[TowerTalk] HDX555 top plate warped - K7LY

[Michael Tope]

On 8/4/2025 6:09 PM, John Keating wrote:
> Previous owner had quite a lot of aluminum in the air; enough stiff 
> breezes broke the upper mast bracket on the rotator, and the mast spun 
> frequently enough to tweak the top plate and the mast shaft between 
> the top and second plates out of true. Now, a new top bearing doesn't 
> sit precisely flat (gap is only a few .00" or so, mostly on one side) 
> causing the new mast to bind in the shaft between the top and second 
> plates partway around its rotation. Looking for suggestions as to how 
> to carefully force things back into reasonable alignment...anything to 
> avoid cutting off and replacing the top plate. Tower is on the ground 
> and easy to work on.
>
> John

John,

I am not sure if what I am picturing from your description is correct. 
The HDX-555 appears to have a top bearing plate with a 2nd plate about 
6" below that and a short mast tube that is welded between these two 
plates. If you can post a link to a good close-up photo, that would be a 
big help (it needs to be a link since TowerTalk doesn't forward 
attachments). If you don't have a way to do that, send me a picture 
privately, and I'll post a dropbox link. Alternatively, you could post a 
close-up picture to your QRZ.com page.

73, Mike W4EF..........................