After weeks of logistic obsessing about
getting my two 1500 lb loads (one from
Fresno, CA and one from Wichita, KS)
to be delivered on the same day -- we won!
Here's the truck delivering the tower
and the lift. |
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Here's Rick (the forklift guy) picking
up the lift (for the garage, remember?)
from his flatbed truck. |
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Here comes the lift up the driveway. |
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Since the slab in front of the garage
hasn't been poured yet, the best we
could do was to slide the lift into
the garage. |
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Well, it's in! Where it will stay
for a week or so until the garage
is finished. We'll just work around
it. Now, on to the tower... |
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Here comes the hard part. The
tower crate is 3' x 3' x 23' and
weighs 1500 lbs. All we have to
do is lift it off the truck, bring
it into the back yard, position it
precisely to attach to the base and
lift it into place. Simple. |
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Well, it's off the truck and onto the
forklift; here it comes. |
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Rick is rotating the tower around
preparatory to putting it down in
the side yard. |
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Repositioning the forklift at the base
of the tower, Rick now plans to drag it
into the back yard. |
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The tower still has to be rotated
90 degrees from where you see it; we
decided to uncrate it here to make it
more maneuverable. |
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Gael is clearly thrilled with the
idea of the tower going up. Really.
(She hides her "thrill level" quite well)... |
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At least the bottom of the tower is
"aimed" properly at the base. Vince is
leveling the base mounting screws. The
tower needs to be plumb, of course. |
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Rick (on the forklift) operates that
thing with the precision of a surgeon.
Here he and Angel are getting the base
positioned perfectly for attachment to
the base. |
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It's almost attached. It pivots upright
on two of the bolts and then the other
ten are placed with the tower vertical.
Watch... |
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OK. The pivot bolts are in and the
forklift's job is done. |
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..And so we bid a fond farewell to
Rick the forklift guy. Without him,
no tower, no lift. Thanks, Rick!
And now, tower going up... |
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We've attached the (you should pardon
the expression) "erection device" and
Winston has started cranking the tower
into its upright and locked position (sorta
like an airline tray table...) It's up about
30 degrees at this point. |
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And here, at 45 degrees... |
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And here, it's up and bolted in
place. We connected the motor
and this is me operating the
switch that drives the tower to
its fully extended height of 72
feet! |
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