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Alta_redneck wrote:

ziggy wrote:

Calm air landing this afternoon with a mechanic for us that wasnt on the plane.

Did his luggage arrive ? maybe he had a few to many drinks, passed out and is going round and round on a carousal in the Yellowknife airport.

That loader fire must have been electrical don’t you think Zig ? Hydraulic oil can fire up like gas but I think you need an open flame to ignite it. I know a paver operator that had just lit the burners on a paver and at the same time had a pin hole leak on a hose. Between the fine mist and the burners on fire, the back of the paver exploded and lit him up good.

The mechanic's an Aussie and ya he tried to bring 3 bags which is a no no with calm air,hes also got an attitude and I wasted a whole day on him allready as well as 2 other guys.He can find his own way in today,I have a road to clean again.Sure be nice if a grader mechanic showed up,its warrenty so we cant even touch it.

The fire looks electrical to me,maybe the ether quick start exploded or something but it looks to have started in the engine compartment,the cabs gone but I bet they rebuild it as the boom and under the cab all look ok.

[ShepherdsDog]

have you seen the program on Discovery about the construction project in Anarctica? They built a huge complex to replace the old station at the South Pole. Now that was seriously impressive, as summer there was like winter in your neck of the woods.

[ziggy]

Our brand new 966 after Nuna "Warmed" it up for us. I was on my way to pick it up when this happened,just one of the many versions of Murphys law I have had to put up with this month.

[ziggy]

Poor girl,didnt even get to load her first truck.

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ShepherdsDog wrote:

have you seen the program on Discovery about the construction project in Anarctica? They built a huge complex to replace the old station at the South Pole. Now that was seriously impressive, as summer there was like winter in your neck of the woods.

I saw that,dont think even the Innuit could live outside in those conditions.Well,maybe for a couple of weeks but thats it.Looks warmer and more comfy then the tent I'm in.

[Alta_redneck]

Look at it this way Zig, now you got 4 spare tires ready to go.

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Alta_redneck wrote:

Look at it this way Zig, now you got 4 spare tires ready to go.

And a couple of quick connect lines and a couple of tilt hoses because at 690 hours it has blown both and there leaking again.Hose cant take the cold,might be a mm too long but too much flex.I think they will rebuild the burnt loader,just a cab and engine houseing. I've been across the lake all day boosting Arctic fuels 980 which keeps dieing.Fuel problems,the shit we get out of the filter is black.I ask them where they get their fuel from? heh!

They have the contract to haul all the fuel,camp trailers up and sea cans,they started our IT which was abandoned on the tundra for 7 days and did it yesterday with their hotbox.We countered by boosting their loader and getting it running and now their hotboxing our drill so we can get that running. After my run in with Nuna logistics and all the help they didnt give us I was starting to think maybe all the outfits around here were like that.Were all here for the same thing,to build a mine,too bad Nuna doesnt feel the same way. Their going to build another road 85 kliks to a mine out of rankin after done here so good riddance I say.
I'm flying home on the 9th!
We have been due for a blizzard for a week.
My ice road is wide enough to land a herc on,im sleeping in tommorow.

[Alta_redneck]

Have you heard when Caterpillar is going to show up ? I have this image in my head of a Chinook Helicopter carrying a white service truck.

[Richard]

Sounds like Asphaltene "the black stuff" in the filters Zigs probably why it didn't want to stay running. A change of filters probably did the trick.

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Alta_redneck wrote:

Have you heard when Caterpillar is going to show up ? I have this image in my head of a Chinook Helicopter carrying a white service truck.

Nope,no one returned my calls or emails.Nice follow up on all this new machinery they sold us.Just about everything cat we have got running has broke down,lots of plastic!!!!The rad in the freaking IT loader is plastic? Lasted about ten minutes in -35 and broke.

Same with the new ford powerstrokes,they must have tested them forr ruggedness at a wal mart parking lot in California.
What junk,the suspensions froze the first day and bottom out over every little bump.Turbo's cant take the cold either.Were bringing the old chevy(general lee) back to life as its more reliable then the fords.

They dont make stuff like they used to,plastic should be banned anywhere that it gets below freezing.

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Richard wrote:

Sounds like Asphaltene "the black stuff" in the filters Zigs probably why it didn't want to stay running. A change of filters probably did the trick.

Think I've changed a couple hundred filters in the last 3 weeks.We got bad fuel on the barge,maybe it's not a P50 like its supposed to be.We have been takeing samples everywhere and getting all kinds of dark colors.The fuel also seems to seperate into layers at about -32.We also get an icy slush layer on the top after fueling anything,like crystals.

Normally if the fuel was black like that I would check the intakes and breathers but all good there.

One more day and its someone elses problem.

[sasquatch2]

Ya know Ziggy you are starting to sound so much like the sorry German B******* who were trying to get/keep their "winterized" stuff going to take Moscow. For example, the preheaters for aero-engines didn't work in the cold. We have obviously made progress but some days i really wonder.
#$%^&* plastic crap!!!!!

[Richard]

Yes it sounds like really crappy fuel Esso by chance? They seem to use alot of wax.

Haven't had that problem with a powerstroke but on a series 60 I have had to restrict the air intake in the severe cold. Ran better ie more power.

[ziggy]

Richard wrote:

Yes it sounds like really crappy fuel Esso by chance? They seem to use alot of wax.

Haven't had that problem with a powerstroke but on a series 60 I have had to restrict the air intake in the severe cold. Ran better ie more power.

We also had intake problems with the powerstroke as it keeps sucking snow in plugging the filters,allmost as fast as the new d9 does just sitting at an idle.

I did some research on Ashphaltene,nasty stuff and that could be part of our problem.Our fuel has been blended many times before we get it,mostly with older fuels,it's also agitated by the transfer process as it makes its way into our holding tanks at camp.I've seen many filters the last few weeks as everyones haveing problems,even our suppliers machinery.The dark dis-colored fuel probably has an ashphaltene problem but not all the machines have dark fuel when doing a filter change,just some that had been fueled when the blend was just right(barge to tanker to tank farm to fuel truck to 50,000 liter tank,back to fuel truck and then machine must have been just the right mixture of old and new fuels).

Fuel bugs-I didnt think anything could live or thrive in fuel but 90% of contaminates that plug a fuel filter are organic
Water will seperate and settle to the bottom of a big holding tank,between the water and the fuel the organics can grow,if they get bad they can actually leave a film on everything the fuel passes through and pretty well screw up every diesel engine that puts some in their tank.

Thanks for the heads up on the ashphaltene,learned quite a bit about fuel googling that word.

[ziggy]

Off to Arviat,Rankin,whale cove,then Winnipeg and my first cold beer this year! Should be quaffing one down by 1:00 this afternoon.