[Tower-Speak] Tower raising winch motor help

Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:49:27 -0500

Mark,

I could answer your question with a single line and a website but thought
you might enjoy the personal history behind my own experience. If not, skip
my BS and drop to the bottom line. hihi For what it may be worth, I use a
"vintage" EZ-Way 65' tower with a add-on rotor head section and bit of steel
pipe to hoist my 24' boomed, 4-Element Quad in the air. In 1995 when I
purchased this old tower from W2VO for $550 (famous 160 meter DX man) it was
rusting, beat looking and completely in parts as well as being equipped with
the boat-trailer type hand winches for hoisting the 3 vertical telescoping
sections and a winch for the tilt-over function. I totally ground this beast
down to bare metal and used naval jelly to melt off the rust and cold
galvanized then painted with silver chrome paint. It looked like a brand new
$2,500+ tower like in the back of the AES catalog. hihi After a few years of
hand cranking this monster up and down every time there was a forecast for
threatening storms or major winds, etc, I was starting to develop biceps and
pecs like Arnold Schwartzeneggar's. Problem is, only on the right side. hihi
(just joking here) My neighbor knew I was growing to hate the old armstrong
method and dropped a "Northern Equipment" catalog on me and there, I found
an AC powered winch made by Dutton-Lainson Company of Hastings, NE. The unit
is Model SA12000AC in the "StrongArm Winch" series, which I purchased for
$325 at the time. Prices have probably slightly increased by now. The winch
has a release clutch which I carefully use for "riding" and rapid lowering
when emergency wx conditions crop up. You can also simply use the reversible
direction switch for raising and lowering. I am reading from the original
box right now which states that it has a vertical lift capacity of 4,000 LBS
and rolling load capacity of 26,600 LBS and comes wound with 50' of 7/32"
steel aircraft type cable. All I had to modify on my tower winch plate was
using a couple of existing bolt holes and drilling 2 more.

As an aside:  To get the AC power to the tower, I ran 65' of underground
type of buriable electrical wiring from the house to the tower and mounted
an exterior electrical service box which only is connected to house current
when I want to raise the tower. No AC power is needed to lower it unless you
use the positive pull-down cabling configuration on your tower's sections. I
let Mr. Gravity do that chore for me and only experienced snagging of the
sections in some sudden strong winds that noodled the top section when a 35
mph gust kicked up. It pays to check NOAA regularly to avoid this situation.
I'd also like to mention that I guy or tether the tower with approximately
1" thick nautical type rope which seems to be holding up very well after all
these years. It is both non-conductive and strong. The only thing I don't
like about the old EZ-Way tower is that everything depends on that hinge
that holds the tower to the mounting pole that is fixed in an approximately
4x4x7' sized concrete foundation. Vertical down-pressure and stress on the
hinge from the guys is yet another topic of discussion which I won't get
into right now.

Back to your question:  Anyway; you can check out this model winch on their
web site at http://www.dutton-lainson.com/mfg/electricwinchespage.html
Again, you are looking for the "STRONG ARM"  Model SA12000AC. AC electric
winch which is equipped with the aircraft type cable.

I hope this helps you. Putting that electric winch changed my life, no
exaggeration. I can't believe that I waited so long to part with the buckage
and upgrade my life but I thank my lucky stars for having the sense to go to
an electric winch at some point in my life. Hams are noted for being tighter
than the bark on a tree and I am no different at times. Anyway, I joined the
local YMCA (all co-ed now) and continued to work out with weights for 3 more
years to get the other side of my body to match my "winch-arm" side.
Everything looks great now. Anyway, that is what the ladies tell me and am
still working out at the "Y".

73
Walt KF2XN
Grand Island, NY

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 20:40
Subject: [Tower-Speak] Tower raising winch motor help

> I am in need of a motor for my tower raising winch.
>
> The tower is an old Wilson RB-45A tubular tower.
>
> The power winch is a Towtec Corporation Model 102-A.
>
> The motor within the Towtec product is a 110 VDC Ambac Motor, model
C-2100.
>
> Does anyone have a line on a replacement motor or any suggestions for
> repairing the existing one?
>
> Tnx & 73,
>
> Mark, K6FG
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tower-Speak mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/tower-speak
>