HF Tower Tilt Over winch
Updated
05-Jun-2023 14:37
The HF Tower (Tri-Ex LM470D) holds a single Force 12 C4SXL 40-10 meter Yagi (Note Force 12 is now JK Antenna Systems).
The VHF Tower (Tristao 52 foot) holds a stack of VHF/UHF antennas.
Both are crank-up (telescoping) and tilt-over for easy one-man maintenance.
HF Tower to the rear (right) VHF Tower to the front
Both towers were initially installed in 2008.
The HF Tower came with a motorized crank-up telescoping winch and a manual tilt-over winch. The VHF tower had only manual winches for both crank-up and tilt-over.
As my age progresses, I prefer less and less physical exertion when performing antenna maintenance (just getting lazy!).
SO…in 2011, I installed a crank-up (telescoping) winch for the VHF tower. In 2018 I added a tilt-over winch. Finally in 2023 I installed a similar tilt-over winch for the HF tower.
Overall view of the HF Tower Tilt-Over Winch
Installation.
The installation is similar to that of the VHF tower since the same harbor freight winch was used, a Badland 1500 LB Capacity 120VAC Electric Winch.
The winch is mounted to the tilt-over accessory that holds the tower chassis.
Below is a link to the winch information.
1500 lb. Capacity 120V AC Electric Winch (harborfreight.com)
61672-193175201126.pdf (harborfreight.com)
61672-792363616720.pdf (harborfreight.com)
A ZipLoc weather container was used to protect the unit from weather.
Ziploc 60 Qt. Weathershield Heavy-Duty Plastic Storage Box,1 count, Black - Walmart.com
It has survived well on the VHF tower since 2018 in spite of -20 to 110 degree temperatures and sun exposure.
It was important for me to retain the existing manual winch in case the tower needed to be uninstalled using the top pully to lower the tower at the base fulcrum.
The motorized winch does not have the load capacity for that task.
A pulley was therefore necessary for the motorized winch cable to clear the manual winch.
The winch needs to be mounted at 90 degrees from normal on the mounting bracket, so the bracket is vertical and the winch is horizontal.
This requires some drilling but is easily done.
The hook on the end of the winch will not fit through the slot in the tilt-over accessory, so it needs to be hack-sawed off.
Here is the winch after installation
Winch in Storage Configuration Winch in
Deployed Configuration
All components are stored inside the container. The power cord, the control cord, and the winch cable are deployed.
Rear View of the Mount View
of the Cable End attached to the Cable Loop that goes around the tower base
when tilting over.
The winch mounting bracket is rotated 90 degrees so that the bracket is vertical and the winch is horizontal.
This requires some drilling in the mounting bracket (3 holes) and is easily performed.
The back of the ZipLoc container is sandwiched between the mounting bracket and the winch.
2 inch U-Bolts fasten the bracket to the tilt-over accessory (4 holes must be drilled to accommodate the 2 inch U-Bolt).
Note that there is a bracket under the winch to hold the pulley that guides the cable over the manual winch.
Front View of Pulley Bracket Rear
View of Pulley Bracket Weather
Shield for the Pulley when Stored
Note, there is a plastic spacer on either side of the pulley to allow the pulley brackets to remain parallel.
Also note that there is a weather shield made from an old spice container to keep weather out of the pulley bearing.
Detail of Storage Slot for Cable when ZipLoc
Cover is Attached in Storage Configuration
This allows the cable to remain routed through the lower slot and pulley in the tilt-over accessory and connected to the cable loop that goes around the tower base elements.
When the system is deployed, the cable is routed over the pulley instead of through the storage slot.