It’s no picnic trying to manhandle a bulky pipe bursting machine into an excavation pit to replace a lateral. The HammerHead PortaBurst Lightning lateral pipe bursting system from Earth Tool Company LLC separates into four modular sections, each weighing less than 70 pounds.
“We wanted a lightweight machine that one crew member could handle easily,” says Herb Quigley, vice president of customer service. “So the positive grip assembly, hydraulic lift cylinders, sheave and resistance plate come as four separate components. Linchpins make them very easy to assemble or disassemble.”
Made of aluminum, the system is designed for warmer climates, where hand-excavating is more common because lateral lines lie considerably shallower — usually four feet or less below ground — than in colder regions. The unit can be assembled in an excavation pit as small as 24 by 30 inches.
A sister product, the PortaBurst PB30 Gen II, is made mostly of steel to better withstand the rigors of backhoe handling in areas where mechanical excavation is more common. But if used in a basement rather than a pit, it fits inside a 30-inch doorway. It also breaks down into four components, although one is heavier than in the Lightning, Quigley notes.
Both systems deliver 30 tons of pulling capacity and use the same cable and burst heads. A 12-inch hydraulic cylinder increases cycle length, and the systems pull up to 12 feet of pipe per minute. The units can burst 4- or 6-inch laterals and can negotiate 45-degree pipe bends. An operator screws the Quick Grip burst head onto an HDPE pipe by hand, eliminating the time required to fuse or bolt the pipe to the head.
“You can attach the head in two minutes,” Quigley says. “That takes 20 to 25 minutes out of the job setup time.” A secondary set of cable-grip jaws bar the cable from retracting while the pulling jaws prepare for the next pulling cycle.
“Without the secondary grip jaws, you could lose up to one-third of what you initially gain in each pulling cycle,” he says. “With the jaws, if you gain nine inches on the pulling stroke, you keep nine inches.”
A small hydraulic power pack runs both units, but they also operate on virtually any third-party power pack on a backhoe or mini-excavator. “You don’t need a dedicated power supply,” Quigley says. “Anything that provides 3,000 psi will work.” For information: 800/331-6653; www.hammer headmole.com; Expo booth 8049.
