>> Hello Awsinger - I totally agree with Steve (K7LXC) regrarding the
>>>> need to replace cables on a crank-up tower. I have used the same
>>>> cables on my US Tower TX-472 crank-up for well over ten years and
>>>> they are in great shape because I lubricate them twice a year with
>>>> Pre-Lube 6 Preservative Cable Lubricant (which you can buy from
>>>> Steve).
>>>> You do need to grease the motor drive system periodically to keep
>>>> smooth operation especially during tower raising and also don’t
>>>> forget the thrust bearing at the top of the tower. You don’t need
>>>> to replace the cables unless upon close inspection you see one or
>>>> more of the problems as indicated in Steve’s email.
>>>>
>>>> Best 73, Fred (W4PKU)
>>>>> On May 13, 2016, at 12:24 PM, K7LXC--- via TowerTalk
>>>>> <towertalk at contesting.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I am also looking for someone who can change the cables on my US
>>>>>> Tower
>>>>> TX-472 MDPL in Charlottesville, VA sometime in the next few
>>>>> weeks. Will pay
>>>>> a reasonable fee and tvl costs.
>>>>>
>>>>> I guess the obvious question is why do you think the cables need
>>>>> changing? In the crank-up chapter in my UP THE TOWER book, I list
>>>>> 3 reasons why
>>>>> you would need to have them changed.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. Excessive broken strands. With 7x19 cables such as the ones
>>>>> typically used in crank-ups, that would be 6 broken strands.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. Serious rust. Cancerous rust - not surface rust.
>>>>>
>>>>> 3. Damage. That would be a kink or flattened part of a cable.
>>>>>
>>>>> In my over 25 years of tower work, I've only seen one
>>>>> crank-up tower
>>>>> that I would have recommended on having a cable change.
>>>>>
>>>>> Tower manufacturers are insurance driven enterprises. US
>>>>> Tower says
>>>>> you need to change the cables and pulleys every 2 years. This is
>>>>> a 'weasel
>>>>> clause' - that is, if you don't do that and something happens to your
>>>>> crank-up, UST can weasel out of any responsibility. They are very
>>>>> risk averse.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is NOT an exception to the LXC Prime Directive to "DO
>>>>> what the
>>>>> manufacturer says." That's because UST is NOT the manufacturer of
>>>>> the wire
>>>>> rope cables.
>>>>>
>>>>> I doubt that your cables are in such serious shape that they need
>>>>> replacing and I just wince at things people do or money they
>>>>> spend that they
>>>>> don't have to.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Steve K7LXC
>>>>> TOWER TECH -
>>>>> Professional tower services for amateurs
>>>>> US Tower factory authorized installer
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> TowerTalk mailing list
>>>>> TowerTalk at contesting.com
>>>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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