The Challenge:
A prominent Railroad Contractor came to BTI with a problem: their fleet of Spike Pullers was not performing up to potential because of problems with the spike pulling claw tools. The spike pulling claws that they were using wore very rapidly; some claws did not even last through a single 8 hour shift. They also experienced failure frequently due to brittle fracture and had to be removed from the tool holder immediately. Furthermore, the older claws were unable to remove spikes unless they were near-perfectly positioned, which meant that an operator had to stop his machine, climb out on the track, and remove spikes using a hand tool. Because this particular contractor specialized in rehabilitating track that was in very poor condition, using the old claws meant production levels were suffering greatly.
BTI took on a challenge of developing a better single and a better double spike puller that would last much longer, and that would be able to successfully remove less than perfectly positioned spikes on the first attempt.
The Solution:
BTI designed innovative deep profile single and double spike puller forgings built from carefully selected and engineered materials, finished with a carefully developed heat treating process.
These new spike pulling claws were shaped specifically to handle spikes that were not ideally positioned, including spikes that were driven too far into ties and spikes that were very much askew.
The Result:
BTI Single and Double Spike pulling claws have increased productivity significantly by enabling the machine operator to remove difficult spikes, on the first attempt in most cases, and by eliminating the need for the operator to stop the machine and remove the spike by hand. BTI Single and Double Spike pullers typically last 3-4 times longer than any other product available on the market, and they do not experience the brittle failures common with most Double Pullers.
Additionally, the spike puller has proven to be successful in handling both narrower spikes often found in tunnels as well as the “fat spikes” which are very common in many regions.
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