Very good Steve. The fellow that asked about letting the rooster head
swivel around loose was about to have an accident. I was not sure that
I understood him or not.
As is obvious, there are lots of techniques for placement of the gin
pole on the tower, how to point the rooster head and where to tie the
rope to the next section going up. Each person needs to get as much
info as possible and make their own choice.
The fellow with the post about ground preparation really hit a KEY issue.
"" FIT"" all of the sections on the GROUND (I keep three laid out at a
time) so that once in the air at the top of the tower, it will slip
right on with the least amount of grunting. There is one other
preparation that I do on the ground. I take a large drift and ream out
the bolt holes so that the bolts slip through the holes without a lot of
trouble. There is a happy medium here. The bolts should fit snug,
NOT LOOSE, and you don't want to knock off all of the galvanizing but
you want to be able to get the bolts in the holes without damaging the
threads, once you have struggled to put the newest section on. You
also need the drift at the top of the tower to align holes.
I have Rohn 55 tower now and have had 45 in the past. I put them up by
myself. I tie the rope to the CHOSEN leg (the one on top works or the
one that has the yellow sticker. Any way you choose to select a primary
leg). The rope goes up from the section to the gin pole pulley, then
down the tower to a pulley at the very base of the tower, then to the
front of my 4x4 farm tractor. (I have used a John Deere 332 lawn mower
but it was marginal for Rohn 45) I point the rooster head directly over
the primary leg. The tractor is backed slowly in the lowest gear. That
raises the tower section to the top. The tractor faces the tower so the
operator can see clearly without twisting around. It is smart to raise
the tower sections on the down wind side of the tower otherwise you may
need a tag rope to hold the section away from the tower. The rope has
been tied to the new section two thirds of the way up (I don't like the
top tie) This does not cause it to hang exactly straight but it allows
the gin pole to be shorter and in a stronger position. You back up
until the bottom of the new section is hanging just below the top of the
tower. Set all brakes on the tractor, climb up with your bolts and put
the section on. The rope is stretched like a rubber band so the new
section is not hard to lift up the ten to twelve inches that you have
left yourself. The rope is still holding most of the weight but because
it stretches you can still slide the section down onto the last section
and put in the bolts. You are then ready to go down, fit another
section and proceed to the next section.
I hope this helps someone. It has worked for me for 40 years. One
more time.......
GROUND PREPARATION is the key. One more thing.....It is handy to have
one helper on the ground because it saves a lot of trips up and down the
tower but all the ground person needs to be able to do is drive the
tractor, not lift anything heavy. The XYL can do that very well.
Once the section is secure she can drive the tractor back to the starting
point so you can reposition the gin pole for the next section. That
saves ONE up and down. <grin>
Good DX... Safe tower work.... 73, Jerry Liley, K0GUG, Holts
Summit, MO
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