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[TowerTalk] Sluggish crank-up tower

To: "towertalk@contesting.com" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Sluggish crank-up tower
From: Rick Stealey <rstealey@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:10:56 +0000
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
K2XT, Rick here.  I've recently been having trouble getting my tower to extend 
easily.  It is a US Tower TX472 with the motor drive.  Symptom when I first 
experienced the problem last fall was very sluggish starting.  I'd give it a 
few seconds in each direction and then it would get going.

So now that I am in the midst of extensive maintenance (new winch cables, and 
some antenna work) I notice that the motor stalls out completely, and blows 
it's circuit breaker or thermal cutout, whatever it is, after 2-3 seconds. And 
of course there is no upward movement of the sections.  I replaced the starter 
capacitor.  Same thing.  I removed the motor and it runs fine with no load.

Ok, so my next theory is a pulley is jammed, and that's where I seek some 
advice.  I tried turning the "steering wheel" pulley by hand while the motor is 
off.  That is the approximately 8 inch pulley that is driven by the belt from 
the motor.  In the direction that should raise the tower sections it gets so 
tight that there is no way whatsoever a human could turn it more, and my gut 
feeling tells me there is also no way I should expect the motor to turn it.  
So, do I have a bad pulley on the tower sections,  and how to know if a pulley 
is bad?

So, this morning, with the tower horizontal, I loosened the winch cable and 
removed a bottom pulley.  A 3.5 inch dia one.  I can hold the bushing and try 
to spin it.  It turns and I can feel the bearings inside but trying to get it 
to spin and it only goes maybe a quarter turn.  The feel of the bearings is 
sort of uneven.  Could that bit of friction be causing the trouble?  Of course 
I may find another pulley (hopefully) that is completely frozen, and that would 
solve my problems.  Any opinions?  Any first hand experience with such a 
situation?  I put some motor oil on the bearings, no change.  What about 
soaking the pulley in solvent, then oiling?

Thanks for any input.

Rick  K2XT
                                          
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