Thread: Dock Damage
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:21 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TiltonBB View Post
I would not do it that way. The amount of stress you could put on the dock, because of the leverage, could damage the dock itself. The aluminum docks are built to carry the weight vertically but they are substantially weaker horizontally. I have two aluminum docks and cables to keep them from swinging while in the air during the winter, as described by Dave M. above. The first winter I did not connect the cables to the 47 foot dock because I was not aware of what purpose they served. That was a mistake because the stress of moving side to side caused two of the welds on cross members to break. Lesson learned. It was difficult to locate someone to make the repairs with a portable aluminum welder (TIG, MIG) or a welder that could operate from a truck 75 feet away.
The block should be turned using an extremely slow input of force. (You don't want any "wiggles" at the end of the dock).

Now is the time to invest in a farm jack. I see the price has dropped to $40.11, but it'll probably be above $60 locally at Lowe's, Northern Tool, Home Depot, or Tractor Supply.

The jack can be used to (gently) "pre-load" the concrete block. It's 3.5-ton capacity will produce far more force than a crowbar, wrecking bar, or (the ideal) digging bar.

It'd be tempting to use the block's hardware to turn it; instead, I'd put a loop in the "business-end" of the chain—run the chain back through the loop, and wrap the chain around the block in the direction the block should be turned.

I can't recall from ten years ago just what broke on my neighbor's concrete block, but it looks like "hardware" was involved:

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