Everything Pumping Unit.

Oilfield 101: • Everything oilfield

[@13donstalos]

I know nothing about oil wells, and I have no idea why this was recommended to me, but it is really interesting to hear you explain things. You earned a new sub.

[@TheZachLife]

Awesome thanks

[@mikehamilton3833]

Have seen thousands of " pump jacks" large and small all over west Texas driving to drilling rigs. Never looked close up. Zach, your video was super informative and made all the variables easy to understand. Loving your videos.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@aaronguffey6353]

I also appreciate the correct terminology you use them being pumping units. Drives me nuts when some dude calls tem a "oil rig" 😂. Or one asks or states they have some drill stem for sale 😂. Always is actually well tubing.

[@demartin5366]

Wow, Zach, this video is one of my favorites so far. Love the details of the different makes of production units. I am familiar with most of them that you mentioned. Up here in Posey County, IN and White County, IL we have a lot of Churchill units pumping in our Illinois Basin. You will also find some Lufkins, Bethlehems, and and occasional Parkersburg. A lot of our units have Fairbanks Morse 118 and 208 prime movers attached to them. We also have a lot of electric ones as well. One unique thing about our units is that some are up on jack stands due to the river flooding of the Wabash and Ohio rivers, a lot of the units sit in the river bottoms and often have to be checked and serviced by boat. You would enjoy seeing these as they are quite unique. We also have some of the low riser units for the corn and soybean farmers irrigation equipment up here. Thanks gain for this detailed look of the pumping units. Really enjoy the effort you put into these. Well done, keep them coming! Also, just curious what counties in north Texas are your pumping units? Take care and be safe.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it. I used to have a lease on a river that had a couple of units on stilts as I called them so when it flooded it kept the gearboxes out of the water.

[@Lucky4wd4840]

I enjoyed seeing the small pumping units. I worked around American and Lufkin 228, 320, 456, 640, and 912 Conventional and Mark II. Units. Also a long stroke Rotaflex Lufkin that had to move a lot of water to make more oil.

[@TheZachLife]

Cool. 456's are about as big as you see around here.

[@robertmartin1784]

Me too worked for lacy oil tool air balance pumping units the good old days out of long Beach calif

[@corywillbanks6348]

Thanks for making these videos I’ve been a compressor mechanic all of my career and have always wanted to learn more about the production side

[@TheZachLife]

Sure thing. Thanks for watching,

[@stovebolt448]

Pump-Jack, when I was a kid that was slang for a Pontiac Car, yeah, I know long-long time ago. Thanks for the video, but you do know that the congress-critters still think you just take a bucket and shovel and dig a hole and fill the bucket with oil, gears, stroke, electric motors, bearings, grease fittings, their eyes would just glaze over if you tried to explain that to them, not to mention the cost, but don't worry they will "circle back to you on that".😁

[@TheZachLife]

Haha I haven't that one. Thats not the saying I always heard about pontiac lol.

[@SIGINT007]

@@TheZachLife Poor old… is what I heard growing up.

[@ericu9397]

As a former Marine. I find PUs very interesting.

[@BlitzedBuddha]

Very awesome stuff to learn. Thank you. Company I work for typically hires the company we get the units from to mess with gearboxes. Mainly replace belts, sheavs, and motors and all the poly and leak work.

[@non11171]

So I just stumbled across your channel and videos. Now it's really the only thing I watch.

[@TheZachLife]

Hahaha. Thanks.

[@aususer415]

Not sure how YT analytics decided I needed to see this… but glad they did 👌🏻

[@TheZachLife]

Haha glad you enjoyed.

[@matteov4792]

These oilfield videos are so cool

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@CuriousEarthMan]

Great video, thank you! Seems like a great start in this playlist/series, can't wait to keep watching!! I appreciate it!

