Drilling Rig Maintenance from Expert Service Technicians

Catawba Valley Engineering and Testing operates out of Hickory, North Carolina. With a focus on geotechnical and environmental engineering, as well as material testing, they rely on their pair of 7822DTs and their 3126GT heavily to get the job done. When they learned a Geoprobe^® North Carolina Service Center (NCSC) was opening in their own town, they knew it was going to be a good thing.

“We were aware something was coming, but we weren’t sure that’s what it was,” David M. LeGrand Jr, P.E., owner, said. “On the day it opened, I brought in every single one of [my rigs]. At the time, we had three machines: two 7822DTs and a 3126GT. All three got a full service and detailed drilling rig maintenance.”

In the past, LeGrand sent his machines to the Geoprobe^® Kansas Service Center in Salina, Kansas, when needed. Since the opening of NCSC, he’s taken advantage of the convenient location to send their rigs more frequently for basic drilling rig maintenance and service, especially since the NCSC began stocking parts in-house.

One thing they especially appreciate is that despite being in a different location, they’re getting the same quality of Geoprobe^® drilling rig maintenance and service they’re familiar with.

“We had something going on with the drive head in our 3126GT. Wear and tear, and a little bit of neglect. We sent it over two or three days before we had to leave [for the project]. It got flushed out, cleaned out,” LeGrand said. “They’re always willing to give us a hand and work us in to get us a repair as quickly as possible.”

LeGrand is grateful to be saving his company time and energy thanks to the service center and expert service technicians nearby.

“Before, we’ve done all of our stuff internally. [The NCSC] gives us the means to keep working and not having people allocated to fix stuff,” LeGrand said. “We’re grateful that we have the relationship that we do.”