AdamsRepair, why doesn't this mining operation just send over the whole machine to you rather than them taking the time to take it apart and give you pieces to be repaired?
I enjoy reading your posts. Amazing what you encounter and are able to fix.
The Mine is 6500 feet deep, accessed by a vertical shaft. The shaft is not big in diameter, but deep. So to ship the Kubotas up and down the shaft they have to be hung vertical, and the roll bars and fenders removed, fluids drained and batts removed. Shaft time is at a premium. Hauling Ore and waste rock out, and hauling all the supplies (the hard rock mining process takes) down the shaft.
They are at 3200 ft below sea level. I think they have the (hoist)skips running at 1800 ft per min. So it takes awhile to travel that deep. (Long elevator ride). A service We provide at that Mine is prepping Large underground trucks and loaders to ship down the shaft. The 20 ton Atlas Copco trucks require us to completely disassemble them, ship them down in a certain order and reassemble them. Even cutting them into pieces small enough to fit in the shaft and welding them back together. The max weight we can ship per trip is 13,500lbs. It is really something to take a torch to a brand new $500,000 to $750,000 machine. The big equipment will probably never ever see the light of day again. Kind of like building a sailboat in your basement cellar. If I remember right it takes 2 of us about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks from start to finish (Running) for a 20 ton truck. I've got a bunch of pictures on the shop computer I can post if anyone is interested