Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

A couple of weeks ago I spent a day and a half straightening out this tower that had been somewhat pretzelized by a snow plow truck backing into it. Sorry I did not take any job-in-progress photos. Mike (the plow driver who was atoning for his error) and I did this repair with the tower standing.

First we ran a cable from near the top of the tower to a fencepost. Then we put a post and jack under the lowest girt on the leg where the truck hit. We cut out the worst bent leg and spliced in a straight section. The other places where tower legs were kinked, we cut relief cuts almost but not all the way through the leg angles, then pulled and pushed (with come alongs and a big turnbuckle mounted on an 8' channel iron) to get things where we wanted 'em, then bolted a splice piece over the straightened area. We replace one girt and one diagonal angle and straightened and spliced the others. Here's the finished job:

One more after photo.

Nice work

LoTec

Looks like an early pre standardized tower. Was it a 20 and 10 section? Judging from the lower X braces and the corner angle lap below the girts, I would guess it had the shorter steps? And it would not have had a standard footprint for replacing with a standardized tower?

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

As a side question, how much of a gink would you try to straighten without an overlay patch? I snagged a corner of a tower with my hay mower. Looks terrible but not cracked or leaning tower of Pizza with too much extra cheese. I thought I might try to force it straight by C-clamping a piece of thick angle to it and gradually tightening the clamps in sequence. I don't want to heat it, break it, or slit it, then weld the slits.

Opinions ?

Looks like an early pre standardized tower. Was it a 20 and 10 section? Judging from the lower X braces and the corner angle lap below the girts, I would guess it had the shorter steps? And it would not have had a standard footprint for replacing with a standardized tower?

Ron Stauffer

This is a 40' Aermotor tower with two 20' sections in each leg. The diagonal braces are angle in the bottom layer and above are rods with a knob on the end that fits in a keyhole in the girts. I never measured the steps. Base measurement was about 8'2" so I suppose one could have replaced this tower with a different one. But I don't have a crane or boom truck; I lay stuff down with an A frame gin pole and a winch on my truck. This tower was quite wiggly before we straightened it. To lay it down the way I usually do, I would have had to do quite a bit of bracing or I would have been afraid it would have collapsed while tipping it.

Post by billcobb » Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:32 am
As a side question, how much of a gink would you try to straighten without an overlay patch? I snagged a corner of a tower with my hay mower. Looks terrible but not cracked or leaning tower of Pizza with too much extra cheese. I thought I might try to force it straight by C-clamping a piece of thick angle to it and gradually tightening the clamps in sequence. I don't want to heat it, break it, or slit it, then weld the slits.

I'd have to see the bend to judge. A bow or bend or kink often means the angle steel has been stretched, and then it can be hard to get it back to its original shape. I'd probably cut relief slits in the bend in several places and then do the c clamp and brace trick and bolt the splice on.

I learned doing this job that an impact or force applied to a tower in one place gets distributed by the trussing to other parts of the tower, and a bend or kink may be accompanied by other bends or kinks in places you never would have guessed.

Mike and I cut out and replaced the SE leg impact dog leg, then cut relief cuts in the NE leg kink @ 8' and bolted a splice over it, then replaced the lowest girt on the S side and straightened/spliced or replaced the bottom diagonal angle braces. Then I went up to tackle the kink 25' up on the SW leg (ladder leg). I cut several relief cuts and had two comealongs and a turnbuckle on the thing, pushing and pulling to straighten it. It just was not moving, and the come alongs were so tight I was afraid to move the handle. I finally gave it one more click, there was a loud POP and the leg I was working on straightened out very nicely. I clamped on my splice and was feeling grateful and about to start drilling holes, when Mike on the ground hollered up, "Bryce, I hate to tell you this..."

The NE leg, which we had already straightened, now had another nasty kink in it just below the splice we had installed @ the 8' level. We wound up putting a jack and post on this leg to hold it up while we unbolted the leg from the anchor, then re-straightened and respliced the leg, then drilled new holes in the anchor.

We finally got everything looking reasonably straight and the tower was plumb and I adjusted the brake and oiled the mill and the owner signed a document drawn up by the snow plow guy's wife saying he was happy with the repair job.

Very nice job! I have straightened many towers over the years. Replaced some legs and girts and x-bracing, but one job comes to mind when I reviewed your post.

Back in 2013 I took on a job I will never forget. A fella called and asked me for an estimate to repair his tower. The local power company accidentally dropped a service pole on his tower. It took out or severely damaged several girts, and bent the crap out of two legs. I was surprised the tower didn't come down from the impact. So I go out there with the family to take a look. The plan was to take a few pics then go have dinner, but we ended up doing a little emergency bracing that took some time and decided to just go home and throw a pizza in the oven. Kids where hungry!!! About two miles from home a teenager pulled out in front of me while I was doing 55 mph. I hit her square in the drivers side door. She nearly died on scene, and spent months in the hospital. I hurt my back , arms, and legs, but walked away. The kids were shook up but fine. BTW, she was driving while suspended, driving a car with expired plates, and the car wasn't even hers... Anyway, I submitted an estimate and did not get approval to do the job until five months later in November. To do the job I brought in a bucket truck to support the tower as I removed each of the damaged 20 foot leg sections. And, replaced the girts and x-bracing. It was the worst job I ever had to do because of the weather. it was terribly cold and windy! But, I got her done! The nightmare story would end here, but I had to call the power company several times because the check they sent to pay for the repairs was being held hostage by the owner. He wanted the money for himself. That took about a month to resolve... I thought that would be the last I would hear from that customer. It was. Although a few years ago I saw his name in the news. Seems he supplied his son and a bunch of other underage kids with beer. And, he was letting them drive 4x4's around his open field. Well, one of the kids flipped a truck and killed another kid who flew out the window and was crushed to death. If I remember correctly that customer of mine is a few years into a 20 some year sentence.

JK Windmills wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:04 pm If I remember correctly that customer of mine is a few years into a 20 some year sentence.

Apparently I do not remember correctly... He responded to charges with a guilty plea in 2018 and got 200 hours community service. And, he passed away last month...


Hmm