[@timthompson4905]

New subscriber here. Just wanted to say how good of a job you have been doing explaining things. I am from Morrow County, Ohio and in the 60's the was quite the boom here. And, its legacy can be seen today. I've always had a big interest in how everything works since I've grown up watching the pumps run. I love seeing the results of the smarts and ingenuity of those old timers had so long ago. Blows my mind what they did with so little equipment back in the day. Thanks for the entertaining content.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. The old-timers were absolute geniuses.

[@Name-zd5fq]

Must be cool to know some of these pumps since childhood.

[@drewmurray2583]

I am also missing fingernails, have partially severed fingers. Respect!

[@caseymitchell5477]

Yea I have a scar from trying to replace a belt one time

[@duncanpuffer5983]

I missing the same part of the same finger. lol.

[@elonmust7470]

I should've lost my head once. A sprung log hit me in the temple & flung me "15 feet into the air" according to my skidder operator. I landed right in the middle of the skidroad. Couldn't see for the rest of the day, but didn't have a bruise otherwise.

[@DRGreen-ps7eh]

I know this is an older vid, but man, I loved looking at all the older machines. Cabot? Hadn't seen one in years. Zach you have enough knowledge on pumps you should never be out of work. I have a nephew works for Baker Hughes, every time he wants to quit & work elsewhere, they give him a raise & new company truck.

[@ruben_balea]

I subscribed yesterday after watching a few videos in a row, I'm from Spain and I don't live remotely near an oil well and I think the few that were active had their licenses revoked a couple of years ago but I like to repair and (re) build things and there are always new tricks to learn.

[@Kustomgadget]

not far from here in Wellsville Pennsylvania there are units that run off of rods or shafts strung out across the landscape. Somehow they're set up to make a few strokes once in a while. At one time there was a lot of oil coming out of Pennsylvania.
You mentioned the ideco brand. We started a water well drilling business years ago with an Ideco that I dubbed the widow maker. What a cantankerous piece of crap. Later on we got a Bucyrus Erie 22W mounted on an army duce and a half 6x6.
Thanks for making the videos.

[@terrydavis8451]

Did you hear about the town that was going nuts from a noise they couldn't figure out...It was an oil derrick making a huge racket. lol.

[@user-io5xd6to1k]

Exactly! I was mentored by a few old timers and I have never heard any of them use the term “pump jacks.” So when I hear younger men say it I start laughing.

[@gleininger]

At 2:14….. 🚀
Love your videos Zach!

[@jeffdedoming2414]

Great vids, very familiar with the old " oil patch" LOL! my father in law has worked the oil fields in southern Illinois(Illinois basin oil)for 50 years. Many in the family left Illinois in the 60s for the fields of Oklahoma. Can't wait to show him your vids, he will love them!

[@aaronguffey6353]

Great information in here! Bought some 40's for out in the hay field a few weeks ago. A oilwell a Jensen a American and a Lufkin. Can't find a lease around here not to much my small rig rig could pull. All deeper stuff and the shallower ones all seem to be being plugged with this new government push. Found all
l those for cheap out of a field they are pugging. They look cool out there and it kinda has the liberal sorts around with their hair standing up when they drive by 😅 so the make believe oil field out in the cow patch will have to do for now. Damn sure put some bright paint on the horses heads and counter weights to bring them alive and in to view. Anyway keep the vids coming!

[@rcs3030]

Very informative. And very interesting. Thank you sir.

[@Zt3v3]

Keep em' coming Zach.

[@obfuscated3090]

Just a thought but to make that repair at 12:14 could you fab a section of thick "angle" in your shop to nest inside the beam (radius the corner with a grinder or your mill) and drilled for that bolt? Knock off the rust then weld in place like plating a truck frame (you have full stick access from the outside) and done. Saves money, stronger than stock, scrap is cheap and most of the work gets done indoors! Use say 1/2"" or thicker plate (overkill is good) and it would go nowhere. No need to cut the gusset on the left out of the way when ya could weld to it. You know more than enough about these systems to figger out non-traditional repairs to keep your money in your pocket.
Another way if you prefer flat bar on top of the web could be to swap out the bolts one by one with longer bolts to let you raise the gearbox without detaching it from the frame. Then predrilled flat bar could be slid underneath one mount bolt hole at a time to maintain gearbox control/alignment and the bar swatted into place after the first bolt is placed.
You'd still need a welder but could avoid the winch truck. Given all you know about these systems some thought to non-traditional repairs could keep a lot more of your money in your wallet.

