Hi John,
My email address and pictures of my towers are headed your way.
I'll tell you all I can about the cylinder, which isn't much that doesn't show in the picture on the Shenzhou factory website:
www.f-n.cnBy the way, they posted a nineteen page tower installation manual that you can download.
The pistons are steel, heavily chrome-plated, then ground and polished. They are made in China but look just like an American cylinder. The hydraulic connections are metric, so you'll likely have to get an adapter to use American hydraulic hoses (no problema). The end fittings on the cylinders, where the pin goes through, are swivel joints to allow for minor misalignment. The tower comes with a quarter-inch thick steel "position board" to position the base of the cylinder the correct distance away from the tower base.
I fabricated a 16 foot long extension for my towers. Figured that if it could lift a 10 kw turbine at 40 feet, it would have no problem lifting a 220 pound 2 kw turbine at 56 feet. You could probably go much higher, if your permit allows and you need the height. The first extension is a 10 foot long, 6 inch diameter Schedule 40 pipe. The top extension is 3 inch pipe, 6 feet showing, 30 inches sleeved into the six inch pipe.
I don't know what maximum pressure the cylinder is good for, but the Shenzhou factory will sell you a hydraulic plant that puts out a little over 2500 psi (I didn't buy it). My Kubota L3400 tractor has a 2250 psi hydraulic system, and it has no problem lifting the tower, even with me hanging on the end of the extension (simulating the weight of the wind turbine), at the 56 foot level. See pictures in your email.
When I bought my first tower, I was a little green about ordering stuff direct from China, so I bought the tower from Allen at Applied Magnetics in Plano Texas. He charged me $5800 for the tower, ocean-shipped to Los Angeles, with all customs duties, warehousing fees, etc paid. I considered that a bargain, because Lorena at evolvegreen wanted $5995 for the tower, $900 for the cylinder, and she told me I'd have to find my own foundation bolts (probably another $1000), plus I'd have to pick up the tower in Vancouver, Canada. When I picked up the tower in LA, the customs document showed a declared value of $3200. Customs, warehousing, etc. came to about $800, so I figured Allen made about $1800 on the deal.
So, since James Ye (at Exmork) had treated me so well (several freebies and all), I thought maybe he would broker a tower for me, but he referred me to the website above. So I emailed them, and received an instant reply from "Amity" quoting a price of $3066 for the tower, cylinder, bolts and shipping. What a deal! So I emailed Amity and told her to send me a proforma invoice and money wiring instructions. Several weeks went by, no answer. So I finally decided to buy the second tower from Allen. A couple of days later I received a positive response from a new girl at the Shenzhou factory. Wouldn't you know, apparently Amity had moved back to the farm in western China, and her replacement was snowed under.
So, if I were you, I'd try to buy the tower direct from the factory, just like we did with the exmorks. But you gotta be more patient than I was. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend Allen. The towers are an absolutely screaming buy even at $5800.
poco