Atlas Foundation Co. Chooses Felling Trailers for Specially Designed Trailer

Atlas Foundation Co. needed a specially designed and engineered trailer to transport a specially designed water pump made for deep drilling applications.

Founded in 1968, the Atlas started out strictly as a pile driving company, but quickly expanded into caissons (drilled piers), micropile, earth retention, and helical piers.

Atlas’ Micro Pile Division had commissioned an overseas manufacturer to design and build a custom water pump to be used for extremely specialized deep foundation drilling applications, the only pump of its kind in the United States. For this custom application, the pump needed to be mounted to a trailer for ease of transport to and from jobs, as well as maneuverability on job sites. This trailer would need to be designed and engineered around the specifications of the water pump, along with incorporating usability and safety for the crew operating it.

Atlas Foundation’s superintendent of maintenance and shop repair Larry Boeke had previously worked with Felling Trailers and Atlas has close to a dozen Felling trailers currently in its fleet. Boeke had worked with Felling's Mike Wolff, who at the time was part of the service team, to set up the refurbishing of five of its trailers over a period of five to 10 years; most of these trailers are 20+ years old.

"After decades of experience using and maintaining Felling Trailers, it was an easy choice for me to reach out to Mike,” said Boeke. “Mike immediately put me in contact with T.J. Schwartz, Felling’s OEM trailer specialist, to get the ball rolling.”

The three met together multiple times to review the requirements and specifications that would need to be incorporated into this trailer build. An FT-20 WD (wide deck) was selected as the base model for the trailer. Wolff, Schwartz, and Felling’s Engineering team collaborated with Boeke’s team at Atlas along with the overseas water pump vendor through the duration of the design process.

“It was really a team effort, and Larry was very accommodating in helping us (Felling) to understand what the application was, what environment the trailer would be utilized in, and what features needed to be incorporated for operator safety and functionality for the Atlas team,” said Wolff.

Collaborating and changing

Throughout the design process, there were many changes; some were small, like shortening up the overall trailer length. Others were more detailed, like incorporating pull-out steps/platforms and handrails for the crew to access the deck safely.

“The selection of Grat-X decking was made in place of standard decking for crew safety,” said Schwartz. “When the unit is used in cold weather environments, the crew must disconnect water lines and drain the pump at the end of each shift to prevent freezing. The Grat-X decking allows for the water to pass through to the ground below, preventing water/ice build-up, greatly reducing the likelihood of the crew slipping. Attention to the fine details was key. With the pump still in production, the teams worked off drawings and maintained continuous communication with the overseas vendor.”

“We worked closely with the pump vendor to verify the water pump's overall size and weight and determine the center of gravity for proper axle placement. We had to really pay attention to the smaller details and plan ahead for things like compartment door clearance for mounting a spare tire, clearance for personnel to access the deck from all sides, and so on,” said Boeke.

With the design process completed the trailer then moved onto the production floor. Built to spec, this high-pressure water pump trailer was constructed with Grat-X (expanded metal) decking with custom mounting provisions for the skid-based water pump, 8-foot pull-out grip strut side steps on curbside, roadside, and along the rear tailboard. Rear stabilizer jacks, along with two heavy-duty storage boxes provided by Atlas Foundation Co., were mounted on the rear of the trailer. Once assembled and inspected, the finished trailer was delivered to Atlas Foundation, Co., where the one-of-a-kind pump was mounted to the trailer and put into service.