[TowerTalk] DROPPING A TOWER

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

I would be worried about the rope stretching as you drive the vehicle 
then suddenly breaking.  Per Murphy's law, it will break at the top
end :-(.

73
Rick N6RK

On 9/21/2024 10:41 AM, kq2m at kq2m.com wrote:
> Hi Bill,
> 
> One other thought.....
> 
> Before you bring anything down, I would climb to about 10' below the top 
> set of guys (I'm assuming that you have them at either 120' or 130'), 
> and attach a very heavy solid pull rope  long enough to reach the ground 
> plus another 100' or so.
> 
> After you set everything else up (additional two tensioned guys ~ 70'), 
> and guys made tighter on either side of the direction of the fall at 
> each guy level, I would loosen the tower bolts in the bottom section of 
> the tower to allow for more tower flexing and movement.  (do NOT remove 
> the bolts! just loosen them as much as possible)
> 
> Then I would position a vehicle no less than 175' from the base of the 
> tower (tower height + 30%) and tie the free end of the rope to the 
> chassis of the vehicle (even better is to tie the rope to a trailer 
> hitch if you have one) and then slowly drive forward in the direction 
> that you want the tower to fall (direction of the lean) and pull the 
> tower down.
> 
> Hopefully it will all proceed smoothly.
> 
> 73
> 
> Bob, KQ2M
> 
> 
> 
> On 2024-09-21 11:57, kq2m at kq2m.com wrote:
>> Hi Bill,
>>
>> I would approach dropping your tower the same way that I would 
>> approach chainsawing down an extremely heavy, very tall tree.
>>
>> 1) First I would carefully assess the direction of the "lean" of the 
>> tower.  Almost all towers lean in some direction, especially near the 
>> top.  If the lean is pronounced then you want the tower to fall in 
>> this direction, same as if you were chainsawing a tree to bring it 
>> down. You want gravity to work FOR you not against you.
>>
>> 2) Then I would climb to about the 70' level and I would attach to 
>> temporary guys and tension them significantly to the two guy anchors 
>> on either side of where you want the tower to fall.  (You want the 
>> tower to fall in-between those two guy anchors) Then add tension to  
>> the original guy wires on either side of where you want the tower to 
>> fall.
>>
>> Increase the tension on all the other guy wires (at the different 
>> heights) on either side of the direction in which you want the tower 
>> to fall.  But increase the tension the most on the TOP set of guys 
>> between which direction you want the tower to fall.
>>
>> Now you have 4 guy wires at significant tension in the middle of the 
>> tower as well at ~ 40' and ~ 120' and you want the tower to be leaning 
>> more noticeably in the original direction of the lean.
>>
>> 3)   Now loosen the guy wires behind the tower in the direction 
>> opposite to where you want the tower to fall. (If you want the tower 
>> to fall to the NE, then loosen the SW guy wire.  Start with the TOP 
>> guy, then loosen the middle guy and then the bottom guy.
>>
>> 4) Wear a hardhat and move back from the base of the tower very quickly.
>>
>> 5) Now the tower should be starting to fall and if you did it right 
>> and there are no other issues, the tower fall should take only ~ 5 
>> seconds.  LOL!
>>
>> With trees of course you don't have back guys to consider so it is 
>> simpler and more dangerous.  The tower should be much easier to deal 
>> with.
>>
>> Best of luck!
>>
>> 73
>>
>>
>> Bob, KQ2M
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2024-09-21 09:19, cqtestk4xs--- via TowerTalk wrote:
>>> In a few weeks I will be taking down a 136 ft Rohn 55 tower with its 
>>> base set in concrete.  I won't be taking it down section by section, 
>>> but rather dropping the whole thing.
>>> I have some pre-conceived ides as to how to do it, but have never 
>>> done it beiore.  No issues with power lines or neighbor's 
>>> property...noner are an issue.  Lots of cleared space folr the tower 
>>> to be dropped.
>>> Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>> Bill K4XS/V31XX
>>
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