In Detail: How Did Reels on an Old Spudder Rig Work?

In my last column, I wrote in detail about the Bucyrus-Erie 20W spudder rig my family bought in 1968. In this column, I’m going to discuss the cable reels of this rig.

The bull reel on a 20W was gear driven with a band brake, and could spool about 600-700 feet of ⅝-inch wire line on each side of a central divider. I believe the idea was to keep most of the wire line on the so-called storage side, with enough to drill the hole you were working on on the so-called drilling side. In other words if you were drilling wells 150 feet deep you kept about 160 or 170 feet of line on the drilling side. I’m not sure if this was any great advantage, but you did have more line pull due to the reduced diameter of the accumulated line on the reel.