D9G or D9H - What do you recommend?

[Junkyard]

Post some pics of the auger so I can see what the teeth are like. We run just about every style of tooth there is. I can ask the drillers which style will work best for your conditions. If you have to cut the socket and tooth out completely it's not a big deal to weld in a new socket for a common style tooth. We have two welders in the shop doing it daily. The angle you choose is important and you want each tooth angle to alternate back and forth the help create some cutting action.

You absolutely will want to hard rod around the sockets and the edge of the flight. It won't take long and you'll have a 9-1/2" auger and then an 9 etc etc. They wear quick in certain conditions. We had a job recently where they'd drill a couple holes, swap augers and we'd hard rod the one while they drilled with another. Rinse lather repeat. I have access to hundreds of years drilling experience so hopefully I can help!

Junkyard

 

[truckdoctor]

Many machines are built with components. The detroit engine and coleman axles are what the manufacturer used to build the machine. There are not any plaques or metal tags on the frame or any hard mounted body parts? The other consideration is to use a little imagination and a decent welder/fabricator and modify the machine to do what you want it to. The mast looks like it is from a forklift. I'm sure the drive is generic with over the counter parts. I agree with ol'stonebreaker. If you start making the auger bigger the hydraulics will probably not swing it without more modifications. Pretty soon you will be buying a bigger machine. Pull back is a big deal with drills. The water rigs I used to work on were rated by pullback. It is easy to run steel down the hole but if you can't get it back the hole is worthless. I'm sure Junkyard can attest to that.

 

[truckdoctor]

Ol'stonebreaker, where are you at in Idaho? I grew up in the Magic Valley area.

 

[Junkyard]

Yes as far as pullback, it may have the power to drill with a 24" auger but depending on flights and how much dirt it holds you may not get it back out of the ground full of material. Lots of variables. Also, I don't know how much room there is from the kelly bar to the frame itself. May not be room for a very big auger once you start to swing around to clean out. We run into that on ocassion even as big as our rigs are. The Soilmec computer doesn't let it tilt out far enough to swing a big auger past the track to clean out, I think anything over 60" is very close. You can drill and clear centered but can't swing. IMT's also can get close with a big auger, usually end up overriding the computer to tilt enough to swing past the track if the auger is too long to go above. I think it's good to about 84" then it gets interesting. Same with the Watson's. I had no idea how much there is to poking a hole in the ground!

Edit, looks like you don't swing, maybe pull away and clean then back to the hole. I hadn't looked that close before.

Junkyard

 

[ol'stonebreaker]

I'm in Soda Springs.
Mike

 

[truckdoctor]

I used to go through there on my way to Denver. Nice area.

 

[Passionhawk1]

If you add kelly bars without auger flights, there's a good chance after you get a bunch of cuttings in the hole above the auger you won't be able to pull it up unless you plan to trip in and out a lot to get the incremental samples. IMO a 10" auger will get you a representative sample. If you increase the diameter 2 1/2 times it will require a lot more horsepower and subject the machine to lot more stress. From what you describe of your needs of eqpt. to excavate this material I think the auger is going to struggle anyway. I'm not being pessimistic, just trying to see realities.
Mike

I see your point, Mike. It would involve a great deal of setup and breakdown for sampling just to reach the bottom of the hole. I'm just trying to be a bit wise before jumping in with both feet and tearing the countryside apart. Better if a guy has some clue of what lies under the surface.

Kindest Regards,
Jim Mitchell
DLOG Finders

 

[Passionhawk1]

I'm in Soda Springs.
Mike

Soda Springs - as in Soda Springs, California up on Donnor?

 

[ol'stonebreaker]

Idaho.
Mike

 

[ol'stonebreaker]

Well, Jim, I think knowing what you have in the top 14 ft of 50 acres would keep you busy for awhile.
Mike

 

[Passionhawk1]

Well, Jim, I think knowing what you have in the top 14 ft of 50 acres would keep you busy for awhile.
Mike

Yes indeedy. Then again, gold goes to the bottom and lays upon bedrock. The idea behind drilling is to:

1. Determine the depth to bedrock.

2. Determine placer deposits or lack thereof.

 

[ol'stonebreaker]

Maybe in your case with depths to 38 feet an airtrac and compressor would be better. With 10 ft steels you could go to that depth easily. With a piece of 1/8" plate about 2 ft square with a hole in the center for the drill bit to pass thru and a hole for the foot to pass through you could take incremental samples all the way down.
Mike

 

[Passionhawk1]

Life is a never-ending series of unwanted lessons.

