Shipping a tower base?

[ks4du]

I recently acquired a nearly new, Tri-Ex 54' crank-up, sans base mount. The company offers a replacement concrete base for $308 (which I think is way over priced). I decided to order it anyway. They said the shipping cost would be $384. This thing is 4' x 3' x3' and only weighs 80 lbs. I told them I wasn't going to pay that much for shipping and asked if they could put it on a truck that was already headed my way for less $$ and I'd pick it up at a freight depot within 200 miles of my house. They said no.

Is this normal? How can anyone afford to purchase and ship the entire 22 foot long 700 lb tower?

[K9STH]

Both UPS and FedEx Ground can handle that weight for considerably less money.

Now is the $384 for just the shipping or for the cost of the mount plus shipping? It sounds to me that the shipping cost is $76 which is added to the $308. However, if they are wanting $384 for just shipping then that is way out-of-line for any freight shipment of 80 pounds.

Glen, K9STH

[ks4du]

The shipping cost was $384. The total cost was $692. They said they use an exclusive carrier (Roadway?) and that's the only way it could go.

Tashjian Towers out of California.

[wz9o]

Sounds like they get a kick-back from the shipping company.

[N2RJ]

By tower 'base' do you mean the rebar to put in the ground, or a base section (one section of the tower in the ground)?

If it's the rebar, save your money and buy the rebar from a construction supply company. You can pick it up locally and save the freight.

The reason the company may prefer the truck carrier is because its easier for them - they just put it on a skid and the truck takes it away. If UPS/fedex is cheaper by all means use that, that is if you still need the base.

I got the base section for my tower shipped for about $80 from PA and it was about 120lbs.

Shipping the whole tower is a different story, depending on the size. My tower was 7 sections 300 plus lb each so it was actually cheaper to get it on a LTL (less than truckload) carrier.

Truck shipments are a pain in the neck though. I try to always avoid them.

[ks4du]

They call it a "concrete base". It's actually a set of steel "ears" drilled to accept the bottom tower section and tilt-over unit. The ears then have rebar extending downward. Very easy to make at home (if one has the equipment).

Just so happens that I found someone locally that can make one for me. I really wanted to avoid this because the tower comes with a state engineer's certification for both California and Idaho and using a homemade base support would probably void it. The cert was required for the previous owner but I live so far out in the middle of nowhere they've never even heard of building permits. Still, I'm not an engineer and you would not believe the winds we get here.

Jim

[WB2WIK]

The $300 or so for the LM-354 base is not out of line. It's made of several pieces of very heavy rebar all welded together to make a cage and on the three uprights of the cage (which are very heavy) there are the three tower mounting brackets seam welded, pre-drilled and galvanized made from 1/4" thick steel plate. If you "miss" on the welding position for any of those, the tower will never fit.

As such, the way to make the base is to have the tower on hand first, fabricate the three mounting brackets (which any sheet metal shop would charge at least $50 each for -- they're heavy and a real pain to machine) and bolt them to the bottom of the tower to assure perfect fit and alignment, then build a fixture to assemble the rebar cage onto those three brackets and hold everything in position during welding. Then, when you're done, take the whole thing to a plating shop and have the assembly hot dip galvanized, like the manufacturer does.

For me, this is easily worth $300. If I had to do it myself using field welding equipment, and then take the fabricated frame to a shop to galvanize it, it would probably cost me closer to $500. (The plating shops charge by the pound.)

However, the $300+ to ship it is a bit high. I don't know why they cannot let YOU decide who the carrier is.

A cheaper way would be to find a local ham in the Fresno area (there are hundreds!) and get somebody to pick it up for you at the shop and bring it to a Greyhound Bus terminal to ship it as baggage.

Luckily, I live within driving distance of Tri-Ex and U.S. Tower so if I need something, I drive up there and get it!

WB2WIK/6

[ks4du]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I already thought of most of that. We're going to build it bolted "in-place" like you suggested. So, I've got to take this 22 foot long beast on another 40 mile drive (in addition to the 250 miles to bring it home) to get it to the weld shop. It's amazing what we'll do for a few QSOs. I'm not going to bother with the galvanizing, so it should cost less than fifty bucks total. I'll just paint it and save over $600.

