4" dredge upgrades

[panningjack]

I went up and hit that public area. Honestly I don't think anyone has ever dredged there but I only dredged 1 hour on Thursday before I got chased out of the cold water when my left foot went completely num. Golden rule, put some kind of sand filter on your heater, mine is plugged up with sand. I woke up Friday morning at around 6:30 to find this: <img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=984886"/> I went back to bed being I was tired and woke up again at 10:30 and was on the water by 11. I floated down to a spot I scouted the day before and wouldn't you know it, I could not get either engine to prime. After a hour of pumping my foot valves I tried to pull it back up creek but couldn't get it past this one spot. By now its 1:30 and there is 3" of snow on the ground and I'm freezing cold from the water. I call it quits and come home. BTW, do not attempt the Nampa side road. Talked to someone and they said there are still 3 and 4 foot drifts across the road.

I agree, a filter is a MUST. My buddy got lucky and got a small burn on my old keene 4" because it had no filter. I put a filter on mine and it works great. I picked this one up at Restore for $1. They are $30 new at pipe co.








Don't like to say it but, I told ya. It SUCKS up there when the weather is like this, this time I year. If the weather is nice this next weekend it should be just ok up there. Those snow drifts are on top of New York summit and always some of the last snow to leave. If it is sunny all week I should be able to just get through. Otherwise I guess I'll do a little shoveling and throw it in 4 low.
That sucks that your trip got cut short. I hope you at least got a little gold.

 

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[omnicron]

I was thinking of just making a sand trap (settling tube).
I found some quartz sticking out of the ground I dug with a stick over a foot down and it was getting bigger...my shovel was over a mile away but I'm going to go back this week ~ Thursday to Sunday and maybe I'm going to be rich! My GH mat will be here Wednesday. I need to figure out how to get the sand out of the copper tube.

 

[panningjack]

I was thinking of just making a sand trap (settling tube). I found some quartz sticking out of the ground I dug with a stick over a foot down and it was getting bigger...my shovel was over a mile away but I'm going to go back this week ~ Thursday to Sunday and maybe I'm going to be rich! My GH mat will be here Wednesday. I need to figure out how to get the sand out of the copper tube.

I would go by restore/habitat for humanity and see what they have. Great prices on stuff and it goes to a good cause.
There are veins all over up there. Ya never know. I'm going up Friday afternoon. Maybe I'll see you. Do you get cell service up there?
I would try blowing that copper out with a compressor and beating on it at the same time. May take a while. Good luck

 

[omnicron]

I have Verizon and no, no cell service.
From what I seen of this quartz, it had lots of mineralization, mica or what not in it.
My family is going up with me this time if the weather is good. See how it works out with a baby camping!
I don't have a compressor so not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll just have to nut up and be a man and deal with the chilly 40 degree water!

 

[panningjack]

I have Verizon and no, no cell service. From what I seen of this quartz, it had lots of mineralization, mica or what not in it. My family is going up with me this time if the weather is good. See how it works out with a baby camping! I don't have a compressor so not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll just have to nut up and be a man and deal with the chilly 40 degree water!

Yeah, super mineralized up there. Bring it over, I have a compressor

 

[panningjack]

Headed up for the first trip of the year tomorrow. All the mods I wanted to make are done. Just have to see how well it catches the gold

 

[Reed Lukens]

Here's a tip for pump priming the dredge pump when your footvalve is leaking if you run camlocks on the outfeed side like I do. Fill the intake hose as much as possible before putting it on the pump and then fill it the rest of the way through the outlet with a 5 gallon bucket or a large plant watering bucket. Leave the pressure hose off and as fast as possible start the motor. If it looses prime in the few seconds that you take to get to the pull rope then a second person filling it while you pull will prime it and they will get a little wet. Then you just have to put the pressure hose back on to the pump at idle or whatever rpm's it takes to keep it primed.
It's easier for a highbanker set up or a dredge if you have a pressure hose that will also detach from the powerjet (or a tee on the pump outlet). You just loop the pressure hose down into the water to fill it & then lift it up high to fill the pump & keep it primed while pulling the cord.

Then if your footvalve is totally trashed - with 2 people, take the footvalve off and put a cap or a softball on the underwater side of the infeed hose and hold it in place while the other guy fills the hose & starts the motor. You can then pull your hand, cap or ball off of the intake and then put the screen back on but if you use your hand, when the pump starts, it will startle you the first time

 

[russau]

Ive seen footvalves leak because of they were stored wrong ! ALWAYS keep your footvalve hanging down to keep that flap from getting distorted (hanging open) over the times your not using it. but when this does happen,take it apart and flip the flapper over and get back to work!

 

[panningjack]

You must be psychic reed. I didn't mention problems with the foot valve and priming. But I actually did have problems with keep my prime while shut down this last trip. I don't have the rubber flap style valves. They are a plunger type. I think I am going to tighten up the spring and give it a try. I definitely want to put cam lock fittings on both in and out side of the pump.

The angle adjustments I made worked great and the material exchange in the sluice was looking very good. I do think I need to shorten my first riffle though as I was getting a little build up on front of it.

The heater worked very well. Nice hot water. I did have problems with the needle valve I'm using on the heat exchanger. So trying to find a 1/4" gate valve.

The tragedy of the trip is that while moving some rocks around to build a small damn I dropped a rock on my suction hose and split it in half. I happened to have the old suction tip, a simple 6" long piece of pipe to couple the 2 pieces together. But the end of course was necked down on it an I had no hack saw. I had to walk in to town and borrow a saw from the town caretaker. The blade was dull and the steel strong. So after an hour of sawing I finally cut through. Pretty beat before I even started sucking dirt

 

[mu50stang]

My foot valve flap broke a couple of years ago and I replaced it with a one way valve for an ejector pump from home depot. Works better then the foot valve. Never warps or leaks. I ended up connecting it to the screen with a rubber boot and clamps.

 

[Sticks]

Lovejoy connectors are required or you'll burn up bearings on both engine and pump. There is a rubber shock absorber that connects both pieces together. You can even connect different size shafts as sizes interchangeable-John

"
I love seeing people fab their own stuff. Store bought equipment is rediculously overpriced. I like the love joys but it's crucial to have them as close to true as possible I burned up a bunch of spiders by being just a little out of alignment. I always wanted to find one of those leather strap couplers seems like it would be more forgiving. just switch to pulley and belt also option.