Loader TV Tower Take Down

[gatorgirl]

Please check out the legal side of this. My husband climbs towers for a living and I can tell ya if your not certified in certain areas, you can get charged with a felony or OSHA can eat you up. Just be careful is all. I would def pay some company to come do and they will remove any debri you might aquire also.

Julie

 

[jake98]

I forget what the actual ratio is, but it's something like five or ten times the height, in radius, that you get lightning protection from a tower.

 

[ctgoldwing]

It would be a lot safer to find a local "Ham" with a gin pole and a climbing belt and rope to take the sections down carefully, I would think a $100 bill for 20 minutes of work would be about right. If you could find one. James K0UA

BINGO

I put up 120' of Rohn 55 with a Rotating Tower System (the top 60' of the tower rotates) with just my 16 yo son. With a gin pole & climbing belt and enough nylon rope & pulleys its a piece of cake.

Without the right stuff you are going to end up with a pile of scrap and the real risk of someone in the hospital (ever get hit in the head with a nut or bolt dropped from 40 or 50 feet?).

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks Moss, your right in one sence, but I want the tower and antenna cause 4-months ago I got tired of feeding the Cable, Dish Monster and cut it all off. I started with my own homemade antenna from coat hangers and a 20' oak 2x3 and got 7 over the air channels. Then with some more experimentation and an old antenna form my dad installed on the chimney I received 13 with 5 in Hi-Def.

So may be I'll look at trying to do it this way TACO Communications DMXB-series Tower Installation Instructions[Fig 4 in link] as the antenna is only 12'-15' over the roof line.

How am I right in one sense?
You said you want to keep the tower.
I said you want to keep the tower.
I think that makes me right in all sense! :laughing:

You asked how to take it down, not how to put it up.

Do you know what kind of tower it is?
Does it have three legs?
Are the legs the same distance apart all the way up?
Are the legs tapered evenly all the way up to a point?
Is each section progressively narrower?
Is it 10' sections or longer?
Is it round pipe or is it angled metal?
Is it bolted to a base or is it sunk directly in concrete?
Is there already hinges on the base?
Is it against a house with brackets or is it free standing?
And, most importantly, are there power lines within one and half times the height of the tower? If there are, forget about doing it yourself. We had a person fried to death taking down a tower a couple blocks from my house. It was not pretty. Another friend of mine unbolted a tower from a house that he had just purchased. As soon as he unbolted the house bracket, the legs buckled and it tipped over on to power lines. His kid went to grab it and fortunately, heard his father yell STOP! It arced all over the place and started a yard barn on fire. So be careful taking it down or putting it up.

I have a 30' steel tower that has three legs that are all the same diameter pipe all the way up. There are three 10' sections. The base has a hinge. I unbolt one leg and tip it up or down on the other two legs. Two strong men can tip it up or down with just our hands, no ropes, no other assistance. I put a step ladder about 20' from the base and we lower it on to that first. Then we take the antenna off. Then we lower it the rest of the way. I just acquired 3 more sections of identical tower and may increase my height to 40' and use the other two sections for light poles.

 

[Alan L.]

A multi-directional antenna is useless when you are 60 miles from the transmit tower like I am. I have a 50 foot tower with antenna and I paid a guy to install it. No way I'm climbing up there. I was involved in raising and lowering towers years ago in my on CB days, and it can be pretty touchy. Have seen a tower scoot a pickup across the yard before.

 

[jake98]

I just acquired 3 more sections of identical tower and may increase my height to 40' and use the other two sections for light poles.

You're starting an antenna farm..

 

[merrickvilleguy]

use the tractor to pull the tower down, cut it up with a sawzall, then spend $300 and buy a brand new 30' tower at radio shack.

 

[pat32rf]

Just make sure that the bottom is fastened so it can't tip up, then put your forks against it as high up as you can reach and let it slowly slide down along your forks as you back up. Hold it against your forks with a rope.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Please check out the legal side of this. My husband climbs towers for a living and I can tell ya if your not certified in certain areas, you can get charged with a felony or OSHA can eat you up. Just be careful is all. I would def pay some company to come do and they will remove any debri you might aquire also.

Julie

This is funny A homeowner is not governed by OSHA. Felony tower removal What are you in for. I took down a tower. Ooohhhh your bad

Pop the bolts with a 3 lb hammer and a chisle. jack apart if stuck and hand it down. You can use the tractor if you want to, it will lower the tower. but you will stress it. The tower is designed to be a verticle structure. Putting the tower into a horizontal stress may casue kinkage. Yes Kinkage is a word.

 

[MtHam]

OK, I did gloss over the part where you said you want to take it down to re-set it someplace new for your own use. Thus, you will need a gin pole, and take it down one section at a time. Re-assembly also should be one section at a time. I have done it, and will soon do it again. I have 2 Rohn 25 towers, one is 60', and the other was 80'. It came down on Monday due to an adjacent 75' Oak tree which fell and hit one of the guy wires. I think I only lost two 10' sections, and I will be able to re-use the rest. It will go back up soon!