But...I don't think their shipping charge is a bit high. I think it's ridiculous. I bought a cabinet saw and jointer a while back, total weight was over 1000 lbs and the shipping was only about $150.

[WB2WIK]

I'm impressed you can save over $600 by doing it locally, that's a very good deal I could never get here in Los Angeles.

I've had LM-354, W-51 and LM-470 tower bases fabricated "locally" by sheet metal shops and welders and on average, they cost me about $300 each, which is only slightly less than Tri-Ex charges. I guess you're not including any "cost" for your driving the tower 40 miles. For me, that cost would be at least a few hundred dollars since it would take me half a day to get it done. Well, that plus gas at $3.59 a gallon, which adds about another $20.

Good luck with the installation!

73

Steve WB2WIK/6

[k9kjm]

If building yourself, Instead of painting the base,
Get some "Instant Cold Galvanize" spray. Sold at most all larger paint stores. This is the stuff that is shipped with commercial towers for touch up work.
"Instant Cold Galvanize" is 90 some percent zinc dust in a paint type carrier, And will protect as well against rust as hot dip galvanize if properly applied with a number of light coats (But will not take the physical abuse that hot dip galvanize will. It can be scratched off easier than the hot dip)

[ZD7X]

Don't worry, be happy.

You would not believe the shipping cost of a 80' very HD tower & a SteppIR MonstIR to a small rock in the South Atlantic.


Tom ZD7X

[N2RJ]

Quote[/b] (ZD7X @ Nov. 06 2007,08:31)]Don't worry, be happy.

You would not believe the shipping cost of a 80' very HD tower & a SteppIR MonstIR to a small rock in the South Atlantic.


Tom ZD7X
I would, especially after how much it cost me to ship the same combo stateside. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[N2RJ]

Quote[/b] (ks4du @ Nov. 05 2007,18:28)]They call it a "concrete base". It's actually a set of steel "ears" drilled to accept the bottom tower section and tilt-over unit. The ears then have rebar extending downward. Very easy to make at home (if one has the equipment).

Just so happens that I found someone locally that can make one for me. I really wanted to avoid this because the tower comes with a state engineer's certification for both California and Idaho and using a homemade base support would probably void it. The cert was required for the previous owner but I live so far out in the middle of nowhere they've never even heard of building permits. Still, I'm not an engineer and you would not believe the winds we get here.

Jim
Building it at home won't void the state PE seal on your wet sealed plans, if it is built to meet or exceed the spec. It's only needed for the permit from your city/town/county anyway.

The base rebar cage for my tower was built by a local contractor simply because the tower mfg didn't supply it. They supplied me the plans to do it and the contractor did it, to spec (in fact substituting some larger rebar with the inspector's approval) inspector came and looked at it and approved it.

[ks4du]

Thanks for all the information. BTW, the local welder is a good friend of mine and he's doing the work for free. That's why I can get it built so cheaply.

[ky5u]

Put a piece of cardboard on the tower bottom and trace the base complete with mounting holes. Take the cardboard to a welding shop and have them build you a base. Most catalogues have diagrams of how a base looks with rebar, etc. Take that little drawing too.

[N2RJ]

Why is a base plate even needed? My tower doesn't have or need one.

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (N2RJ @ Nov. 06 2007,10:15)]Why is a base plate even needed? My tower doesn't have or need one.
This ought to bering out the AR (not Amateur Radio) folks from the woodwork.

[ka5piu]

Hello.

A base plate is very nice when erecting a tower.
The issue is getting the first section to align, and a base plate supports the first section while placing it.
The other issue is if you ever want to do a fold-over tower.
The stress of a fold-over is unreal at the base, and every bit of support helps.
And, BE CAREFUL!
We have had one ham killed and another injured not that long ago.
I use a full safety harness and an energy absorbing dual tie-off lanyard.
I was surprised to find that the local candy store did not have the safety harness nor lanyard.
I gave them my old ones.

[WB2WIK]

The tower this post is about doesn't use a "base plate."

