Not that long ago, rebuilding a rig was thought of as a “midlife” remedy, a 20,000-hour investment to get a little more from a good, high-production rig. That concept has been rendered obsolete by today’s state-of-the-art remanufacture – or “reman” – and the upgradability of robust platforms like the Pit Viper family of high-production rotary blasthole drill rigs.
One Pit Viper rig recently got its fourth rebuild at 80,000 hours. That’s like saying the rig was given its fourth life. Throughout the rig’s four lifetimes, reman parts were earning savings for the owner. Here’s how.
1. Scheduled replacement of components
Prior to the rebuild at 20,000 hours, owners have the option to replace airends, rotary heads, gear boxes and hydraulic pumps with either new or remanufactured components. Reman components offer a significant financial savings over new. That’s because, during our reman process, the components are remanufactured to original OEM specifications and are upgraded to include specifications and features of newer generation components. The reman components are restored to like new condition and come with new warranties. There really is no downside, only savings!
2. Core trade-in discounts
The owner may receive a rebate on the reman components they purchase based on the assessment of their returned component cores. That reduces net component cost even more.
3. Use in rebuilds
At 20,000 hours, that 80,000-hour Pit Viper rig was just getting broken-in. Many owners now think of the rebuild process as just another stage of maintenance. Using reman components for the full rig rebuild significantly reduces the overall cost. It’s not unheard of for a rig owner to rebuild a rig with warranted reman components at nearly half the cost of a new rig.
World-class rigs with world-class support
So many mines now participate in the Epiroc reman program throughout the Pit Viper rig’s long lifecycle that Epiroc moved its reman operations from its manufacturing facilities in Garland, Texas, to the expanded Epiroc Tucson Service Center in Arizona.
Moving reman operations for Pit Viper components co-located it on the same grounds with Epiroc’s modernized parts warehouse.
We’ve utilized the spacious footprint to optimize our workflow. The floor plan separates the “dirty side” where components are received, disassembled, cleaned and evaluated from a sealed “clean room.” Our dirty side is actually very well kept and orderly, but the clean room is like a surgical suite where the hydraulic testing and electronics are protected from all forms of contamination. A specialized ventilation system creates a positive air exchange that keeps dust out and helps maintain stable climate control.
The clean room features cutting-edge hydraulic test benches, with neatly organized shelves filled with high-tech tools and inspection equipment. Even the torque wrenches are computer optimized, each of them programmed with OEM-specified assembly protocols, set to the precise, original component specifications used by the production factory.
The streamlined logistics of the integrated facilities and the cutting-edge technologies in use here mean the world’s finest high-production rotary blasthole drilling rigs are matched with the world’s most efficient, most competent support.
To get full life from your Pit Viper rigs at a fraction of the cost of buying new, be sure to check into the great value our reman components offer you.
About the author
Michael Horton is Operations Manager for the Tucson Reman Center and has worked in the equipment repair and maintenance and component remanufacturing business for more than 30 years. He has extensive technical knowledge and experience with the repair and maintenance of heavy equipment power train products, and also specializes in hydraulics rebuilding and failure analysis. Michael’s passion is to provide customers with effective solutions for all their reman component needs with a view to maximizing operational productivity and lowering operating costs.
