The tower guy cable saga

As noted in the August 25 blog entry, the sunroom roof edge hit the lower guy cable for my tower. A temporary lash-up was installed to raise the guy cable off the roof to allow the roofers to install the shingles on the sunroom. 

The problem

Quick temporary lash-up to raise lower guy clear of the sunroom roof

I decided that the permanent solution was to insert a 4" O.D. steel pipe inside the existing 4" I.D. guy post, and I bought a 3 foot section of pipe from a local supplier. Since the existing guy post has a welding seam inside, I had to have a machinist cut a slot along the outside of the new pipe to allow it to slip 18" inside the larger pipe, leaving 18" as an extension for the attachment of the guy cables. The extended attachment point required slightly shorter guy cables, and the turnbuckles could not make the necessary adjustment, even at their "shortest" setting. 

Guy post with welding seam

18" slot in 3 foot extension pipe

The guy cables are secured with "dead end cable grips" that wrap around and firmly grip the cable with embedded grit on their inside surface. I purchased new dead ends to install closer to the tower, and a Klein cable clamp to grip the cable during the installation of the new dead ends. A Come-Along cable winch was used with the Klein cable clamp to tension the guy cable during the change-out of dead ends.

Extended guy post with turnbuckles at tightest limit

New dead end cable grips and Klein cable clamp

Klein clamp in open position

Klein clamp in closed position

Klein clamp teeth

Come-along winch applying tension on guy cable held with Klein clamp

New dead end being wrapped around guy cable

Upper and lower guy cables permanently installed with new dead ends