TOP DRIVE INSPECTION SHEET

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Permalink Reply by Bryant Loke on August 1, 2010 at 10:03pm

I run top drives on the west coast, but only for a short time. It has been my experience, however, that above anything typical, EVERYTHING! Ive had things come apart on the top drive that you would never expect to come apart.

What I always try to inspect a more than a few times a day are grabber dyes and keepers. One of my drillers is notorious for pulling off the stump before the grabber is all the way open. Another is the keeper pins or bolts for the link tilt rams. They are constantly coming loose. My solution is run a bolt with a keeper hole in the end, then run a castle nut. I always try to watch anything that moves at every connection; link tilts, pipe-handler, grabber/grabber leg...

Of all things though, I always inspect my torque tube. Always looking up to make sure my turnbuckles are in place, backup nuts are tight and all safety cables are where they should be. The torque tube takes the biggest beating. If your derrick is your torque tube, check your stabilizing assembly.

Oh another thing... if your running hydraulic elevators, check those ALWAYS!!!!

What kind of top drive are your working with, and for what company?

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Permalink Reply by BILLY SEWELL on August 6, 2010 at 1:33pm

I WORK FOR AZTEC WELL SERVICE IN AZTEC NEW MEXICO. WE HAVE 5 TESCO 250 TON UNITS. I WAS LOOKING FOR AN INSPECTION SHEET DIFFERENT THAN TESCO HAS IT IS VERY LIMITED

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Permalink Reply by Bryant Loke on August 7, 2010 at 10:10am

Tesco is pretty scared of taking liability. I have asked for a couple of instruction sheet on installations of certain parts, and they said they dont supply because of safety liability. All I have is the scheduled grease sheet. I can email it to you if you would like, if you dont already it.

I am running a 250EMI400. Other than being a small unit, it runs pretty good. By the end of the month, they will be moving me back to California to run one of our EXI's.

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