I'm not sure how tight your bearings are, mine have a lot of clearance until
the bearing bolts are tightened to the mast. If you have two tight bearing
and also a rotator it will challenging line up all three bearings however
that is a different discussion. I am a fan of big diameter masts, I am not
sure who ever came up with the 2" standard. I am curious what rotator you
will use with this 3.50 diameter mast.
If the tower is laying horizontal I would lift the mast in using with a
small loader, tow truck or whatever you may have so it's just hanging in the
air near the bearing. Then you should be able to line it up and easily push
it into the bearings yourself. You may have to move the loader, etc while
you slide it in. I have crane lifted tower heavy sections with the mast and
rotator already installed without issue.
GL
John KK9A
To: "towertalk@contesting.com" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] GETTING A LARGE MAST INSERTED INTO TOWER HAVING
2 EXISTING THRUST BEARINGS THAT WON'T COME OUT
From: Greg Best via TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2017 02:10:02 +0000 (UTC)
I have a large diameter mast going into my SSV tower that has dual thrust
bearings in it and I need some good ideas on how to actually insert the mast
because it is heavy, awkward, and not much clearance between the mast OD and
the thrust bearings' ID. The mast is 23 ft long, of which 15 ft will stick
out
the top of the tower. The mast is 3.5 " OD with 0.25" wall and it weighs
almost
200 pounds. So it is not just something a couple of guys can pick up and
shove
through the first thrust bearing. The thrust bearings are about 6 feet
apart.
I think the difficult thing is to line it up and get it started the first
few
inches. The thrust bearings are 5" or so long. Any suggestions?
I would like to put it in the tower section while the section is on the
ground
since it will likely be easier to control versus putting it in via crane
after
tower is already stood up (and also less subject to wind.)
Greg, N9GB
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