He can turn a new shaft, wire a 40,000 volt transformer, build a hydraulic press, overhaul an injection pump, and a dozen other things, but a GoPro baffles him. All is right with the world.

Nice job, 102 years old well still producing, run by an antique pump jack. Way cool Zach, thanks again for sharing.

Hell yeah Zack! This is just what I needed right now. Always nice to watch you work on this older equipment and explain to us how it works. It's definitely relaxing for me anyways!

These unit repairs and work-overs are a favorite of mine. Thanks for bringing us along Zach. Best Wishes to You and Your Family.

Very neat to see a horizontal mill in action.

Good for another hundred years!

Another most excellent video! Two friendly comments: 1.) Thank you so much by not boring us with endless video facing off the work (which you didn't do anyways). 2.) Next time you are at the swap meet, there's always that guy selling assorted wrenches for two bucks each. Buy some dedicated wrenches for that lathe!

Zach, you are one heck of a machinist!

Great video. Like seeing videos like this. My dad was a pumper for Chevron for 30 years. Watched him for years doing maintenance like this.👍

There is no better anywhere than Texas Patch Engineering !! Thanks for the update ... and you stay in touch and we will, too ... Just keep on pumping that Texas Crude !!

Thank you, Zach, for taking the time and trouble to share this. Really appreciate and enjoy it!

Back in the day, I would align the belt sheaves with a long 1/2" or 3/4" fiberglass rod laid across the grooves in both sheave wheels for good quick belt alignment. I keep the rods under the seat of the service truck. I enjoy your video much!

Love watching you working the wells

I really like your logic for just make a whole new shaft. No pun intended job WELL done.

Thanks for keeping this piece of history working, and showing your machining skills as well. Here in Western Pa you still see some old wells randomly appearing on the hillsides of a pasture with big pvc barrel hooked up for anything that may get pumped out. Other times if youre just driving through the backwoods you may find a derelict well mostly hidden in the trees - covered in rust and moss. I also remember when I went camping to Wyoming for a few weeks back in 2008; how on the drive there I would see some of these on the plains working in rhythm .... up and down up and down. It sticks in my mind because I wasnt in a rush and wasnt driving on the interstate at the time; so I had pulled off to the side of the road to check my maps and have a quick lunch. One side of the road had this massive farm field... no idea any more if it was corn or wheat; and on the other was just regular plains with the wells.

Awesome job, Zach!! Love the old equipment and to see someone keeping it running and producing... Not just scrapped or sitting in a museum.. Wish I had that skill and life... Look forward to seeing future progress in your fields

I can see these making a comeback seeing how expensive new ones are.

This is what its about. Keeping them running. Stay safe my friend.

Excellent repair! I enjoy your videos, in the field very much.

bet you don't have trouble falling asleep at night .keep up the great work

I've worked on a bunch of old Hit & Miss well engines and stationary engines doing machining and restoration for guys, never a dull moment!!

I can see where the machining tools and the knowledge to operate them would be essential to running an operation like yours. I would think your long term exit plans would include finding the next generation operator who can multi-craft and is hands-on. Outstanding video!

I love these videos! I have oil and grease for guts.

The oilfield maintenance and repair videos are my favorite. This one was especially good! 👍👍

Good job Zack, love your videos, and you say it how it is. I worked in the Oil Field for 40 years and know where you are coming from.

Zach was born in an oil field and raised in a machine shop. ❤❤❤

You got about as beautiful of a Feb day in OK you can get. Feels good to be out working in the sun. Love the machining skills!

Watching you do your work is kool don't know why but is kool to see you do your thing. Thanks for the video

Always happy to see a new video from you showing how things are done!

Impressive how precise old machine shop equipment is.

I'm working on a Parkersburg 114 saddle bearing, the grease worms ate the hell out of it, looks like I will have to make one from scratch.

hi Zach, cheers from Orlando, FL...Paul

When I’m notified of a new @TheZachLife video, immediately stop down to watch it. Thanks, Zach!

