Mega Tree Pole keeps breaking

[airborneSRT]

On 12/2/2018 at 2:04 PM, Little_b said:

I use a single 23 foot 1-1/4" steel pipe.  I cemented an insert into the ground that it goes in with 4 guy wires coming off the top.  Pipe hangs from bike hooks in the ceiling of my garage during the off season.

where did you buy that from? I can't seem to find that length

[dibblejr]

8 minutes ago, airborneSRT said:

where did you buy that from? I can't seem to find that length

I can get 23' here in iron city all the time, its the getting it down the interstate that is scary so I opted with a 2 section tree.

Retired the antenna mast so if anyone in Alabama or surrounds is looking I have one available. Two sections with a base 20' tall.

On another note, I also added the trampoline frame as the mt base as I mentioned above. It worked perfect. Only one power failure for the mt this season due to so much rain that the ext cord that is already suspended off the ground with spikes once again got flooded. Went out and added a 2' section of emt conduit and raised it. No further failures.

JR

Edited December 28, 2019 by dibblejr

[sysco]

use 1-1/4 black iron pipe  no splices or threads at all you will never have a problem with it   i did what you did 7 years ago learned  my lesson thought it would be easier to put up and take down it came down easier ha ha

[dibblejr]

11 hours ago, airborneSRT said:

where did you buy that from? I can't seem to find that length

Most places that are not big chain stores have it in the 23' lengths. I always thought it is a weird size. Call a HVAC or Gas appliance store. Or if you are lucky enough like me you can get it from the mfg.

JR

[caniac]

23 hours ago, sysco said:

use 1-1/4 black iron pipe  no splices or threads at all you will never have a problem with it   i did what you did 7 years ago learned  my lesson thought it would be easier to put up and take down it came down easier ha ha

I use the same but use a 10ft and 5ft section put together with a pole pin.  Has survived the Nebraska winds.

[Mega Arch]

Well - mine failed this year in 60mph straight winds. My own fault  - guy wire anchors weren't all the way screwed into the ground (freakin house built on a sandstone base at 12" deep). You can seen the dirt chunks stuck to the anchors in the below pic. 1-1/4" rigid pipe. Threads cut off and used the solid steel pole-pin. 2" sleeve buried 2' deep for the pole. So I figured I really didn't even need those guy wires anyway. Boy - was I ever wrong! 

So rebuild : I still used 1-1/4" pipe as that's what fits the sleeve. Added 20 ft 1" pipe inside the 20' 1-1/4" pipe. Now double wall strong baby!  Also, took time (that I should have first off...) and dug the anchor holes 20" deep. 1/2 bag cement in each hole. Now the house will blow away - and the mega tree will still live on!

 

 

 

 

 

[TheDucks]

OUCH!

All those lights (ties and mount rods) do present a goodly wind load surface.  Maybe enclosing them (the tree strand) in a thin sleeve could reduce the surface presented load.

 

[dibblejr]

2 hours ago, Mega Arch said:

Well - mine failed this year in 60mph straight winds. My own fault  - guy wire anchors weren't all the way screwed into the ground (freakin house built on a sandstone base at 12" deep). You can seen the dirt chunks stuck to the anchors in the below pic. 1-1/4" rigid pipe. Threads cut off and used the solid steel pole-pin. 2" sleeve buried 2' deep for the pole. So I figured I really didn't even need those guy wires anyway. Boy - was I ever wrong! 

So rebuild : I still used 1-1/4" pipe as that's what fits the sleeve. Added 20 ft 1" pipe inside the 20' 1-1/4" pipe. Now double wall strong baby!  Also, took time (that I should have first off...) and dug the anchor holes 20" deep. 1/2 bag cement in each hole. Now the house will blow away - and the mega tree will still live on!

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel- Sorry that happened to you. You know it happened to me last year during take down so I replaced the tower with the winch straight up 20’ tree and it worked like a charm. I was able to add some lights that I had run out of after replacing all the broken strings.

My hook head broke in 2017 and I had a mess and guy wires cut about 1/3 of my strings.

 

Glad it didn’t hit That pretty home and more importantly you wasn’t on it.

JR

[Little_b]

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 8:20 AM, airborneSRT said:

where did you buy that from? I can't seem to find that length

I got it from a local Metal Mart Shop.  https://metalmart.biz/

Here are the anchors I use for my guy wires  https://www.lowes.com/pd/Covert-Tie-Out-Stake/999909353 

I cemented a sleeve about 2 feet in the ground that my pole fits in. It doubles as my flag pole at times during the summer.

[dibblejr]

14 minutes ago, Little_b said:

I got it from a local Metal Mart Shop.  https://metalmart.biz/

Here are the anchors I use for my guy wires  https://www.lowes.com/pd/Covert-Tie-Out-Stake/999909353 

I cemented a sleeve about 2 feet in the ground that my pole fits in. It doubles as my flag pole at times during the summer.

I had those exact dog tie out stake rip out several years ago and our soli is solid  red clay very hard stuff. After that I use the more expensive hurricane tie downs, they are orange. With the tower that fell I had 3' rebar but it way saturated from Christmas to takedown the end of Feb. I didn't realize just how saturated since the surface was bone dry. With my pole tree I went with both, the 3' rebar and the hurricane tiedowns. No problem yet this year but no more climbing a tower for me.

All I can say is be careful with them. They are about 1/4 of the cost of the hurricane stakes but safety is worth it. Beit, I do not know what ground you have. Im just adding my .02

JR

[sysco]

Hard thing to look at  not a good feeling at all   i don't use guide wires  i have 2'' x 20ft  ratcheting  straps in the back of the tree and 2x 1'' in the front of the tree  can make adjustments easily, you can still see it no interference ,the stakes are 3 feet long with a 1/4 inch plate welded to the side of the stakes with a hole for the hook plus 4 handles welded to the tree itself  for attaching upper hooks   then there is a plate 1/4 x2 feet  with a 14 inch 1'' heavy duty pipe welded to the plate  also welded to the plate are  6-  1''nuts with  12'' stakes driven into the ground have not had a problem , we had a week of high winds 80 to 100 km an hour  everything stood it's ground 

[Mega Arch]

18 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Daniel- Sorry that happened to you. You know it happened to me last year during take down so I replaced the tower with the winch straight up 20’ tree and it worked like a charm. I was able to add some lights that I had run out of after replacing all the broken strings.

My hook head broke in 2017 and I had a mess and guy wires cut about 1/3 of my strings.

 

Glad it didn’t hit That pretty home and more importantly you wasn’t on it.

JR

I remember the issues you had. No fun. You are correct - I only cried for one hour. Then started counting blessings. 
Didn’t hit house. 
Didn’t hit a/c unit. 
Didn’t hurt lights, controllers, cords, cat5s. Just the center pole. As per the short video above, everything still was working - just on it’s side. 

[dawgsofwar2094]

out in the country for my mega tree I used 3" round galv conduit it gets hit by high wind it goes down in to a sleeve in the ground this is its second year but this year is was hit by some bad bad wind it held but freaked me out next year im using a telephone pole I already have just for the keeping my sanity factor and will relocate it under the peak of the pole barn to help block wind from the direction it usualy comes from