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Matt Meiser
03-24-2013, 2:43 PM
Our antenna is in bad shape and I'm afraid high winds could blow elements off onto the roof so I just installed a new one that is much smaller and mounted right by the DirecTV dish (long story but we live 1/4 mile from the line where locals are Detroit instead of Toledo.) I need to get the tower down now. I can't really just drop it like a tree because it will hang up in a small actual tree. Can two people actually walk it down like a ladder? It's probably about 30-35'. I have no concept of what the thing weighs.

Roger Newby
03-24-2013, 2:52 PM
Any way to get a rope or cable on it so you can attach to a vehicle as an anchor and pull it down manually as the vehicle moves toward it? pics would be handy.

Matt Meiser
03-24-2013, 3:03 PM
Not without running that over the roof. I'll try to get some pics later.

Scott T Smith
03-24-2013, 3:10 PM
Matt, from a safety perspective it depends upon the condition of the tower. Most of them are 5' or 10' sections, and yes they can be dismantled and tossed down to the ground.

I would suggest that you add some tempory guy wires at the mid point on the tower, as two people on it will add a lot of weight.

Myk Rian
03-24-2013, 3:13 PM
Back in my CB radio days, I had a 50' tower. The easiest way is to make some wood protectors for the roof edges, and run a rope over the roof, and those, to a car or tractor.
A couple blocks of wood attached to the protectors will keep the rope from slipping off to the shingles.
Tie the rope halfway up the tower.

Dismantling it requires a jin pole clamped to the section below the one you're removing. A pulley up top allows you to lift the section, and lower it.
If the sections come apart easily, that method can work well.

David G Baker
03-24-2013, 3:25 PM
Matt,
I have dismantled a few towers in my younger years and it isn't really too much of a problem if the tower is is climbable and the bolts are not rusted to the point that they can't be undone. I have a few climbing belts and the safety straps needed. I made a home made jin pole with the pulley on top. It is a two man job, one on the tower and one on the ground doing the rope and pulley work. A photo or two would help get a better idea of what needs to be done.

Ryan Mooney
03-24-2013, 3:27 PM
Pics would definitely be helpful, there are a lot of different towers in that size range (odds are it weighs a LOT).

I would be very surprised if you can walk it down, even a light tower of that height is likely in the hundreds of pounds. The risk of using a guy rope to lower it is that it may well buckle part way down and go in unknown directions (probably backwards and sideways at the same time). The safest way is undoubtedly a boom truck and take it down in sections or guy it off and then lower as a unit supported overhead if you can (beware unhooking the bottom because it can/will swing/kick back and maim/kill you). Lacking a boom truck if you can get poles of sufficient length/strength you can make an A frame and lower it that way (tie off the bottom of everything securely in all directions so that it can't swing free..).

I helped my grandpa with a windmill tower a number of years a go (probably ~100x heavier than this one or you wouldn't be thinking of walking it down..) and we put it up in sections with a small boom crane bolted onto the previous level. I wouldn't be climbing a tower of unknown age/shape though without giving a darn good looking over first (and if its a guy wired pole tower.. yeah I sure ain't going up something like that) but you might be able to do something similar if the sections unbolt and rig up some scaffolding and/or a couple of tall A ladders to work from on the side. Beware the bottom swinging away as you unhook each section There is nothing quite like having a 100lb piece of steel swinging at your face 20' off of the ground to make you wake up in a hurry (and maybe briefly and finally!).

Most of the other tower stuff I worked on was thankfully put up by someone else so I didn't have to deal with it to much. If you're in doubt pay someone, its cheaper than the hospital bills.

Matt Meiser
03-24-2013, 3:33 PM
I did stumble across a local company that does it (and gutter cleaning--odd combination) so I have an email into them. It's also right next to our heat pump and a fence that hides the HP so there a lot that could get damaged there.

There's also a towable man lift for rent at my Home Depot but I don't think it would reach the top.

Dan Friedrichs
03-24-2013, 3:51 PM
As others have said, if it's climbable, you can take it down with a gin pole. But if it's only 30-35', it is likely lightweight enough to walk it down (assuming it pivots at the base?) - I have a 40' tower (with base pivot) which I can walk up/down by myself (but it's aluminum). I've put up a 30' steel tower at a friend's, and the two of us were able to get it upright.

Mike Henderson
03-24-2013, 5:59 PM
I've put up and taken down radio towers (aluminum). Here's a picture (a bit small) of how we did it. It's important that you tie the bottom of the tower down very well (and your winch point, of course). We had a special foot that we used that had a pivot for the tower and for the gin pole. We could lift the tower enough to replace the old base (an insulator) with that special foot (we'd bolt the foot to the tower). Then drive spikes down to hold the foot in place. The rest should be obvious from the picture. If I recall, we only used two ropes from the gin pole to the towers and the towers were close to 100'.

Mike

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Wind/TomTurbine/GinPoleDiagram2.jpg

Jason Roehl
03-24-2013, 6:37 PM
I took down a 25'-ish tower for a customer once. I think two of us just pulled/rocked it over and walked it down. It came out of the ground pretty easily, which was good because it was fairly rusty, especially the bolts. It was about 200 lbs, as I recall, but I only got $3 for it at the local metal scrapyard--barely paid for my gas to take it there.

