In the quest to find more oil we once again are building the iceroad to Badami. The project runs 24 hours a day, 2-12hr shifts, one operator climbs out of the machine during fueling and servicing while another climbs in. Once the road and drill pad are finished a drill rig will be mobed in to start the exploration drilling. So I want to thank you for filling your tank because everytime you do you help provide me with a job. Next time you fill up and swipe that card you can stop and think just what it takes to fill that tank. Keep driving and we will continue the quest to find more oil! Regards, Randy
I, for one, thank you for your work! Nice pix!
is Tom still up there buddy, stay warm and safe, Don't miss it a Bit!
Randy, I swiped my card for 115 bucks this afternoon. To bad it was only for 30 gallons of fuel insted of 115 like it should be! DRILL BABY DRILL!
Ok just did some quick conversions from litres to Gallons to compare prices. In Australia the price for fuel is approx $6.80 per gal. In Borneo its $2.27 per gal. And all i got to drive around in when I go back home for a holiday in March is a dirty big V8, my wallet is hurting already!!! In oz where fuel is expensive we all love driving big engine cars... over here fuel is cheap they all ride 100cc scooters? Go figure. I need to sell my car a buy a pushbike I think! (it might help getting rid of my beer belly...)
I filled up today, and fuel where I am right now is $4.99 a gallon.
I shivers.....thanks for the peek from another part of the world.
Quit complaining. At home right now we're paying $8.63/gallon ........ so the same 30 gallons of unleaded would have cost you a hair short of $260. BTW, Nice pics Randy.
Just when I thought I've built it all on a blade. I wanta build an ice road. Must be hard to put the ditches in.
I'm not complaining one bit, just stating a fact. There is absolutley no reason that here in the States or Canada that we should be paying more than a buck a gallon for fuel of any kind. With the amount of reserves that both countries have on hand, it's assinine. The enviromental nutjobs that have infilltraited every acpect of goubment have **** up any chance of there ever being cheap fuel ever again. And I don't wanna a hear a single word about G.W. and blood for oil and all that b.s. Our current administration hasn't done squat to help ease the pain at the pump. It's actually gotten worse in the last 3 years. I know in Canada fuel has always run about a buck more than it is here in the U.S. The first time I ever went up there I thought I was getting a smoking deal. Untill I realized it was in liters and not gallons.
Fun Stuff Tvan; Tom is with us on this project and he’s having a good time. He’s been running one of the ejector trucks most of the time and filling in more and more on the blade. He’s on Day shift and I’m on nights so I don’t see him unless we are stuck in camp due to a blow. He said you will have to spend all summer thawing him out after this! I got to come home for just 3 days and return on Tuesday. We crossed the Shaviovik River last night and only have about 4 miles left to tie into Badami’s Pad. Then we have to go back near the Shav. River and build three more miles of road and a new 500 x 500ft drill pad right on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, then move the rig in. Here's a picture of Jeff W loading snow on the Shaviovik River and one reminder of why I enjoy driving a 52,000lbs motor grader across the ice! Watching that ice crack under the machine! Fun Stuff Regards, Randy
Good stuff Buddy, tell everyone Hey for me, Stay Safe!!
Randy, Is that the grader that got the paint job in the fall?
Love the pics, keep em comming.
Love the pictures! Please keep them coming.
Randy... in the one photo of the lift cylinder on your blade,,, do I see a non-stock grease fitting on the pivot bearing cap? Grampa
Thanks for the nice compliments. BigBob: Yes that is the 14H that just got rebuilt and repainted. It runs like new! Grandpa: On that 14H I installed zerk fitting on the caps, lift cylinder mounting shafts and the moldboard tip pins. The lift cylinder mounting yoke shafts were turned down then built back up with a Nickel Alloy mix, then turned back down and polished to produce only .004 inch clearance between the bearings and shaft. To help prevent any binding in the yokes I installed the zerk fitting and to help keep moisture out since this grader gets barged around the state of Alaska quit regularly. If there’s any binding or torsional load on the shaft it causing the automatic blade controls to go nuts when trying to make small corrections when under heavy load. It’s really important that the yokes swing freely side to side to prevent any over shoot problems. Regards, Randy
The only reason I noticed it as I have done the same to mine... thought you had taken the picture out of my grader.... thanks for the follow up Randy.
now someone will have to help me. if it is ice wouldn't you just plow a road out and leave the windrow on the sides? what are you all hauling snow around for. this is from a Tennessee boy just tryin to learn
I would guess they are using the snow somewhere else. Building ramps off the ice, filing holes etc. At those temperatures snow can be used almost like dirt.
