Oil Field, Work, Ford F150 Pickup, Hydraulic Fracturing, Flow Back

This is my second home, my mobile office.  It is a 2011 Ford F150 that Power Fuels bought for me.

This is Haliburton rigged up for a frac.  This was a Whiting well location.  You really need to see it in person to appreciate the magnitude of this operation.

This is a flowback temporary flare set up by Colter Energy.  Flowback is when they get the water, sand and oil that is in the hole back up to the surface after the Hydraulic Fracturing procedure is finished.

This is the same flare as in the above photo. 

This is a permanent flare pit at a Whiting well north of Belfield, ND.  It was the record holder for oil production in the state for awhile.

It was about 20 below zero this day, the sun made this "halo" in the air.  It's not just a camera effect.

Being on the road you see some crazy natural things.

Here is a competitors fresh water truck hauling "dirty" flowback fluid.  We have standards, a lot of other companies don't.

Coming home one night recently.

Sandblasting, Frame Preparation, Shortening the Frame

Here is the 27' Chevy frame back from the sandblaster.  I think it cost me about $200 to get it blasted.

Here I have the sections of the frame marked out to remove.  I later found that I should have taken about 7 more inches out so that the proportions of the car would look correct.  You live and learn.



I used a reciprocating saw and a grinder with a cut-off wheel to cut the sections out of the frame.  I step cut it so that I would have more surface to weld and the lower cut will support the upper cut.

I made sure to weld cross braces from side to side to make sure the width of the frame stayed the same.

Here the frame is welded back together.  What I learned later on is I should have welded gusset plates on the inside of the frame rails over the cut sections.  My thinking at the time was that when I boxed the frame that would give it enough support.  It ended up being fine but now I always gusset stress areas.