[@travisblackwell3995]

Respect to what you are doing

[@jaym8257]

You gotta run into rattlesnakes out there.

[@TheZachLife]

All the time.

[@sed6]

This was fascinating content! You're a natural at explaining the parts and process! Gotta sub now 👍

[@riverflyswatter]

Carpenter, siding man, use pump jacks. It’s a type of scaffolding. Used in conjunction with aluminum pic boards.

[@justinrad5073]

I wish we could just rely on our self for oil and America.

[@tomarmstrong4156]

We can and d9. The US is a net oil exporter/

[@georgehoffman2085]

Hey bud what's your daily production and yeah how many snakes do you kill every year

[@robertmartin1784]

I worked on a lot of Lufkin mark 2 units

[@fourhillsfarm]

Love your videos, Zach. I’m in the Ohio oil patch. In fact have the remnants of a central power house pull rod field two miles down the road from here. Please invest in a lapel mike, a lot of your videos are really hard to hear.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. I know haha. I need to get one.

[@arlynsmith9196]

Thank you so much - I sure do learn a lot from you!

[@stevensaxon8888]

How much oil do they pump a day?

[@dougallen4675]

Wonderful videos. The "skids" look like a perfect habitat for Rattlesnakes. Ever walk up on one?

[@TheZachLife]

yep. All the time.

[@brandinhutcheson5320]

Soo I live in the texas panhandle and where I’m at you will see any where from 5 to 8 pumping units in a row, and I’ve always wondered what the reasoning for that is.

[@michaelsedway9703]

So, what is your favorite unit ? Based on reliability, maintenance, strength.
Have you ever worked doing anything else.
I enjoy your content very much,wish I could cruise around and work with you for a day.
Cheers from alas vegas.

[@pl747]

Pump jack, Pump jack, pump a little harder....is a great song by Toby Keith. Can you still get all the parts for these pump jacks? I know some are old old. My neighbor made pumping units back in the 80's mostly for water wells overseas. They would fit in the bed of a pickup barely.

[@TheZachLife]

Surprisingly you can usually fine stuff pretty easy.

[@bro.weaver1282]

Awesome! Do you just deal with electric leases, or you got some gas engines as well?
Also, do you know what type of pumping units were referred to as "man killers"?

[@TheZachLife]

We are electric only. Ive got a few gas engine but none on any wells at the moment.

[@danielgratz7611]

You drive like a fucking wild man! Haha

[@briansumner2700]

Do you use TE motors for these pumps? Depth of wells? 2000 ft? Plenty of weight in the sucker rod column then. Amazes me how long that equipment can keep on going. Good vid.

[@TheZachLife]

Theres still a few open case motors around but for the most part they are all tefc motors. Most of this stuff is 1600 feet.

[@kc033056]

That was great, should we be taking notes for a test at the end? Are all your leases within a close poximity to home? I was shocked to hear you say you would have to hire someone on lift the gearbox and weld the mount, I’ve seen you use that boom truck at home on the motorhome and if you sign up for a welding class you’d be all set. I remember when you rebuilt that shaft in the single gear box. How many wells have gas engines? Do you typically only work on your own units? Kc

[@TheZachLife]

My stuff is all within 20 miles or so of my house. This will probably be a job I will do. I have more work than I can handle and have to hire some out though. There are still several wells around that are ran off of gas engine, more than you would thing, but everything Ive got has been electrified. For the most part only I only work on my junk. I've got some equipment that I will hire out with from time to time and do a little consulting work but it 90% or more just my stuff.

[@kc033056]

You know what they say, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”.

