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

Fri Oct 14 15:35:23 EDT 2016

My Crain Experience with Radio Towers   is limited to two dismantles and three erections. As for the Crain it self.... I was a Crain Operator @ Bethlehem Steel for 4 years.

Was  Crain Checked up to 400 ton  bridge and multi Trolley  drum  Crain's.  A competent Crain operator  will IMO  know  how to RIG and PICK a load.

 The newer Mobil Crain's all operator's are  licensed for and above  the capacity of there unit.

    The Rig the  Rig has meters that tell the operator  not only  lift load weight but also side BOOM  weight .  To over come the side weight he would pivot and lift at the same time or in close unison.  the Base of your tower should NOT be drug along the  Earth ....

  Being a belt and suspenders type if that were a concern . I would get Four (4) U bolts   The bottom mating tube is 1 7/8 "  OD  so 2" U bolts and some flat bar stock to triangulate

reinforce that  bottom area......

Wayne  W3EA

From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of StellarCAT <rxdesign at ssvecnet.com>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2016 1:42 PM
To: TexasRF at aol.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

yes – I have a tendency, even though I’m an EE and quite experienced in mechanical systems, of being very anal retentive and it only seems to be getting worse as I age obsessing over things I know I shouldn’t be ... my apologies for that ... :>(

It is the ‘drop’ that I worried about. This is over very rough farm land so the path will have some significant up and down as it would move along...

but your analogy is a good one – thank you kindly sir.

g.

From: TexasRF at aol.com
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2016 1:33 PM
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

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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TowerTalk is for discussion of tower and HF antenna construction topics. TT members have lots of helpful information and are happy to share it.