[TowerTalk] Legs of a 60' piece of tower being dragged while being lifted

[TexasRF at aol.com]

Just thinking here: With 400 pounds of dead weight resting on two legs,  
that is 200 pounds on each leg. Can you stand on one leg of a 55G section  
without bending it? Yes, of course you can, so that seems safe.
 
The other consideration though is if the section was dropped and landed on  
the end of the leg, the shock could bend the leg(s). So, one would hope the 
 crane operator does not let that happen.
 
At least your plywood pieces would act as a sort of shock absorber in case  
something happens. Perhaps a couple helpers with ropes tied to the end of 
the  section could help control undesired motion.
 
73,
Gerald K5GW
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/14/2016 12:12:13 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rxdesign at ssvecnet.com writes:

Hi  Gerald, 

That is my plan! I was thinking of a double thickness of 3/4”  ply that is 
about 2’ wide. Strap it so that it reaches up about 2’ and hangs  down by a 
foot or so... my main concern with posting this was ANY deformation  in the 
leg. I know this stuff is REALLY stout – but wasn’t sure if any bending  
(permanent) might happen making it more difficult to get together. That 
stated  the secondary effect of scraping off the galvanizing was and is in my 
mind as  well.

g.



From: TexasRF at aol.com 
Sent: Friday, October  14, 2016 11:05 AM
To: rxdesign at ssvecnet.com ; n0ost99 at gmail.com 
Cc:  towertalk at contesting.com 
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Legs of a 60' piece of  tower being dragged while 
being lifted

Gary, you might consider lashing  a 4ft X 8ft sheet of plywood to the 
bottom tower section to protect the end of  the tower while dragging it across 
the ground. Probably should be 3/4" thick  to survive. Even a 2ft X 4ft might 
do the job.

Or, strap a couple of 4"  X 4" X 8ft posts to the tower and let the ends of 
the posts take the abuse.  Kind of like what you have seen in old Western 
movies showing how Indians  moved stuff around on two poles strapped to their 
horse.

If you don't  do something to protect the tower you can expect some of the 
galvanizing to be  scrapped off. I have seen that happen just skidding 
sections around on a  smooth concrete floor. With upwards of 400 pounds of weight 
on the lower end  it is a given.

I have not done any of these things so consider this as  a concept only. As 
they say, your mileage may vary!

73,
Gerald  K5GW




In a message dated 10/14/2016 8:57:04 A.M. Central  Daylight Time, 
rxdesign at ssvecnet.com writes:
Indeed you are correct  ... however space is the limitation. The 60’ piece 
was assembled with the top  nearest the crane and going away from that spot –
 that distance it goes away  is probably too far for the crane as it would 
need to boom out too much...  with hindsight I might have tried to do it 
differently to accomplish this  better but even thinking about that I don’t 
think it would have been possible  with 6 antennas all assembled scattered 
around. The space where it would have  had to go is where I had to stage the 50’ 
boom 5 el 20 in order to get it  pre-assembled on to a 14’ tower section – 
it and the 80/75 dipole are at the  top and I had to use that space to get 
it ready (its now done and ready to  go). 

g.



From: Jeff Draughn 
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2016 9:05 AM
To: StellarCAT 
Cc:  tower 
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Legs of a 60' piece of tower being  dragged while 
being lifted


I may be all wet here, especially  since I have never done this before, but 
it seems if you position the base of  the section you want to lift near the 
tower you want to lift it onto then  swing the boom of the crane to pick up 
the end, as you pick it up if you swing  the boom back towards the base of 
the section you're lifting there would be  very little dragging involved. 

Again without having real life  experience at doing this I may be 
completely off-base but just a  thought.

Jeff


On Friday, October 14, 2016,  StellarCAT <rxdesign at ssvecnet.com> wrote:

So Fred  pointed this out ... I hadn’t considered it up until then... is it 
a problem  to just allow the legs drag in the dirt while the 60’ piece with 
rotating ring  attached (~850#) is lifted? Is there ANY chance the legs 
will deform making it  impossible to mate it to the tower? I don’t have access 
to an end loader or  any other piece of heavy eqmt ... I thought, and this 
might sound silly, a  dolly ... those cheap(er) ones – seem to be rated at 
600# ... if I could get  enough guys to lift the end and put that under the 
end – then we could pull it  along as the crane goes up.... although the 
ground is really rough so that is  doubtful... it would probably get stuck and 
the legs drop off which would be  far worse than just having them drag on the 
ground ... experiences  anyone?

Gary
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