[@TrailBlazer5280]

These videos are super interesting. Where would you buy a single oil well like these your showing? A bissness selling site?

[@thomasfx3190]

That last pump jack (unit) you showed us looks quite old, was this one that’s been in your family quite awhile or do you have an idea how old it is? Do you bother to track these as assets and depreciate them and such?

[@damianemly7586]

Zach how are you rotating your rods? Is that something that you do or not a concern for ya? All my units in nd have auto rotators

[@nomehdrider]

I'd like to know what this business' threshold to entry? With the anti-carbon ESG thing going on I could see companies dumping good income wells just to get it off their books.

[@tonyackerman6508]

Just recently found your channel and subscribed, been active on the drilling side for almost all of my career, and it is fascinating to learn about this part of the production side.
Got a question for you. Some pumping units have what I would call the "power unit" (motor, gear box, etc) between the horsehead and the saddle bearing structure, unlike the units you've shown, with the equalizer mounted approx midway on the "walking beam". Is there a particular reason for that design? Advantages/disadvantages?

[@TheZachLife]

We call those grasshoppers. Not really just a different design and are usually bigger.

[@mrwhynot740]

G box flush out n a pinion

[@PaulHigginbothamSr]

At the 13:30 mark is that water on the ground salt water the cows cant drink? Or is it well water not fit for man nor beast? So your casings run down 150ft to exclude surface water so the cows probably know not to hit up on oil rigs. Looks like they were hungry but I saw lots of green stuff on the ground for the farmer. I saw you hot rodding on the road so keeping a close eye out for cattle would probably pay a person. I was in heavy industry for 40 years and did all the stuff you do, and just watching you I feel you would be my equivalent in the oil patch. The onliest thing you did I might not get was that centering locking mechanism for your car trailer. I would have done it different maybe easier to construct. I would have made it with heavy brass bushings with over center locking mechanisms.

[@TheZachLife]

It’s just rain water.

[@BillMorgan-pp8bc]

How to fine the history of a well?

[@jtelliso]

13:50 - That fingernail just looking at me. Did you get your finger caught in a machine? Looks like it got half the nail bed and tip of finger.

[@terrylembke8100]

Hi , Zach . I like this video very informative . Curious about the hiring of a welder to repair the skid ? You have all the tools and skills to do the job yourself , and do a great job . The various brands you talked about are their parts available for them , like the american 18 you rebuilt ? BTW what kind of plastic did you use on the bearings ? I want some . Have a great day , stay safe buddy
.
kindest Regards
Terry Lembke

[@TheZachLife]

For the most part you can still find about anything you need. I just go to the local bearing store and ask for bearing plastic in whatever size.

[@adamcarfield7201]

Yall got little units we have lot's bigger units up here in Nebraska

[@stevew270]

I'm still gonna call it a pump jack, I don't care if I'm wrong. lol 😁

[@TheZachLife]

Hahaha

[@robsinging1]

What's the easiest way to measure unit stroke length?

[@TheZachLife]

yep 100%

[@wdcjunk]

How many miles do you drive every year?

[@nathanhudelson4935]

Neat stuff. Are parts still available for all those units?

[@TheZachLife]

For the most part you can get about anything you need.

[@Gonzalez956]

Aren’t they actually called artificial lifts

[@donaldsmith3048]

Have you thought about getting a welder and doing your own welding? I learned basic welding in high school. The welding that you talked about here is not anything that hard. A welder can also be used to power 120V and 240V things like the thing you used to weld pipes together. I don't know how much welding you need done and the cost of getting a welder may be more than you pay to to have someone do the welding. One or two welds a year may not make it worth paying 2 or 3 thousand for a welder. I am not sure what the cost is now but that is about what they cost about 10 years ago, for a made in the USA diesel engine welder.

[@TheZachLife]

I am set up and do most of our welding. There is more to do than i can get to.

[@WyoWellTester]

How did you lose that finger tip

[@TheZachLife]

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