Whether making up or breaking out exit pit side tooling or adapters, a set of breakout tongs should be something you carry with you every day to handle torqued direct connections. Torquing and untorquing tooling can be a labor-intensive job, sometimes requiring multiple people — and with some methods, it’s difficult to determine if the proper torque has been achieved.

Understanding these common concerns among contractors, the Vermeer HDD tooling team has developed the new Vermeer PBD11500 breakout tongs for torquing and untorquing HDD tooling. These new breakout tongs can be operated by one person, will handle tooling ranging from 1.66” (4.2 cm) to 3.50” (8.9 cm) in diameter and can deliver up to 11,500 lb-ft (15,592 Nm) of torque.

How it works

When you’re directly connecting tooling, you will first need to know the proper amount of torque required for the joint. The manual gives instructions for a convenient method of simply marking lines on each side of the threaded joint to indicate how much rotation is required.

The toolbox has three sizes of vise jaws; the larger vise jaws are used for smaller diameter connections, and the smaller vise jaws are for larger diameter connections. The vise jaws are fitted to the breakout tong arms, which are then attached to each side of the joint. The connector pins on the arms secure the thread tension rod. Using a wrench, all you have to do from there is tighten the nut on the end of the tension rod until your scribe marks line up.

To break out connections, reverse the breakout tong arms and follow the same instructions until the joint breaks loose.

Doing it the right way

Vermeer Lifecycle Product Manager Jason Zylstra says the Vermeer breakout tongs give crews a better and safer way of connecting tooling. “Too many crews are using a set of pipe wrenches and onsite loading equipment for this task,” he said. “Not only is there no way to determine the amount of torque put on the joint, but it can also be dangerous if a pipe wrench becomes dislodged or breaks.”

Other breakout tongs options on the market require adjustment at several points on the system and may require the support of the second person to accomplish what you can get done with the Vermeer PBD11500 breakout tongs.

“We designed our new breakout tongs to be lightweight and easy to use so our customers can be more efficient with their time on the job,” concluded Zylstra.

The Vermeer PBD11500 breakout tongs come in a rugged, heavy-duty carrying case, so everything is stored in one spot, making it easier for you to grab what you need to get the job done.

For more information about the Vermeer PBD11500 breakout tongs, contact your local Vermeer dealer or visit borestore.com.

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