It uses a "base." It's not any sort of plate.

The base is the rebar cage, prefabricated and welded together to hold its form, with three large mounting brackets welded to it. Those mate up with three similar mounting brackets welded to the very bottom of the tower itself, and when you bolt one set to the other set, the tower's installed.

It's actually a very good method of mounting a tower in concrete, and allows said tower to be tilted over (with the help of a pulley system and come-along, or a crane) after installation by just removing the bolts from one of the three mounting brackets and then removing two out of the three bolts from the remaining two brackets. One 3/4" or 1.0" bolt per leg bracket remains, and can easily take the tower weight. The reverse process is used to put the tower up in the first place. The design makes it possible for a small crew to upright and install the LM-354, which weighs about 1000 lbs, without a crane if they know what they're doing and have the right tools.

I like the Tri-Ex base design.

WB2WIK/6

[ks4du]

We took it down in that reverse order. It has it's own winch, so we removed all bolts except the bottom ones and laid it down on blocking. Then we backed the trailer under it and removed the two bolts. It's still on the trailer. Once I get the base assembly fabricated and set in the concrete I'll just back up the trailer, install the bolts, and winch it up. The tilt over unit is really nice too. Theres a pivot point about 8 feet up, so if you remove all the bottom bolts (except on the tilt assembly), you can winch the tower horizontal without the beam touching the ground. Absolutely no need to climb it at all. This thing is great. Once again, thanks for all the good ideas. I will be using some of them.

Oh yeah...in case anyone was wondering....I got the tilt-over, crank-up tower, rotor/controller, mast, A-3 tribander, coax and cable for $750. And everything's only 6 years old.

Jim KS4DU

[KC7YPJ]

if you took it down how come you didn't spend the extra hour or so to chip a little of the crete away and cut the plate portions from the rebar with a sawzall or torch and take em with you? for what there asking new (not counting shipping) you can buy a lincoln 225amp arc welder and all the rebar to build it yourself

[ks4du]

Quote[/b] (KC7YPJ @ Nov. 06 2007,17:54)]if you took it down how come you didn't spend the extra hour or so to chip a little of the crete away and cut the plate portions from the rebar with a sawzall or torch and take em with you? for what there asking new (not counting shipping) you can buy a lincoln 225amp arc welder and all the rebar to build it yourself
Excellent question. I'm now wishing I had cut them off while I was there. I didn't know at the time how valuable those pieces would be (I had no idea it would cost almost $700 to replace them). It's a 550 mile round trip drive to go back and I think he probably already moved.

[ka0gkt]

It is about 890 miles from Mackay, ID to Fresno, CA. If your vehicle gets 20 MPG, that is about 50-gallons each way. If gasoline is $3.00/gallon average along your route, that works out to be around $300.00 not including wear and tear on the vehicle, tread loss on your tires and most of all your time.

If you can, as suggested by WB6WIK, find a ham in Fresno to pick up the base then ship it by a less expensive method, by all means, however if thereis a concern over spending $300 to ship the unit, remember, you probably can't drive there yourself and pick it up for less.

73 DE KAØGKT/7

--Steve

[w3wn]

Yes, Tashjian Towers uses Roadway. I wish they wouldn't...

WASH recently constructed a mobile tower trailer using a 37' crank-up Tash tower (details available at http://www.n3sh.org) -- and Randy N3ZK deserves all of the credit for getting this project underway and almost completed, trust me.

Randy arranged to have the tower delivered to his work site so that it could be properly removed from the Roadway truck and inspected.

The day it was supposed to be delievered, it didn't show up. And Roadway told Randy that they had no idea where it was.

It showed up the next day, fortunately, although with some in-transit dings (nothing major and all repaired, fortunately). Moments after it arrived, Roadway was on the phone telling Randy that they still couldn't find it.

It's been several months, and Roadway still doesn't officially know if their driver delivered the tower or not.

And I thought UPS was bad...

73

[W2JGA]

So I wonder who got a free tower? If Road Way can't figure out "where" the tower is, then they must be missing a truck AND trailer, along with the driver. I smell a dirty rat.