Page 17 - July 2021 Track N Times

OPERATIONS UPDATES

Congratulations to the following employees who received a promotion in June!

Jacob Lary and Thomas Thorpe were promoted to Crew Chief.

The following employees were promoted to Machine Operator-2: Leroy Perkins, Edward Tiegs, William
Telford.
The following employees were promoted to Machine Operator-1: Jamie Grondin, Neil Donahue, Neil
Corrigan, Tjon Phelion, Malik Brownz and Brandon Lott.

Daniel Bird-Mccallum and Allan Ostyn were promoted to Maintenance Specialist 2.

Matthew Doan, Damien Orbro and Herman Duncan were promoted to Maintenance Specialist 1.

TECH TIP: HYDRAULIC LEAKS

DIAGNOSING AND REPAIRING HYDRAULIC SYSTEM LEAKS

By Chris Kohnen, Senior Technician Technical Services

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a mysterious puddle of hydraulic fluid under a pump stack, on the grind
car floor or dripping onto the rails and ties. The question now is, “where is it coming from”? An obvious leak would
be something you can obviously see the hydraulic fluid leaking from such as a blown hose, broken fitting, or a split
motor housing to name a few. This mysterious leak, however, would reappear in a couple of hours or more after
cleaning up the hydraulic fluid from earlier in the day.

Before looking for a hydraulic leak, there are few things you will need to make your search more productive, along
with a few things that you will want to remember. In addition to your proper PPE, a flashlight preferably (hard hat
with head lamp is too cumbersome in tight spaces) a small wire brush (6” handle 1/2” squared, with a bristle section
about 1-2” wide with at least ½” metal bristles) and a can or two of brake cleaner. Now for the things to remember.
In order to find the hydraulic fluid leak, the hydraulic system needs to be running, unless it’s a suction hose or suction
manifold leak. A suction leak will be more obvious when the hydraulic system is off. The most important thing to re-
member is: Never under any circumstances, do not use your bare hand, bare hand with a rag, or your hand with a
glove on it to wipe away any hydraulic fluid from a suspected leaking hydraulic fitting or component. There is poten-

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Page 15 JUNE 2021