If you don't do some sort of complicated, uber-safe rig to take it down, and ESPECIALLY if you use power equipment, make sure your wife takes video and knows how to post it here. :D

Ryan Mooney
03-24-2013, 8:14 PM
As others have said, if it's climbable, you can take it down with a gin pole. But if it's only 30-35', it is likely lightweight enough to walk it down (assuming it pivots at the base?) - I have a 40' tower (with base pivot) which I can walk up/down by myself (but it's aluminum). I've put up a 30' steel tower at a friend's, and the two of us were able to get it upright.

Those are surprisingly light compared to comparable height radio (and the one windmill) towers I worked with/on. I suppose the TV towers don't have a lot of top load though so they don't need to be super heavy duty compared to stuff with heavier antennas. The pivot base would certainly be a smart idea at install time!

Matt Meiser
03-24-2013, 8:24 PM
Here's the tower:

View from the direction it has to come down. That Bradford pear is in the way of just shoving it over.
258109

Pretty busy at the base between the heat pump, refrigeration lines, and fence.
258111

Base of the tower looks like this. It looks like removing/cutting the back bolts and one bolt each on the front lets would let it fold down, IF the bolts are strong enough.
258110

Bill Edwards(2)
03-24-2013, 8:33 PM
Explosives!:D

Ryan Mooney
03-24-2013, 9:09 PM
Looks plausibly doable, much lighter than I'd feared. I'd tie the base of it off real well just in case one of the supports let go (cause it would still make a heck of a hole in the house :D), and remove the bottom bolts on the pivot points to leave lots of meat on the top bolt. I'd probably also tie it off so it can only fall one way and brace it with some 2x4s or poles and then remove them right at the last when you go to ease it down.

If the bolts you take off are in bad shape consider replacing the pivot bolt (obviously replace the removed bolt first :D). That type of tower is pretty unlikely to buckle (a single pole would make me more nervous).

BTW: cut off the old supports flush with the ground when you're done.. otherwise you will stub your toe on them at the most inopportune time.. if your luck is like mine anyway.

Mike Henderson
03-24-2013, 11:39 PM
I used to take down TV supports like that. You put one person on the roof and another on the ground. The person on the roof holds the tower. The person on the ground first disconnects the tower from the house. Then the person on the ground lifts the tower and begins to walk DIRECTLY AWAY from the house, while the person on the roof supports the tower and feeds it downward somewhat. If it's too heavy, get two people to walk it away from the house. Once the tower is far enough out, the person on the roof disconnects the antenna, and if the tower can be taken apart, begins to remove sections.

Since the tower is on the side of the house and not on the lower part of the house, you'll need to tie off the tower before the person on the roof begins to work on removing the antenna and sections. Run a rope over the top of the house and tie it off to a tree or whatever you have.

Once you have it apart, you can lower the rest of the tower down the side of the house with the rope, being careful not to cause any damage to gutters, etc.

Mike

[Oops, I see you have a fence in the way of someone walking away from the house with the tower.]

Kevin Bourque
03-25-2013, 9:27 AM
Looks like a job for Mr. Sawzall. Can you cut it into pieces maybe and take it down in sections?

Matt Meiser
03-25-2013, 9:31 AM
The pro charges $125. Tentatively scheduled her for Weds, weather permitting, since their schedule got messed up for today due to snow (oddly she doesn't want to climb ladders, towers, roofs, etc. in the snow?) The price includes cutting it off at the concrete and haul away, but I told her we'd keep it because my daughter's Girl Scout troop is collecting scrap metal for a fund raiser. A few bucks here and there is adding up for them.

Matt Meiser
03-27-2013, 12:31 PM
The pro was here for only a half hour. They stood on the roof cut through the far leg and bent the top towards them. Then they cut that into 6' sections, went down to the ground and tipped the more manageable remainder over and cut it up.

Ryan Mooney
03-27-2013, 2:10 PM
Cool, that seems like a pretty sane way to do it.

A friend of mine had a TV fixed (back when people still fixed that sort of thing) and afterwards asked the guy how he fixed it. He got back a deadpan stare and a reply of "parts, knowledge". Probably my favorite quote ever. I think this definitely falls into the latter category :D

Rick Moyer
03-27-2013, 2:32 PM
Did they clean your gutters too?:)

Matt Meiser
03-27-2013, 3:08 PM
She checked and said they look good.

Rod Sheridan
03-27-2013, 3:19 PM
The pro was here for only a half hour. They stood on the roof cut through the far leg and bent the top towards them. Then they cut that into 6' sections, went down to the ground and tipped the more manageable remainder over and cut it up.

dang Matt, it's done already?

I was designing a remote controlled steel eating beaver for you.

All you would need to do is put some aspen bark on the tower legs and let it loose.

Of course with my luck, it would go out of control and devour your new car..........Probably best that you hired a real expert.............Rod