Flagpole Repair, Painting, Maintenance & Rope Replacement

A revolving truck assembly (with a pulley) is necessary to construct a proper flagpole.  There are internal halyard or rope trucks and external halyard trucks as shown in the picture on the right.  Most of the old trucks were made of bronze since at the time before aluminum was very common that metal was a very durable but very heavy metal.  Its turns a slight green when it starts to oxidize but it does not rust like metal does. Like anything from solid granite to stainless steel it will wear down over time. The pole constructed in the 30’ thru the 50’s are in their time now to be repaired.  Depending on how windy their location is and how big a flag is flown those trucks are most likely worn to the point of being non operational to breaking right off.  Old trucks may no longer revolve with the wind meaning they turn in the direction of the wind or may be much worn and should be replaced.  If they don’t turn anymore then most likely your flag gets wrapped around the pole often, but if they are at the point of breaking, the bronze truck weigh about 5-10 pounds and when they come down they can severely injure or kill someone if it were to fall on their head.

     Today we generally use trucks from aluminum castings.  If its a heavy duty application such as a really windy area and they fly a huge flag bronze trucks are still in use as well as all stainless steel but those are for very special circumstances.   We work very closely with the manufacturers of the products we use and have even suggested certain design upgrades to make them a little better that they have adapted. Hey the field guys sometime know a little better on how to modify the items in use out in the field.  We actually use parts from 3 different suppliers to ensure the highest quality products for our customers! This supplier has better quality gold balls while this supplier has better quality trucks etc.  Since we have been around for over 40 years we have seen how certain parts do better than other over the years.  We do frequent rounds on dozens of school districts so we get to inspect the poles on a reg schedule and see how the parts or fairing.   The experimenting over which is the better part is over and we have streamlined it for you so you will get the best.  After all once you fix the pole components you don’t want to have to worry about the parts until the next generation with the exception of ropes and clips which will wear sooner but those are easily replaced from the ground.  

     Trucks that revolve in the wind will help reduce wear and tear on your rope and flag.  If you are constantly replacing more so the rope it might be because the truck is not revolving in the wind thus cause the rope to rub on the side of the truck instead of lying on the pulley opening like its supposed to.  

     We can install balls (gold, silver or other) and eagles onto the truck to compliment your flagpole.  The size of the ball is in proportion to the size of your pole.  The larger the diameter of the pole, the larger the ball or eagle.  We make every effort to install or replace a ball or eagle without replacing a functioning truck.  However there are times when the truck and the ball stem have corroded so severely it cannot be removed (or drilled) and the truck will need to be replaced as well. This works vice versa as well.  If we have to replace the truck but the ball is in decent condition then we try to save the ball to put on the new truck.  But if you have ever tried to undo a nut on a very old bolt or undo a old water pipe thats corroded that can be near impossible.

Old truck assembly atop a flagpole at Santa Monica/ Malibu USD which became corroded from the salt air and was in bad need of replacement.  Old trucks can be very dangerous when they get this bad as they can fall off at any time and cause injury or even death!