Igammon: The iceroad is built over rivers, lakes and tundra. Some river and lake areas the ice is grounded; so in those areas all that is really required is to remove the snow. Where the road is built on ungrounded ice then we must thicken the ice by mixing snow and water into a slurry, which then freezes. On some of the river crossings, which have water underneath, the ice must be 12 feet thick to support the drill rig (the rig we moved in here 2 years ago weighed 2.5 million lbs.). The construction of the road (width and ice depth) is based on which drill rig will be used for that year’s program. Where the road is built over the tundra, those areas we have to pre-pack the snow over the tundra, which drives the frost into the tundra. Pre-packing is done with Tucker Sno-Cats and drags so as not to damage the tundra. If we don’t first drive the frost into the tundra it would be like building an ice road over peat moss (extremely unstable). Using GPS coordinates thermistors probes are put in the tundra every few miles and they are used to record the temperatures in the tundra and determine when it is safe to start building the iceroad over the tundra. Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) keeps track of these temperatures and frost depths and they give the clearance to go or not go. Once the frost is deep enough and clearance is given then the first thing is to ice in the bottom layers of snow that are naturally present on the tundra by flooding them with water. Then using snow and water we start building up the layers to smooth out the top. During the construction phase all snow, ice chips and water is hauled using Caterpillar and Volvo Articulated Trucks. During the final top coating (paving phase) conventional and artic water trucks are used. So BDFT has it just about right; we use the snow in other areas to build up the road and to build ramps up off the rivers and lakes, but we can’t just use snow alone. We mix it with water to form ice. In the areas where we don’t use snow then we grind the surface of the lakes using roto-mills and make ice chips. We are regulated by DNR as to how much water and ice chips we can take from each lake. In regards to your berm comment; berms or windrows up here are a bad deal. With all the blowing snow and wind any berm causes drifting and any drift can quickly get out of hand and plug the road with snow. Any time we clear the road we always use snow blowers so as not to form any berm close to the road. I hope this helps you to understand some of the process. Regards, Randy
Very cool pics, I see you are working with, or for Cruz construction. I have been running grader in Western North Dakota for the last two years. And I tried to get on with them down here. They seem like a pretty top notch company. Keep up the good work and stay warm!
Awesome photo quality Randy. What kind of camera do use ?
thanks, there is always something to learn. all i can say is i feel for the poor mechanic that has to work in a place like that!
His camera is a Fujifilm Finepix S1000fd according to the EXIF info.Thanks for taking us along for the ride Randy,we would not get to see this stuff otherwise.Nice work as usual.Ron G
Thanks for the Compliments Ron 1; That is correct, I do work for Cruz Construction, Alaska Division. They have 2 Divisions in North Dakota now. They are a great company to work for in Alaska. Some of my friends left The Alaska Division and went to work for the ND Division because they had so much work down there. Thank goodness for the Bakken Oil Field and American ingenuity. Tinkerer; Ron G is exactly right; the pictures were taken with a Fuji Film’s Finepix S1000. It’s a 10.0 Mega Pix camera with a 16:1 digital zoom and is rather compact, which is nice for packing in the cab of a grader. It hangs perfectly from the factory coat hook! RonG thanks for the compliments, I enjoy showing fellow operators just what it takes to find more oil so we can keep powering this country. Both shifts are grounded due to extreme cold right now; 50 below 0 outside. Not good for the equipment. Thank goodness for a warm camp!
''NOT GOOD FOR THE EQUIPMENT'' Hah--I was thinking about another logistical problem[maybe] at -50* regarding equipment. The type used for a liquid transfer when outside if need be.
Arctic Madness At these temperatures it usually freezes before it hits the ground during transfer! Up here we have a thing known as "Arctic Madness"; that's when the transfer tube is 4 inches long and the layers of clothes are 6 inches thick.
Arctic Madness Suppose to hit 55 below tonight! With the windchill??? Instant Ouch when you walk outside.
Geeze....how do you get the stuff running again?
Brrrrrrrrrr!. Makes me cold just thinking about it.
