Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower
By Shadow, Section Diaries Posted on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 05:20:48 AM MST
Worked Great!

Gotta Thank Trivo&Wpowoka for the idea and information to lower this old Wincharger Tower. This Tower was erected in the 1940's and is amazinginly as straight as the day it was put up. I climbed to the top and could not find a broken rivet or bolt and no rust. We wanted to be extra careful lowering it to preserve its condition. Used 16 foot Gin poles and connected 5/16 cable (rated for 9800 lbs) from the top and mid points to top of gin pole then to winch on deck truck. I drilled 5/8 holes at very bottom of the back two legs then bolted gin pole on with 5 inch long bolts, then about 2 inches above that I cut the triangular shaped angle iron with a hacksaw until there was about an inch of flat metal holding. Then I unbolted the front leg and used two jackalls to lift and start the leaning process. We let it lean over very slow to let the metal stretch and bend. It layed down beautiful! It took my daughter and I about 5 hours to complete the task. We then seperated the top 10 feet and hauled it home. Hopefully be going back up next weekend.

Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower | 11 comments (11 topical)

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#1) by Bruce S on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 02:47:34 PM MST

Cool;   Just goes to show how a little knowledge can go a long way... Kinda envinous of the blue skies and open range.. Which project is going up on this beauty? Bruce S

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#2) by crashk6 on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 05:29:31 PM MST

The tower is a beauty, What a find! What size genny will be mounted on it? The photos mad that look all to easy ;~) Best of luck, crashk6

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#3) by electrondady1 on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 05:47:47 PM MST

congrats shadow. thats a real acomplishment . just reverse the process and youve got a new home  for your genni.  ive been curious lately, were you finally able to make some hot water? and what conclusion did you come to in regards to magnet lengh? [ Parent ]

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#4) by Shadow on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 07:30:40 PM MST

Actually it was as easy as it looked but you always sweat a little about whats gonna go wrong, but this time everything went right. I spent the day lining up mounting pipe etc for the top. I am considering using a couple old driveshafts I would cement into the ground for legs using the yolks as pivots to raise the tower  up and down. I would dig holes 5 feet deep by 12 inches around, then drill holes through the driveshafts and fit rebar through and cement it in. Think this will work? How many years until the driveshafts rust away?.. I'll be mounting my dual rotor 48 volt with 70 inch cedar blades on the tower. It will be interesting to see what it does up that high. About a week ago I saw it putting out 20.6 amps at 52 volts in a gusty 20 mph wind. I'm lining up parts for my next Wind Turbine, I think I'll try the 3 inch long Neos, and maybe couple inch longer blades.                  Something I find interesting about these old Towers is the old square bolts and square nuts they used, Every one of them is still tight and very little rust. Makes me wonder if we've really advanced with our hexagon bolts and lock washers. I could see them vibrating and loosening off after that many years.None of the old square bolts have a lock washer!                  So hopefully I'll be ready to get things together in the next week and post some pictures of my ...erection.

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#6) by electrondady1 on Tue Aug 16, 2005 at 08:05:09 PM MST

i pass a lot of these on the road. did'nt realize they were phallic symbols.better get a big one. love the output of your genny, but hate your drive shaft idea .  how about the solid ends of the drives with universals in place. welded to some hefty rod and inserted in concrete. the two universal would pivot the legs of your tower. [ Parent ]

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#5) by Experimental on Tue Aug 16, 2005 at 09:04:39 AM MST

That,s really nice Shadow,       And the kind of tower I was looking for, but couldn,t find !!      Hope all goes well, with your "erection"..and it sounds like you plan on being able to raise and lower it -- GOOD plan !!     I kind of wonder about the drive shaft idea though -- the wall thickness is pretty thin on them,as they are built for torque and not side load, But perhaps, if the upper yoke is pretty close to the cement and you use truck shafts -- might be fine !!     Good luck on it, and job, well done !!   Bill H.......

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#7) by Shadow on Tue Aug 16, 2005 at 09:09:53 PM MST

Yeah, I've reconsidered the driveshaft idea. I'll use the yoke ends but with solid pins through rather than the U joint. Then I'll weld the yokes to heavy pipe or large angle iron with rebar sticking through.Was interesting today I went to dig out the remainder of the 3 legs where the tower stood. All three legs are loose but no way would they pull out of the ground! Not sure whats down there, I dug down 2 feet,  nothing but dirt. I took the side grinder and ground them off and filled the holes in, but they must have used large rocks?..or cultivator shovels as anchors? Even down 2 feet into the dirt still no rust on the galvinized metal.

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#9) by Victor on Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 07:15:19 AM MST

Hi Shadow,  I wouldn't use the U- joints at all for that application. They will sieze much quicker than a pin though a non lubricated drilled hole. The needle bearings depend on movement to keep them lubed and the vibration with no movement will cause them to brinell sp? into the races. This oftin happens when a u-joint is used on a drivshaft with near perfect allinement where the is no movement in the needles. Make the wind fun! Victor [ Parent ]

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#8) by Devo on Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 05:58:43 AM MST

Shadow I live between Chatham & Sarnia Ontario & have been thinking of getting one of the many old towers from a farmer out here & have debated on how to get it down. This thread of yours is great -thank-you , I actually called about one in Forest in the tri-ad but it was gone :-(. When the tower is almost down what stops the bottom 2 legs from sliding across the ground towards the truck ? as I think I would try this way aswell. pictures look great Devo

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#10) by Shadow on Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 07:35:07 AM MST

The legs dont slide towards the truck because they are still attached. I didnt cut them off all the way through, I just cut off enough for them to bend over. If the legs are made of angle iron just cut off one side of it leaving one flat side to bend over on. In my case the angle iron is 3 sided so I cut two sides off leaving the one inch center piece of flat iron to fold over as it lay down. Right at the very bottom with maybe 6 inches to go, one leg broke right at the cut but didnt affect anything. The other I finished sawing through after it was laying on the grouund. I hope this helps. [ Parent ]

Re: Moving a 45foot Wincharger Tower (3.00 / 0) (#11) by Shadow on Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 07:36:11 AM MST

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