Being a boiler maker down here in Australia it's nice to watch someone else do the work for a change. Yahoo buckeroo

A little TLC goes along way, your a good mechanic/business man.

I'm wording the answers to your questions out loud, and guess what? My girlfriend thinks I'm smart😋🥰. Thanks, Zach!

I'm an old guy worked heavy equipment for around 45 years . Looks to me this guy could build anything ,repair anything ,keep it running!!!!! Great job on that shaft!!!!!

Thanks for the video Zack and thank you for speeding up the slow parts.

Enjoyed the Heck out of this video, thanks Zach....PB

This is the only guy I have ever subscribed to, he's not fake like other shows, he does it his way and to bad if you don't like the way he does it, not trying to impress the arm chair oil men out there

Awesome rebuild ! 👍

Nice to see ya saving big bucks doing your own machining. That's got to save absurd money and time besides getting exactly what you want. Knurling a shaft is an old timey repair so it may have been done long ago. It seems odd for an old US manufacturer to knurl an undersized part (though it lasted many decades) when it's so quick to machine another simple shaft like that one. Knurling was also a common way to make piston skirts a closer fit in worn cylinder bores and to make stock OD valve guides fit a loose guide hole in an engine cylinder head. (Do not confuse that with the much more common knurling the INSIDE of valve guide.) Knurling a bushing can improve a press fit too , like the common cheap spacer bushings pressed into riding mower idler and tension pulleys.

Thanks for the quick lesson, nice t/o see you use your space and beautiful antique tools. Cheers from Calgary, Canada.

Hey Zach, glad to see your back out in the oil fields. I love that old dinosaur pumping unit! It amazes me how long those pools of oil can produce with proper maintenance. I take it that it produces sweet West Texas Intermediate. Hopefully you have a good producer there. It's great that you can do your own maintenance on these units. Your pumping experience is awesome, so glad to see you enjoy your work and sharing it with us KZfaqrs. I know I speak for all of us that we appreciate the time you take to put these exceptionally interesting videos together. Always a pleasure to see.

Nice work and thanks for taking us along.

This was awesome. Well done!

Thanks for the educational vid! Outstanding!!!!

Thank you for these videos! I was always fascinated by the old oil pumps in southern Ohio and always wondered what was inside. Now i know. Thanks! Please keep up the great videos. I do a lot of the same things you're doing. 😀

That video working on this well from 5 years ago got me to sub to your channel

I absolutely love your videos! Don't worry too much about the GoPro trouble you managed to get around it just fine.

All that machine work you did was pretty darn Amazing to watch Zach. Funny how some of the oldest tools in the shop tend to be the best. Great work sure enjoy your content

Zach, that’s some good machinist work in this video. As someone who went to school for it, sure there are some speeds and feeds that could be better but overall goes to show machining isn’t rocket science by any means

The label on your jeans looks like the labels on my Round House jeans. If so, in my experience, these are good jeans. Made in Shawnee, Oklahoma near where I grew up.

Zach, if you had been listening…, I was yelling at you even, that the measurement was 14.5inches…, hahaha..! Excellent video, I don’t know “jack” about machining, but watch many channels here with that content, I love your step by step narration(s), and description(s). Thank you sir.

Hey! That was a great video Zack! Refreshed my memory on running those machine tools also. Keep those oil wells pumping that black gold. From Iowa.

Easy call to scrap shaft. Seriously impressed you can machine your own.

I worked at a sawmill for 8 years and have taken out of the bolts from a split bushing and used them to pull out the core ; it made life much more easy to remove the pulley and replace it with one that might be better .

You ain't lazy 👍🏻

Nicely done!

From a loggers perspective why don't you have a service truck, nothing fancy, mine is a one ton so over loaded as to be called "the road slug" and as l age l find the luxury of the small crane on the back very agreeable with my back!

As a fellow Texan trying to learn 3D modeling and such, I wish I knew what you forgot.