Great Stuff and I thought it was cold here in Finland! One question out of interest, what is the cutting angle in your main blade and have you tested any of these special blades we use in Finland to even the icy road surface. Here's a pic: http://www.metsatyo.fi/Shared/Images/ProductImages/Hms3000.jpg
I'm sure you've been asked & answered a hundread times if you guys leave your iorn running 24/7 up there Randy so you don't have to answer, but I am curious about what you guys do about fuel. I imagine you guys run thin "arctic" oil or even synthetic's for engine, transmission and hydro(big fan of the stuff), but at those extremes the 50/50 off-road & kerosene mix we use in the winter's say here in Maine must not cut it up in god's country. Do you overdose with those "Power Service" and "Disesel 9-1-1" additives or run heavier doses of K-1? I know I had the winter diesel blues here and we don't get much colder the 10 below ambiaent all winter in south western Maine. Thank You and great work, Ryan
They probably never shut it off haha
Slow Response! Gentlemen I apologize for my slow response, but we were running 7 days a week, 12 and sometimes 18 hours a day. The iceroad and drill-pad are now completed (see upcoming thread) so I got to come home for some rest. Ryan/YellowIorn, in regards to fuel; we use straight Number 1 in the winter. We lose about 15 to 20 percent power, but the stuff has a much lower cloud point and won’t turn to jelly like #2 does. We do use some Power Services 911 when we are transitioning for Number 2 to Number 1 in the Fall months. We run Synthetics in just about everything and even they have problems sometimes. OldandWorn, most of the time the machines do run 24 hours a day, but like everything else, things change and they have to be shut down sometimes. Getting them restarted is like waking the dead. A machine that’s been sitting for days a sub zero temperatures gets a very eerie look to it. We plug in the block heaters, pad heaters and pump heat into the engine compartment with an ES700 portable heater. The ES700 uses a 700,000btu diesel fired Carlin Burner http://www.equipmentsourceinc.com/heaters.htm . A few hours of heating and they light right up. truefinn, we run Kennametal http://www.kennametal.com/images/repositories/catalog/us/KMTL-Scarifier_Blades_for_Graders.pdf edges and tool holders with a C-87KCSB-SR tooth. This system is very similar to the ones you’re using. Regards Randy
Thank for the kewl photos Randy, I don't envy you at all. Looks way to cold to me. When I lived in Colorado we seen some cold mornings as low as 35 below. I didn't like that either but your extremes are worse and you probably don't see much sunshine either. Keep warm.
Randy Kreig ; How long does the cold,ice,snow stay for (weeks months), Man never been around cold like that in my 54 years only just seen Zero "C" on the thermomator, Cheers Randy, love the pics just a whole new world to me.
Wow! A few hours for them to thaw enough to even attempt to start them. That's nuts.
Randy Krieg, thanks for pics and I see what you mean by eerie looking. I imagine batteries could even freeze if they don't have a full charge.
Great thread, but when it comes to frozen over lakes and rivers, I would much prefer ice fishing. Interesting environment, to say the least. Only way I'd do that is riding sleeper team with that gal on Ice Road Truckers.
Randy, can those graders be fitted with espar heaters or is it too cold for even that? I just ask cause i just finished my first winter in northern Alberta and got my first real taste of starting up froze equipment. I thought i knew something about it til i got up here. Sorry if this is a dumb question, im green and curious.
Thanks for the great explanation Randy. I apprediate it. Very interesting. How do I apply for the Snow- Cat on the Tundra job ?
NoCrapmatsu I’ve only been around one vehicle with an Espar heater (gasoline). It was on an International mechanics truck that we rented from Western Geophysical. The heater worked fantastic, but we were warned that the gas/oil companies wouldn’t allow it on the pad or near their facilities due what they called an open flame system. I never challenged this and just kept the truck off the pad. Though I had no problems with that truck when I was using it, I heard later that it did have a close call one day on another job. The fuel line got a small leak and was dripping gas on the ground and the heater caught the gas on fire. Thank goodness an operator spotted the small fire under the truck before it got out of hand and they put it out. Had they been on a drill pad there would have been ten thousand papers to fill out after that and a fine to pay! Regards, Randy
I'm sure there could be a whole new thread about the environmental issues and governmental restrictions. Thanks for the updates Randy.
I see what you mean about eerie, that 16 M looks like a zombie. haha. I'd love to come up there and wrench on that stuff. I'd probably need more than the infrared heater and tarp I carry here though.