WorldWide Drilling Resource

Nitrate Coated Premium Liners 5x6, 5x8, & 5x10 Gardner Denver 5-1/2x8 & 5-1/2x10 Gardner Denver 7-1/2x8 & 7-1/2x10 Gardner Denver Rods Heat-Treated & Chromed 5x6, 5x8, & 5-1/2x8 Gardner Denver 5x10 & 5-1/2x10 Gardner Denver 7-1/2x8 & 7-1/2x10 Gardner Denver New Pumps In Stock Gardner Denver 4x5 TEE Triplex. Gardner Denver 5-1/2x5 TEE Triplex Gardner Denver 4x5 or 4-1/2x5 Duplex Gardner Denver 5x6 Duplex Gardner Denver 5x6 Air Drive Duplex Gardner Denver 5x8 Duplex Gardner Denver 5-1/2x8 Duplex Gardner Denver 7-1/2x8 Duplex Gardner Denver 7-1/2x10 Duplex Gardner Denver 5-1/2x5 THE Triplex Gardner Denver 5x8 PAH Triplex Call for Prices. We Have a Variety of Brands of Mud Pump Parts and Power Units in Stock. Special or Obsolete Parts Made to Order . Cash for Surplus Mud Pumps . Rebuilt Mud Pumps 4-1/2x6 Gaso Duplex 4-1/2x6 Oilwell Duplex Gardner Denver 4-1/2x8 PA-8 Triplex Gardner Denver 5x6 Duplex Gardner Denver 5x10 Duplex Gaso 5x10 Duplex OVER 300 PUMPS IN STOCK Armstrong Machine Co. Inc. Pocahontas, IA 50574 USA 712-335-4131 ~ 24 Hours 7 Days a Week • Fax: 712-335-4565 800-831-4527 USA & Canada (8AM to 4PM Monday-Friday) armstrongmachine.com amci@armstrongmachine.com Hydraulic Grout Pumps 5”, 6”, & 7-1/2” 16 SEPTEMBER 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Genesis of the Cat ® TH 55 Oilfield Transmission Adapted from Caterpillar As the most powerful, longest lasting transmission avail- able for well service, the Cat ® | TH 55 has a rather unusual history. Rodney Harms, today a New Product Introduction (NPI) program manager for Cat articulated trucks, was a design engineer on the Team that brought this oilfield transmission to market, as well as the field follow engineer, helping to get the first 33 units running on hydraulic fracturing rigs. His recollection takes us back almost two decades to the birth of the TH 55 . Originally, during the late 1970s, Caterpillar manufactured a truck that incorporated the predecessor of the TH 55 . Horsepower and size continued to increase, and the TH 55 evolved for mining trucks. Early in the 2000s, a customer visiting the Caterpillar facility expressed a desire for a transmission as good as a Cat engine. Caterpillar collaborated with, and supplied parts to an external company that incorporated the core of a TH 48 transmission from the 777 truck into a well service product. As this initially didn’t meet Caterpillar’s standards, they bought the intellectual property and returned product development to Cat’s facility. Caterpillar recognized shale drilling was increasing. Hydraulic fracturing operators wanted equipment that didn’t require road permitting, and they needed more power, which challenged equipment weight. The Team decided to start fresh with a bigger transmission and brought the TH 55 over from the 793 truck, where it had 3000-horsepower capability. As shale drilling continued to predominate, most of the market migrated to 2500 horsepower. Since those early days, the TH 55 hasn’t changed much except for small tweaks and improvements. The big difference be- tween a mining truck and a hydraulic fracturing rig is how the operator shifts gears. Because hydraulic fracturing rigs do not have the inertia required to help the transmission complete a shift, this would lead to catastrophe for the pump, clutches, break shafts, or related parts.The Caterpillar Team, understanding application needs, developed clutch tuning to enable the TH 55 to shift extremely fast. Those initial 33 TH 55 units kept running through the global financial meltdown and the Great Recession. Customers noticed the durability, so in 2010, when the market exploded, those customers, wanting more power, turned to the TH 55 . Since then, the company developed two models, the E70 and E90, both allowing for deeper gear ratios. The two look identical, but the E70 is ideal for customers desiring the deepest first gear ratio, while the E90 provides more options for those who run in well stimulation applications. G&O Cat ® | TH 55 -E70