fiedler dredges

fowledup · Oct 2, 2014

Saw a fiedler dredge on craigslist. For those that have owned or operated one what's your experience and opinion of them. I'm pretty sure my uncle ran one on the Feather in the early 70's, I remember the double truck tubes. I think it would be fun to restore one.

Oakview2 · Oct 3, 2014

I saw that as well :thumbsup:

rodoconnor · Oct 3, 2014

A blast from the past!

Hoser John · Oct 3, 2014

I ran'm at Purdone Crossing on the SF Yuba. Thought it was Feldler but soooo long ago don't really matter anymore. If you trust tubes they all used them. 1 leak and adios everything. Straight in conical feed like a Dahlke of old was horrible. The T bone frame was a good idea for stability. In the pic is a 6" amongst a few pebbles under the bridge. Made in the 70s mostly.NASTY spot-John

Oakview2 · Oct 3, 2014

Pebbles

NeoTokyo · Oct 5, 2014

Yup, saw that one too, I don't much care for it, but I have options. lol

panningjack · Oct 5, 2014

I rock something similar. My components were made by gold divers. It sucks hard and I've modified the sluice to catch the fine stuff. Haven't had it out on big water yet, but it seems pretty stable on a raging creek.

Ps. My dredge is currently on craigslist as well. Need some cash since the truck broke down.

Reed Lukens · Oct 5, 2014

Lots of turbulence in the box with them being so narrow. Pontoons or drums are much better then those old inner tube frames. They were rickety frames at best. I think a 3" box was only 10" wide where the Keene is 14" wide so the water really flew down them and they were deep boxes. I only had one and that was long ago. Part of the box was just raised riffles with no carpet under for a nugget catch. They were definitely made for when there was a lot of big gold still easily found in the rivers.

Hoser John · Oct 6, 2014

Just hate it when them tubies roll over and play submarine....bummer. Old school T bone frames sure fixed that problem though,along with swivel nozzles also. Just never could trust them tubes though-John

Gelmac · Nov 20, 2014

By using inner tubes they have something in common with the (suitcase dredge). If you're not familiar with those they are originally designed by Trevor (Trev) Alty of New Zealand . Who was the father of the fine gold device that Mike Pung has developed around it's principals his product the (Gold Cube). I think the difference is in the riffles , which in the case of the suitcase dredge are a bit higher and the with no (I suppose) screen area and they work sub-water so fine gold recovery suffers badly as they are not designed for it , those were as Reed mentions are for the big easy gold of the past or if you happen to have a virgin ground that no history of dredging before. Chances that you may be lucky to find those BIG nuggets or at least pickers.

Gelmac · Nov 20, 2014

Hey panningjack. Do your dredge still available, or sold. Sorry, I know this is not the right part of the forum to strike a deal. :tongue3:

Hoser John · Nov 21, 2014

Actually all dredges were underwater in the beginning. Keene made the Gold Sucker waaaaaay back in the early 70s. They still make 2 kinds, the powerjet unit(horrendous recovery due to remix at the tiny box)and the suction nozzle style with no remix at the box for much better recovery. Trevs suitcase took the idea to a new rate of recovery in that great land a NZ-John

panningjack · Nov 21, 2014

I do fear branches and what not with those tubes. However I have such large tubes that it is pretty stable

Gelmac replied in pm

Tabs · Jul 22, 2026

I met Fiedler in his shop in Nevada City, CA in the summer of 75. He built old school suction dredging equipment that used tractor inner tubes for flotation and burlap for lining of his sluice boxes. His stuff was built to last meaning it was heavy. He was the originator of the flaired Power Jet where the flair slowed the intake material into the sluice. Keene Engineering soon copied the the flaired jet. According to Fiedler Keene built flimsy equipment. Keene had become Fiedlers major competitor. The practicality of it is that in the field lighter weight equipment is a positive for obvisious reasons.

Several years later I built my own 4" suction dredge using a Fiedler 4" flaired Power Jet ($85) and Hose Tip with a Keene Pump mated to a Briggs 8hp with compressor. I used Tractor inner tubes with a 1" square tube frame. The sluice was a custom 5' x 14" T6061 aluminum box with riffles and miners moss. It is a bit heavy and could probably be shorted a bit. It worked out rather well as I had it on the N fork of the Yuba without any problems.
Btw: I was visiting the Keene shop back in the day where I commented that there was more gold made in selling equipment than in the goĺd found in them hills. The sales guy agreed with me.

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DizzyDigger · Jul 22, 2026

Welcome to the site Tabs...

russau · Jul 23, 2026

Hoser John said:
I ran'm at Purdone Crossing on the SF Yuba. Thought it was Feldler but soooo long ago don't really matter anymore. If you trust tubes they all used them. 1 leak and adios everything. Straight in conical feed like a Dahlke of old was horrible. The T bone frame was a good idea for stability. In the pic is a 6" amongst a few pebbles under the bridge. Made in the 70s mostly.NASTY spot-John

God bless you John and may you rest in peace my friend !