Got an email. "Sorry. Refunding all the money plus $50 for your trip over here. Local guy just paid us $5000 more for the drill and he's picking it up tomorrow morning with a trailer. The owner decided price wasn't a fair value to him."

I couldn't haul it away with my car - but haul it away is what I should have figured out how to do. Possession is everything. I'm sick. Will be back on in a few days to learn about an airtrac, what it is and how it works.

Passionhawk1

 

[Passionhawk1]

Life is a never-ending series of unwanted lessons.

Got an email. "Sorry. Refunding all the money plus $50 for your trip over here. Local guy just paid us $5000 more for the drill and he's picking it up tomorrow morning with a trailer. The owner decided price wasn't a fair value to him."

I couldn't haul it away with my car - but haul it away is what I should have figured out how to do. Possession is everything. I'm sick. Will be back on in a few days to learn about an airtrac, what it is and how it works.

Passionhawk1

 

[lantraxco]

Life is a never-ending series of unwanted lessons.

Got an email. "Sorry. Refunding all the money plus $50 for your trip over here. Local guy just paid us $5000 more for the drill and he's picking it up tomorrow morning with a trailer. The owner decided price wasn't a fair value to him."

I couldn't haul it away with my car - but haul it away is what I should have figured out how to do. Possession is everything. I'm sick. Will be back on in a few days to learn about an airtrac, what it is and how it works.

Passionhawk1

If I was the suing type, I would sue just for the annoyance factor. If you paid over money, the deal was done, irrelevant of if the machine was hauled or not. This kind of people really, REALLY get me fired up, rotten scum. Hope you find something better man.

 

[Junkyard]

In Oklahoma a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one although it's harder to enforce as it becomes he said she said.

With that said....something stinks with that deal. You'd think he would give you the option to match price. It's a raw deal but I don't think it's like he says. Either way I guess you're lucky you get your $ back and he didn't screw you and get paid twice!

 

[Welder Dave]

I remember that from a real basic course on law in high school. As long as deal is mutually agreed upon between both parties makes it an enforceable contract. The fact money was also exchanged makes it pretty cut and dry. I'd sure consider asking for some advice from a lawyer. Most will give a free consultation. You can't make a deal and then back out because someone else offers more money after the fact. I can see if something sat for an extended period before being picked up but even then, there's legal hoops to go through.

 

[ol'stonebreaker]

Jim, from what you've said about the material to be mined I think this might be a blessing in disguise. I think the auger would have been struggling all the time.
Just google "air trac rock drill" to get familiar with them.
Mike

 

[rsherril]

Having spent a few of my years around mining and mineral exploration, I will offer the following. If this project is a for profit venture, then first consider the costs of delineating the mineralized area. Typically this is very expensive with no returns unless you have positioned yourself to receive a salary. If insufficient mineral is found, then the prospect is abandoned. If some mineral is established then it needs to be found in sufficient quantity to become ore, which is defined as produced at a profit.
So this is what I understand so far. You have a placer gold prospect located high and dry on fifty acres in mining friendly Nevada. You wish to establish presence of mineral preferably as ore. Enthusiasm is high and funds are high enough to be considering a D9 dozer and the expense per hour of keeping this machine moving.
If it's sampling you want to do, unconsolidated alluvium with gravel will play hell with drills. Casing will be required to keep the hole open, samples will be diluted and contaminated from above. Consider a track hoe with the option to buy.
A excavator capable of reaching down twenty feet. Sample as affordable as you go down. Maybe even set up a small screen plant to run your own sample program. Consider trenches with benchs to reach down further. Remember safety is paramount when working around any hole in the ground and this is your first responsibility. Also remember that that an effective sampling program can easily work against you by devaluing your prospect. Enough said.