Hi Dave, For the tower lift winch, I would recommend this one. The advantage of a worm gear winch is that it does not depend on a brake to hold position when you stop cranking. Dutton-Lainson Gear Winch Worm Gear, 2000 lb WG2000. I use a drill with a socket to drive the winch rather than use the crank handle. 73 WJ3U
Hi Don!! Thanks for the info on the winch. I found a Fulton 143200 that handles 2500 pounds and is geared much better for the tilt-over part. I'd researched what everyone else was upgrading to, and this was a newer version of what most had gotten. It looks pretty beefy, but I haven't installed it yet. Thanks for the comment. I'm sure it'll give others some significant input.
Hello Dave, every time you want to raise your tower, do like me, the only thing you need to do is remove the crank, leave the nuts and use a small cordless electric drill... and there you go...!! 73´s congratulation for your videos and your station..!!
Yep, I could have put a new hand crank winch on the crank up part of it that was a worm drive nd do that just fine. I replaced that with a tower mounted electric hoist. it only takes it from about 25 feet to 45 feet because I just don't take it up all of the way. We get frequent storms so up and down happen often. Tilt over, I changed the factory 1500 to a 2500 hand crank and WISH I'd done a worm drive on that. With almost 200 pounds on the end of a 25 foot tilted tower, it gets pretty rough getting it over and back. The clutch is a real problem. Tilting in down, the clutch gets very warm and I swear, it is harder to get it down than up. Tilting is probably only a once a year thing now, so we'll see. Thanks for the advice.
Awesome, I hope its working well and hope to hear you on the air! Just have one question, how big is that base and how deep did you go with it??? 73's N3WUB
Hi Peter! It does seem to be holding up rather well once I put shear pins in each sleeve that connects to the mast. 20x40 beams can have some real torque with even a small breeze. The tower specs said 4x4x5 feet and that is how big the hole was. That's one part I never have to worry about. 73 AI7R
I notice that on the tilt winch/rigging- The tower has two locations for lifting sheaves and you are only using one (2:1 lift ratio). If you wanted to go easier on your body, add a second sheave and lengthen the lift winch cable to give you potentially a 3:1 ratio or a 5:1 lift ratio instead with the same hardware youre using now (just a longer cable, if you can fit it on the winch drum). 73, KB2UHF
Thanks for your thoughts. Good ones. Not long after posting this, I changed out the winch with one that had a higher rating a the ratio that makes tilting it up and down is FAR easier.
I'm glad it helped. You can bet i watched every YT video I could find on it before I got it. It still took a little head scratching, but it sure has worked well for me. I can totally maintain my Steppir by myself and no ladder.
It is a game changer just getting antennas on, off, or maintaining them. So far so good. BUT, I was an idiot to use the winch it came with to crank it over. Make sure you look into something rated MUCH higher and has a better cranking ratio. 73 and enjoy!
Sorry about the wind noise. Hence the reason the old rotator broke. It's always windy up there. So, the tilt plate is fantastic. Expensive but awesome. Guenther who builds them, is a great guy too. degendesigns.com The plate under the rotator, the coax standoffs, and the mount for the hoist came from Chris, www.kf7p.com. The quality is super! I did get it cranked up. 1/4 turn on the winch at a time for the first 55 degrees or so. Whew!! That was a long hour. The next project is to motorize that part of it. Actually, after some later research, I'm probably super lucky I didn't lose the tower or my life. That winch is very underrated for that load. A 12,000 electric winch for the tilt-over is in the tower's future before it ever tilts over again. And although it is tilted slightly because I didn't get it mounted exactly right, it works like a dream!! 73 Dave, AI7R ai7r.net
@@tryndoxme248 Yep, one should never take a chance. I usually have a brace under the tower when it's tilted over like that. I did this just before tilting it back up. You are right. Even with a brace I don't put myself under the tower or antenna.
