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Bearing tester Brain picking time / predictive maintenance

Brent H

Ultra Member
Yes!

So we run a maintenance program that we input most of the machinery hours into every day. Some items are not "clocked" but are calendared (like every month, every year etc) and some items are "as required"

35 years ago when the ship was built each piece of machinery , with reference to the operators manuals, best judgement and OEM advice had all the maintenance schedules, lube types, methods of inspection or overhaul loaded into a pretty simple program. We have upgraded this program (lasted 24 years running original DOS) and now have a bit more tracking of items and the requirements of the maintenance.

Over those years - similar to yourself, we have altered and changed frequency of parts renewal or inspections times or eliminated some items that are none problematic and just take time with no pay back.

Being a large ship we are also subject to a similar set of standards, like your annual truck inspection. Some items are annual and we have a person in and some are every 5 years. To keep our current sailing status (anywhere there is water basically) we have to dry dock twice in 5 years...$$$$ and the ship goes through many inspections like tanks, hull, props, hubs, shafts etc

Some of the benefit I have is being on the same ship for loads of years and can help keep the list of maintenance , failures and solutions updated. Most of our fleet- this is not the case due to lots of transition of people.

You have a great system in place Dave and you are very serious about driving a safe rig - so super great! I am sure though that you would not want a truck going for 35 years though - I think this ship will need to go 50 plus....

Honestly I am not opposed to the oil testing/fluid testing and I suppose I may have sounded a bit negative about the whole thing - mostly I think that is because the testing, the instruments to do so and the data interpretation needs to be tailored to your needs. It also needs to work. Most of the stuff we get in the government has some smoke and mirrors behind the scenes to sell the stuff and we have not benefited here. Lots of communication issues as well - but what can you do

Vibration analysis: probably great for stationary machines, set up when they were new and the machines are running in a consistent and constant manner. Not as good on moving platform with multiple configurations and no consistent operational configuration.

Fluid testing: Has to be used for benefiting the end user either financially or functionally. The testing lets you extend lube or fluid life, indicates possible failures - oil in water, fuel issues, metal build up etc It needs help prevent problems by letting you know that things are changing in the engine or machine - allows trending, solid reference to a base line sample. I have been disappointed in this because, unlike yourself, I don't have the total say in what happens to my rig and we change fluids far too soon and a few other maintenance things that rot me (like pulling a perfectly good machines apart so some stranger can have a look). Typically something gets cocked up on the re-assembly

Right now we are pulling apart/assembling a 2200HP engine and rebuilding it to meet OEM specs as well as many other projects on the maintenance list. - I can supply a few pics if anyone is interested!

Do you have a favorite meal @Chicken lights ? I will ensure we are set for your next visit!
 

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member
"Right now we are pulling apart/assembling a 2200HP engine and rebuilding it to meet OEM specs as well as many other projects on the maintenance list. - I can supply a few pics if anyone is interested!"

So right now you're not on a mission?

Post those pics here please. What's the expected life span of a ship?
 

Brent H

Ultra Member
@YYCHobbyMachinist - the life span of a typical ship - about 30 years - our boat - let’s say 50 plus

every year we do a refit period to get all the kinks out. Gotta be ready to go 100%. Summer is our slow period so we get a chance to fix’er!
 

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member
What gives out on a ship to make it unseaworthy or is it a matter of the machinery getting to the point of not worth maintaining?
 
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Brent H

Ultra Member
Things are never "un-seaworthy" or I will not be here ;) ...however...we have unexpectedly put a couple rods through the block in a "quite violent" manner - no one hurt but the bill and out of service time was quite high.

and yes to the point of not worth maintaining in some cases - we changed out generators - Detroit 71 series V16's. Pieces of crap. A bolt together solution to solve the required horse power demands - two stroke, polluters and frequent break downs. We are sort of in the business to assist people on the water , however, if new parts are months to provide, obsolete or the machine is just plain worn out- Reaching the max bore for over sized pistons (for example) things have to change.

To tie the original post back into this - we did the vibration analysis on the roots blower and other components of the V16 engine - all came back A-OK. Several weeks later the bearing failed on the drive shaft for the blower, it dropped the aluminium lobs down into contact with each other and shredded the blower into a fine aluminium particulate that we then had to tear apart the engine to remove. The Oil sample also came back "fit for re-use" :rolleyes:
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
Oil analysis only hints at maintenance requirements. It has it's place, but overused it is just a nuisance. Like a wind vane - tells you the direction only, but not if you've got a breeze or a hurricane.

