I use two alignment pins to line my bolt holes on my LM-470, by using two, I
did not have to tighten first, both ways work just fine but I had two
alignment tools so I used them.
By the way the alignment pins can be had really cheaply at your local Harbor
Freight store, probably get four of them for the price of one Klein tool
etc.
-Mike, K6BR
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Rick Karlquist
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 5:35 PM
To: Grant Saviers
Cc: jd_hudson@comcast.net; towertalk@contesting.com;
knormoyle@surfnetusa.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] TX-455 holes
On my HDX-5106, there are 5 holes per leg.
I don't know if the base/tower was made incorrectly
or got bent by previous owners, but what I do
is use an "aluminum racing jack" to get the holes
aligned vertically, then use an alignment pin
(from McMaster) in the top hole, driven in with a sledge
hammer to get the holes lined up horizontally.
Without doing this, only the bottom 1 or 2 holes
will allow a bolt through. Once the alignment
pin is driven in, the bottom 4 bolts are easily slipped
in and I tighten them to my maximum strength using a
2 foot long wrench. I then remove the alignment pin
and the friction keeps the top hole open, so I can easily
slip a bolt into that hole and tighten it. When disassembling,
it is important to remove the bolts one at a time from the
top. Otherwise, the top one would become trapped and the
alignment pin will be necessary to get it out. IMHO,
the friction of the flanges in entirely necessary to keep
the tower from rocking in the wind. There is no way I
would depend solely on loose bolts inserted through the holes.
I am now thinking that I should whack the wrench with a rubber
mallet to get more torque that I can do by hand. The bolts
are 1 inch diameter on the HDX-5106, and it seems like there
is very little risk of overtightening them.
Rick N6RK
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