Adding a snap ring groove on open keyway shafts helps

You inspired me to get an oil field job up here in canada. Am a painter by trade, so i got a coatings job on the new LNG plant that canadas building up north! Not quite the same as what you do but excited to get my foot in the door.

I used to work at Lufkin Industries in the foundry - the castings should have a part number and date code on all of them (although I don';t know when they started doing that-it was at least an 80 year old system when I started there). The first 3 digits of the date code are the Julian day of the year it was made (e.g. Jan 1 is 1 and Dec 31st is 365); the 4th and 5th digits are the year (I could have that flipped though, it's been awhile since I was there). If there are more digits, that's the mold number for that day (e.g. they ran the pattern through the mold line more than once). Hope that helps!

Zach you are amazing 😊

Go pro's are evil! (just like trucks) They are part of the master plan to see we stay aggravated. I don't make You Tube videos and they managed to aggregate me. Well the one I had did and it's gone now. Nevertheless great stuff as always Zack, looking forward to your next repair adventure.

You are better machinist than I expected. Well done. BTW, the problem with your GoPro is that it is a GoPro. They pretty much suck these days.

another cool video

1921... Amazing year in history if you follow American Coins.

Keep up the good content, that was pretty cool to watch

10:25 A mystery guest! You know she must be pretty good looking because she can stop him mid-sentence when she enters the room.

I wish you had that autio file at the end, I love to hear those old pumps run.

Im with you i can make parts and fix old junk but cant get along with technology great video

Gotta love straight forward equipment. As for gopros, everybody with gopros has trouble with them, for the price you'd think they'd be less buggy. If it was any other piece of equipment people would likely call them a knock off camera with a high price tag.

Common sense and old school though process for the win. Life gets in the way of keeping up on everything

Thank you Zack. I wonder If the electrical fields around your machines mess up the cameras. Old machines are not shielded.😊

The corrupted files could be magnetic disruption maybe the device or card is getting too close to metal, or an electric motor, or some type of coil. I really enjoy these videos!

Respect for your knowledge!

I didn't get my 1st lathe until I was a little over 40 years old, I really wish I bought one earlier. If you've been thinking about it....just get one....thank me later.

Zach, I’ve been watching your videos for years. I know it’s a pain in the ass to make these videos when you’re busy but thank you so much!! I think you’re the fucking man.

GREAT JOB KEEP UP THE GREAT VIDEOS 😊

I worked at a Oilfield Pipe & Supply in the early 80's and we put jackshafts on many single reduction pumping units (it was hard at the time to get any pumping units) We used I beam and pillow block bearings. I wonder now how long any of them lasted.

Great video Zach

Awesome!!!

that is one hell of a tail stock on that lathe. Damn son. I've seen bigger, but I don't know that I've seen bigger with that bed length. If I can find you a new wheel for your saddle would you be interested, on my dime.

Good job!

Great content, reminds me of me, just gotta get stuff done!

Just found your channel, great content.

I like the oil filled humor

Got her back pumping.

Another great video

Great video.

good work my guy gotta keep that old iron turning as long as possible

Excellent work ,

Great Job. Sorry about the Lufkin Engineering being bought out by GE and they closed it down - I believe the shaft balancing unit is in operation. Foundry gone as is engineering. Sad but the drop in business forced the issue with aging owners. No one could buy it but GE stepped up then crashed them as GE got into trouble.

The keyway is a machined out section on the shaft and a woodruff key is a highly machined piece that fits into the keyway.

Really interesting thanks.

I used celestial navigation to get a close approximation and then comparison of the mountains in the background I have calculated your location so I may drop by and help you with your technical difficulties in hopes that any faulty GoPro’s will be donated to my channel. I will be in the Long Beach, California area on the second Tuesday of next week…..hope to see you then. (Thanks for the content)

I'd feel at home in your shop.

The center drill is sixty degrees, otherwise known as a Morse taper Zach.