D & A of an Elphinstone R2900G load haul dump underground loader

Since I've been with Cat, I've done 4 complete power train rebuilds for a local underground salt mine on their R2900G Elphinstones. Go underground for a week, tear them down and send up the drivetrain components one by one, shop rebuilds them, then send them back down and I spend another week or so putting them back together. I gotta say, the first time descending 1500 feet and working down there was pretty intimidating, but I got used to it quick and these guys are now like my second family. This time, they took delivery of a brand new JLK series R2900G, and I spent the last week taking it apart up in their shop. We just sent the last piece down today, the rear frame section. It was pretty hairy at times. 12.5 tons hanging off 15 ton cranes that have seen better days can pucker ya up quick. Figured I'd throw some pictures up on here for you guys of us bringing the rear frame section down in the cage. Enjoy.

This must be an ignorant question but why can the machine not be taken down in one piece? Is it going down a vertical shaft or a decline?

Birken Vogt said:

This must be an ignorant question but why can the machine not be taken down in one piece? Is it going down a vertical shaft or a decline?

Click to expand...

Yes, the only way in and out of the mine is through a 1500 foot vertical shaft with a max capacity of 15 tons.

Keep the pictures coming. :salute

Yup, I can see the pucker factor on that being pretty high. Gonna be one heck of a noise if anything goes wrong.

Been to Hampton Corners a few times. Never took the trip down the elevator though. They do have a pretty nice shop up top. Over all they are a pretty good bunch of guys to deal with.

With the winter we have had they should be doing quite well. I know the last several years they have not moved as much product as they could.

Good pictures!
I used to watch the crew lowering equipment down the shaft when I was running night shift waste rock removal truck in a mine located up in the Yukon. It was always a scary proposition to me as the shaft sinking crew, Tonto, followed very few safety precautions, doing things, like jumping out into the shaft - grabbing the cable, and sliding down to the top of the platform - seventy feet down! Or leaning way out over the open shaft to hook or undo slings. As they were shaft sinking there was no cage(elevator) just a big square corrugated aluminum platform with the hoist cable running up the center. No sides at all, so the one time I rode down to the bottom, 650 feet, you just stood on the platform as the timbers and rocks whizzed by in the light of their headlamps. I hung onto the big cable and they all laughed at this cause they just stood there like they were on a sidewalk. Great experience!

I remember a few years ago the local salt mine were lowering a 980 G down the shaft and the rear frame hung up at the 900 foot level and the skip bumped it from the top, and the whole shebang went at mach 2 to the 1500 foot level. Nobody killed, not sure about injuries though. Cat built and supplied a new rear frame partial assembly and that got lowered when the shaft was repaired.

That's pretty intense, more pleaseopcorn

I worked on projects at almost all of the salt mines in the U.S., back in the mid 70's. At one mine in Louisiana, they had to cut the dump beds from Euclid R50's, in half longways, to get them down the shaft. That was something to see. Those mines along the Gulf coast, typically have 50' to 100' room heights and 100'x100' salt pillars, left for support.
The Hampton Corners mine was not built back then, as the old Retsof Mine was still in full production. Before it flooded, I think the Retsof mine was said to be the largest salt mine in the world.
Jeff

Sad news on Friday, Cat are closing the original Elphinstone manufacturing plant in Tasmania Australia and moving it to Thailand.