Chelan County PUD

Five different crane runways were rehabilitated under this $1,200,000 contract at this Columbia River dam near Wenatchee, WA. Replacement and repairs of the runway rails, anchors, leveling hardware and grout occurred at the Intake Deck Runway, the Spillway Deck Runway, the Powerhouse Bridge Crane Runway, the Tailrace Gantry Crane Runway and the Powerhouse Transfer Crane Runway.

Gunderson, Inc.

Dix recently completed emergency repairs to keep this yard crane working safely in this busy shipyard on the Willamette River. The Dix crew started on site Friday afternoon and worked continuously through the weekend. The crane house was jacked up; the rail ring was removed, rotated 90 degrees and re-installed, to move a break in the ring out of the revolver crane's normal travel zone. The crane was returned to service Monday morning. Supply and installation of a new rail ring was completed by Dix several months later, and now "Clyde" is back to working hard building barges.

After completing bridge crane runway surveys in two buildings at this aluminum rolling mill, Dix was asked to bring the soaking pit runway back into compliance with CMAA standards. The work included aligning the runway girders, tie back and bolt replacements, weld repairs and supplying and installing 750 adjustable rail clips. Dix also supplied and installed three replacement girders and 2,080 feet of continuously welded 85 lb ASCE crane rail. The work was performed while the plant was operating, requiring close coordination between Dix work and the owner's operations. After the first operational test, the runway was accepted without further corrections. In the words of Kaiser maintenance personnel, "You can't even hear the crane going down the runway".

Ice Harbor, McNary, Bonneville and Brilliant Dams

Dix Corporation has designed, built and provided spreader beams to accomodate multiple waterweights used during load tests for large capacity bridge and gantry cranes. The beams have a rated capacity of 638 tons and accomodate 16 water bags, each with a filled capacity of 35 tons. Dix has used the beams to test the 500 ton powerhouse bridge crane at Ice Harbor Dam and the 350 ton powerhouse bridge crane at McNary Dam. Dix has also provided the beam system to others for use in load tests. At Bonneville Dam the beams were used in the 125% load test of the 430 ton bridge crane at Powerhouse Number 2. At Brilliant Dam the beam system was used for the 125% load test of the 450 tonne capacity powerhouse bridge crane.

Portland Corps of Engineers

This Dix project required the retrofit of controls and equipment for re-rating the crane from a capacity of 60-tons to 62.5 tons. Work included removal and replacement of all motors; drive systems, conduit, wiring and back panel equipment. Dix also replaced couplings, provided alignment, installed guards at the electrical buss and new hook safety latches. Structural analyses were completed to verify the adequacy of the existing walkway on the crane, and to safely distribute test loads on the erection bay floor. This $350,000 project was wrapped up with a load test, operation and maintenance training, as built drawings and O&M Manuals.

PPL Montana

Operators of this vintage dam on the Madison River had been coping with severe limitations of the plant bridge crane capacity for years. Worn out crane components combined with deterioration of the runway and supporting building structures had caused the 25-ton Ederer bridge crane to be de-rated to 10 tons. Even then the crane could only operate safely within a portion of the powerhouse. With turbine repairs looming on the horizon, PPL Montana hired Dix Corporation to evaluate the existing crane and runway and to propose repairs to restore some of that lost capacity and to comply with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.179. Dix work includes the replacement of the trolley, hoist, end trucks and controls on the crane, new runway rails and selected repairs and reinforcements to the supporting structures.

Seattle COE

Dix is providing all labor and material to replace both existing gearbox and motor systems with new helical-bevel gearmotors. Work includes removal and replacement of drive bearings and removal and reinstallation of exterior drive gears. Brake work, guard modifications, new baseplates, electrical work and operational testing complete the work on this $24,000 contract.

Shell Oil Company

Dix continues to provide planned and emergency repairs and upgrades for this 17-ton coker crane under a five-year maintenance contract. Dix Corporation has been working on this crane (originally for Texaco) since 1996. Recently Dix has worked on the crane drives and brakes, provided emergency repairs, rehabilitated several clam buckets, and provided regular service. Earlier work included complete crane rehabilitation plus repairs and upgrades to the operators cab.

Dix Corporation is providing complete rehabilitation of this vintage gantry crane on this Lower Columbia River dam for the Portland District of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Dix contract work includes engineering and design for new, complete electrical power and control systems, new and rehabilitated mechanical equipment and new structural work. Field work includes the complete replacement of all electrical and control systems including new operator's chairs and Human Machine Interface (HMI) units at each new chair. The replacement or rehabilitation of all mechanical equipment, certain structural work and complete painting of the gantry crane is also included. Abatement of asbestos and lead based paint are also in the contract scope of work.

Walla Walla Corps of Engineers

Replacement of the mechanical, electrical and controls systems is required for four cranes under this $4,000,000 contract. Dix work begins with a pre-rehab inspection of the cranes and finishes with the testing and commissioning. Dix will work on two 350-ton powerhouse bridge cranes, one 140-ton intake gantry crane and one 30-ton tailrace gantry crane.