In one plant I worked at the oil analysis showed elevated metals and oil breakdown components. turns out that one of the major components had a bad bearing, and they caught it with a repair in the thousands instead of millions.

In that plant we did oil analysis 3 months before every downturn.
 

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
A Detroit 71 V16???

Oooohhh Canada....

I’m not surprised, when I toured that submarine I wasn’t allowed to take pictures because the military still used some of the tech, and that was decommissioned 30 years ago

So for anyone not familiar, Detroit’s 2 stroke diesels were popular around 1970’s, maybe into the 80’s. Strong motor, lots of power.

Yes, 2 stroke diesel, no typo
 

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
Yes!

So we run a maintenance program that we input most of the machinery hours into every day. Some items are not "clocked" but are calendared (like every month, every year etc) and some items are "as required"

35 years ago when the ship was built each piece of machinery , with reference to the operators manuals, best judgement and OEM advice had all the maintenance schedules, lube types, methods of inspection or overhaul loaded into a pretty simple program. We have upgraded this program (lasted 24 years running original DOS) and now have a bit more tracking of items and the requirements of the maintenance.

Over those years - similar to yourself, we have altered and changed frequency of parts renewal or inspections times or eliminated some items that are none problematic and just take time with no pay back.

Being a large ship we are also subject to a similar set of standards, like your annual truck inspection. Some items are annual and we have a person in and some are every 5 years. To keep our current sailing status (anywhere there is water basically) we have to dry dock twice in 5 years...$$$$ and the ship goes through many inspections like tanks, hull, props, hubs, shafts etc

Some of the benefit I have is being on the same ship for loads of years and can help keep the list of maintenance , failures and solutions updated. Most of our fleet- this is not the case due to lots of transition of people.

You have a great system in place Dave and you are very serious about driving a safe rig - so super great! I am sure though that you would not want a truck going for 35 years though - I think this ship will need to go 50 plus....

Honestly I am not opposed to the oil testing/fluid testing and I suppose I may have sounded a bit negative about the whole thing - mostly I think that is because the testing, the instruments to do so and the data interpretation needs to be tailored to your needs. It also needs to work. Most of the stuff we get in the government has some smoke and mirrors behind the scenes to sell the stuff and we have not benefited here. Lots of communication issues as well - but what can you do

Vibration analysis: probably great for stationary machines, set up when they were new and the machines are running in a consistent and constant manner. Not as good on moving platform with multiple configurations and no consistent operational configuration.

Fluid testing: Has to be used for benefiting the end user either financially or functionally. The testing lets you extend lube or fluid life, indicates possible failures - oil in water, fuel issues, metal build up etc It needs help prevent problems by letting you know that things are changing in the engine or machine - allows trending, solid reference to a base line sample. I have been disappointed in this because, unlike yourself, I don't have the total say in what happens to my rig and we change fluids far too soon and a few other maintenance things that rot me (like pulling a perfectly good machines apart so some stranger can have a look). Typically something gets cocked up on the re-assembly

Right now we are pulling apart/assembling a 2200HP engine and rebuilding it to meet OEM specs as well as many other projects on the maintenance list. - I can supply a few pics if anyone is interested!

Do you have a favorite meal @Chicken lights ? I will ensure we are set for your next visit!
I’m sure whatever comes out of that kitchen will be great! No matter who is in charge

Pictures would be great!
 

Brent H

Ultra Member
Hey Dave and Craig,

Here is a shot of our emergency Gen. 140 kw driven by a 71 series in line 6 Detroit

01B7C2DB-35CA-4321-BE5E-F0A27C0A6EA7.jpeg
here is our bank of pistons ready to be re-installed - they are 220 mm diameter

8CC60FA8-912B-4804-BBDA-BE90F9C76380.jpeg
Rocker gear : the heads have 2 inlet and 2 exhaust. My hand is in there for scale.
8F43FF2B-85CE-459D-86E6-D2D8535FAC0B.jpeg
Here is the ship service gen - CAT C18 in-line 6

654984DC-80DB-4642-BE80-3810C53B6BAE.jpeg
 
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