[TowerTalk] US Tower 72 ft crank up grinds to a standstill

[Grant Saviers]

My HDX motors have a upside down plastic file box over them to keep out 
the PNW rain (lots). Cut a slot for the power lead. Buy a black one as 
even my 47 north sunlight eats up other colors.  Or paint one if you can 
find a paint that sticks.  A bungee cord keeps it on in the wind.  TEFC 
motors still can get water ingress.

A comment on another post - it's way past time to replace a 20 year old 
hoist cable!  Esp when there was no maintenance.

Search the archives for the best oil to use in the gearbox - lots of 
experience there. Overfilling blows seals.

Grant KZ1W


On 5/26/2020 21:08, Kent Olsen wrote:
> Fritz
> 
> When the tower stalls, does it blow the circuit breaker??
> 
> I had a problem with my HDX572. It was a bad electric motor. Every time I
> would raise the tower it would blow the fuse (yes, there is an actual fuse
> on my tower). The motor has rusted and shorted out. I had to replace it.
> 
> Thanks
> 73
> Kent
> N6WT
> 
> 
> On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 5:38 PM FritzOAQ <fritz at k4oaq.com> wrote:
> 
>> Many tks to you all fer all the suggestions & help.
>> Facts I shud have included in my original post:
>> Tower is 20 yrs old.
>> The only maint I've done is to change the belt that started slipping.
>> The rotor is a Yaesu G-2800DXA.
>> The suggestion that seemed most likely to be the problem was that the oil
>> had drained out of the gear box.
>> So, I did some reading & learning abt gear boxes.
>> I discovered I had to get my neighbor who runs a machine shop to grind 1/8
>> inch or so off an Allen wrench
>> so it wud fit in that little small spot to loosen the gear box drain.
>> I tried spraying PB Blaster on it the best I cud. Apparently I shud have
>> waited a few days before trying to loosen it.
>> I now have an Allen wrench a very artist twist and the opinion there's no
>> way to get the drain loose.
>> A hammer rather than a paint brush was needed to perform my art work.
>> I'm anxiously awaiting suggestions of how to turn the tower upside down to
>> drain the oil out of the top hole.
>> So, moving right along, I assumed the oil didn't need to be drained &
>> filled the oil to the top. I saw no holes on the side to determine when it
>> was full,
>> so I assumed it was full when it ran over. I'm not sure how much went in
>> but I wud gess between 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup.
>> I wasn't all that hopeful that that wud fix the prob & sure enuf, prob not
>> solved.
>> It occurred to me to take the belt off & see if I cud turn by hand.
>> To my surprise I was able to - it was hard to turn it in the direction of
>> "up" but I cud see the tower going up as I turned.
>> I turned it up & down a number of turns thinking that the oil needed
>> swishing around in the gear box.
>> So, back to raising the tower & to my surprise, it started going up. I had
>> to stop it abt 3/4 of the way up to untangle the coax.
>> When I restarted it on up, back to the same prob. I got my wife to flip
>> the switch while I prodded the pulley wheel with a piece of wood to start
>> it moving.
>> After 4-5 "shoves" it started on up & is now sitting at 72 ft ... shud I
>> leave it there til I die??? Sorry, that's a bad joke these days.
>> After all this I noticed oil had come out of the top of the gear box. I
>> did have the cap on tightly.
>> One of you suggested a weight issue & provided me with the following info.
>> "From what I understand, UST rates the 72 foot crank up towers at 200 lbs
>> of antenna(s), rotor and mast, bearing etc weight with 22 lbs of cable
>> weight, 222lbs max vertical dead weight.  The DB36 weighs 165 lbs and the
>> tilt plate about 60 lbs. The mast, rotor, bearing, cables etc would be
>> additional."
>> So, is it the gear box or is it the weight, or both. :)
>> Fritz K4OAQ
>>
>>
>>
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