[NLRS] Tower installation detail question

[Mike King - KM0T]

Gents good morning.  Some of the my personal experiences, comments, and
personal opinion... take it for what it's worth.

My first tower, the HDX 55 crankup, I forgot to do the grout... never really
thought about it until a few years after it was up.  I simply sprayed the
bolts every few years with some paint to keep the rust down.  Never had a
problem (your mileage may vary)  If I was to do it over, I would grout it.

When I put the towers up here at the new house, two HDX-89s and a 55' tube
crank up, I grouted all the bases...

I just built a form about 2" outside the perimeter of the t-base and a bit
higher. (2x4s set on the 2" side to the base) Mixed the grout to fluid
pouring consistency and carefully poured it in.  Was not a big deal.  The
first tower I grouted I had made it a bit thicker and had to hand pack it,
pain in the butt... not the way to do it.  Using the non-shrink grout to
fluid consistency was the ticket.  I talked to a few electricians in the
area that put up lots of lighting poles and that was the method they used,
so I gave it a try, seemed to work for me.

It is my understanding that the grout helps transfer the stress total load
of the tower to the base, so it does not solely rely on the bolts.  With my
taller towers with large loads, this is important, and I think is figured
into the structural calculations from the manufacturer.

I sealed my 2x4 form to the concrete base with some silicone to hold it in
place and keep the grout from seeping out...just peeled it off after a few
months... some residue, not a big deal.

Mixed the grout in a 5 gallon pail, used a 120v drill with a paint mixer...
worked great.   Just have a hose there to add water and a bit of extra grout
powder if you make it too thin.  Do it in warm weather, it's a chemical
curing process.

Yes I was worried about being able to adjust the leveling of the towers
after the grout, but made dang sure it was level before I poured.  If it
changes after that, they you either have a bent tower or your base moved...

One other tip, for those with hand crank ups... I took the handle off the
crank and now use a dewalt variable speed "hole hog" type of drill on the
crank shaft.  Works great and surely has saved me a heart attack or two....
Now my towers have a motor on them for raising and lowering, but tilting
them down and back up for working on them I use the drill.

On my hand crank up 55' tower I had for 10 years plus... I changed out the
cable once and the hand crank three times.  I'm pretty sure I had it
overloaded and it really stressed that crank assembly.  The dust/dirt we
have blowing around here in NW Iowa seemed to always get into the crank
"cork" that keeps tension on while lowering and that would get worn out.
When it starts to really squeak loudly while lowering it, then you know your
cork is getting worn out.  Using the drill to lower it works great too, but
if you go too fast, the cork gets hot and starts to smoke... take your
time...

They make cork replacement kits, pain in the butt to change.  The
replacement cranks were not too expensive, I just would change the whole
thing out.  The Fulton winches were easy to find on eBay and amazon.  I then
used the old cranks for other things around here....

Hope that helps.

73 - Mike - KM0T

-----Original Message-----
From: NLRS [mailto:nlrs-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of John Toscano
Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2017 4:58 PM
To: NLRS Reflector <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [NLRS] Tower installation detail question



Looking for an opinion on my tower installation...

I just installed a US Towers HDX538 tilt-over crank-up tower. There is a
T-shaped metal plate with three humongous bolts that are embedded into the
concrete foundation and hold the plate an inch or two above the top of the
concrete foundation. The bolts each have one nut below the plate and two
nuts threaded onto them above the plate. Before the tower was attached to
the plate, I did my best to level the plate by adjusting the nuts below the
plate and tightening the nuts above the plate. After the tower was installed
onto the plate, fastened with a total of 9 nuts and bolts, and cranked into
the upright position, I re-checked the level against the tower itself
instead of against the plate. The tower was very slightly out of perfectly
vertical alignment, so I adjusted the nuts one more time to get it as close
to perfectly vertical as I can with my level.

According to the manufacturer's installation instructions, once the tower is
leveled, the installer is supposed to fill in the space between the bottom
of the plate and the top of the concrete foundation with "grout", although
the description of the consistency of the grouting material sounds more like
more concrete. Anyway, I mentioned this to one of the hams at the
Roadrunners Microwave Group yesterday and he asked, "why bother?". My only
response was, (a) because the installation instructions say so, and (b) to
prevent any future change from the current (level) setting.

What do y'all think about this? Should I fill in the space with "grout" and
thereby permanently set the position of the nuts underneath the plate, or
should I leave the space open so it would be possible to make future
adjustments?
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