Dutra Construction of Northern California “PILEDRIVING HISTORY”
Reported From: APE Western (CA)
Dutra Construction of Northern California knows what it takes to get the job done! Especially when it comes to pulling concrete pile. They also know where to go to get the greatest foundation equipment in the world! APE! Why? As you can see in the pictures, Dutra Construction is one of the leading Marine Contractors in California as they pull fifty year old concrete pile in the Oakland Harbor. “These pile have been in the ground for a long time” says Terry Murray, Piledriving Superintendent for Dutra. “These are not even pre-stressed concrete pile and I didn’t know how they would react to vibrating them out.” Terry consulted with Steve Cress of APE California to come up with a plan of action. “I tried a dry pull on a couple of these pile and all they did was break” Terry said. So with this in mind Dutra attacked the pulling with a plan. The plan was to use the APE 300 vibro and the patented APE concrete clamp hooked up to the APE 630 power unit pushing 630 horses to get the job done. “We chose the 300 vibro because it has a tremendous amount of amplitude and that is what was needed to overcome the deflection of these old concrete piles” says Steve. Pulling concrete pile is an art Terry found out, and then perfected as he got the groove of it. “You can’t just grab the pile and yank it out” he says. “You need to handle it with finesse, easing into the pulling by lowering the engine rpm’s and “waking” the pile up first! After this the pulling is a dream!” Terry Murray was excited as he pulled pile after pile after pile without any complications. One of Terry’s best days in his life was pulling over one-hundred concrete pile in one day! That is an all time record ever recoded in piledriving history! That is what APE is all about, working with contractors like Dutra Construction, with people like Terry Murray to make PILEDRIVING HISTORY!
