[TowerTalk] Receiving a crank-up tower

[John Simmons]

Art,

This situation occurs all the time! Freight truck drivers hate waiting 
and any of them above a moron will call you ahead with an ETA. The tower 
company will tend to work with only one shipping company, and if your 
tower stays on one truck from the factory to you the driver will be used 
to delivering their towers. As far as unloading goes, most forklift 
operators carry straps and etcetera if they know ahead of time. Make 
some calls to local outfits to find someone that will work with you. The 
lift operator needs to visit your site ahead of time to make sure his 
equipment will do the job. The same guy will be helpful when it comes 
time to set the tower onto the base after the concrete has cured.

I live in a very rural area and know several contractors that would be 
up to a job like this. Many times a small contractor will partner with 
another small contractor, sharing equipment to make the job happen. Make 
sure you don't wind up with an overconfident inexperienced contractor 
though.

Just don't do what a ham in tech support for an antenna and tower 
company did: he put the tower base into the concrete 180 degrees around 
so he couldn't tilt the tower up from the yard!

-de John NI0K

Art Greenberg wrote on 9/11/2019 6:08 PM:
> I'm in the research & planning stages of a crank-up (telescoping) tower purchase. It would be my first such tower. I'm looking at "small" towers (for < 12 square feet of antenna) in the vicinity of 50 feet height. Considering both steel and aluminum, but at the moment the steel tower seems to be in the lead. I'll probably post questions during the selection process. But for now, I have some questions that pertain whatever the choice.
>
> The manufacturer of the steel tower told me that the shipping weight of the tower is around 1,000 pounds, and that it will be shipped fully assembled and crated in an enclosed truck (probably a tractor-trailer, going cross country). The length of the assembled and crated tower as-shipped will be about 25 feet.
>
> I live on a narrow street, and there is zero chance that the delivery driver will be able to bring his truck (assuming a tractor-trailer) onto my driveway. My property is fenced with a lot of trees, meaning the best route onto the property is though the gate at the end of the driveway and then following the not-at-all-straight driveway to its closest approach to the tower installation location. But to do that, the tower would have to travel down the driveway lengthwise - crosswise on a forklift won't work too well due to the trees along the driveway.
>
> My questions:
>
> 1. How the heck do I get a 25-foot long 1,000 pound crated tower off of the truck? A reach forklift? Something else?
>
> 1a. I'm not a forklift operator. Any suggestion as to where to look for one for hire? Do such people provide their own equipment, rigging and tools?
>
> 1b. What (other) tools/rigging am I likely to need?
>
> 1c. I'm twisting myself into a pretzel obsessing over how to coordinate the forklift with truck arrival. Is it really as difficult as I imagine?
>
> 2. How do I get the tower through my gate and to a suitable spot on my property to await installation?
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice!
>