Running Antique oil well pumpjack

an old pump jack on what once was our family farm. it has been on this sight since the 1950s and is still running strong

[@dangerousdan4184]

It's cool to think that even if every computer in the world suddenly crashed, this old guy would just keep plugging along without missing a beat!

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

Very cool 😎

[@mmmbad]

I love these things. There's just something hypnotic about them.

[@sambrannan7550]

Memories of my childhood in west Texas

[@jameswahnee-vn5nt]

Yes sir Mr Sam. Take us back to a simpler time.

[@M70ACARRY]

These used to lullaby me to sleep as young kid.

[@tana2183]

These are loud in the middle of the night when your 4 yrs old. At least i think this is what i was hearing in 1964

[@misterbacon4933]

Very nice to see those antique machines!

[@royrice8597]

Looks like an old Fairbanks-Morse 503 which I pumped for 32 years in west Texas. 👍👍👍 (probably much smaller as perspective is difficult from photos.)

[@bxck]

I love this, I just love machinery

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

That’s awesome those engines will run for ever 😃 👍

[@zaggnutt2479]

Unfortunately they replaced it with an electric motor. No more hit and miss music. 🙁

[@silverwiskers7371]

I still work on a bunch of them today, mainly ajax and continental on the old american mighty f pump jack, we set them when running electricity it out of the question

[@zaggnutt2479]

about a year ago the oil company came and took the engine off it and replaced it with an electric motor. it makes me sad.

[@muddysledge]

When I watch videos of these nodding donkeys, the more they sound like they're coming apart at the seams the more I love them. Don't know why but they're just so cool. The HM motors sound like they're alive. Great job capturing the sound and character from all angles!

[@gtb81.]

why would they do that? i'm sure it would have kept running just fine

[@dale116dot7]

@@gtb81. If the well has to pump for a short time each day (if the pump can pull up more than the formation feeds) it is easier to control and probably cheaper to run. It’s common to do that and have the pump start and stop automatically, or in some cases they’ll run a variable speed drive to match the pumping speed to the well’s capabilities.

[@zaggnutt2479]

Sorry I don't get on here very much. The beeeping is my phone in and out of service. I imagine its pulled up thousands of barrels it runs once a week for about 4 hours. When I was young it ran almost all the time its been there since the 1950s

[@grumpyoldsoandso]

Thank-you for the reply, and thank-you for the video: the pumpjack concerned may no longer be there, but you've saved a view of it for posterity.

[@downtoearthconstruction7768]

I remember as a kid at our family cabin in Tionesta Pa near Oil Creek hearing these hit and miss pumps constantly through the woods

[@swapnil5125]

And Oscar for cameraman goes to this guy.

[@jrwoodson3927]

He say leave me alone I'm working. I been here a hundred years 😅"

[@Jono.]

Just keeps on ticking down. How cool

[@stevegallwitz9274]

Sounds like the rod bearing is completely gone out of engine

[@somberghost5160]

impressive technology

[@overloaded1498]

Thanks for posting this cool old engine! Sounds like the rod or wrist pin is a bit loose, it might only run for another 50 years or so!

[@SC-cz8kq]

Overloaded! magneto clicking. governor causing it. keeping it from running away when its under balanced. Fairbanks and Morris dry valve intake.

[@rodralston2279]

My thoughts exactly - probably the rod bearing on the verge of failure, probably in another ten years or so.

[@rosewhite---]

Does it have an automatic inlet valve?

[@bourbonfan1]

to yesterday and beyond

[@lonnybruce9407]

Quite a bit of rod knock on that old FM 208.

[@davidnichols7485]

Still drive by pumpbacks sound like this all the time up here in Alberta canada

[@LanternLooney]

Hey I live a little more than an hour from Edmonton. I dont often see small ones like this but rather larger ones maybe a bit more than double the size of this. I think the wells are deeper and they need larger pumps to counter the weight of the rods.

[@davidnichols7485]

Slavelake most are bigger but still quite a few small ones around

[@timmyteabag69]

David Nichols onetime I drove down a lease rode and a young guy who had no idea how to start one had been sitting there for hours... forgot to turn on the fuel

[@Zkpe02]

This unit needs to be balanced...

[@coondogtheman]

What is that beeping sound?

[@CAMacKenzie]

Where is this? I saw/heard a pump like this, only bigger, in Long Beach, CA, a few years ago. That engine (and therefore the whole machine) could be a lot older than the '50s.

[@timmyteabag69]

Colin MacKenzie some natural gas ones have a big single on them and then they are self sustaining

[@valmorumann6840]

Este motor a combustão deve ser muito bom para aguentar nesta rotação.

[@diogenes5381]

ZC 208

[@grumpyoldsoandso]

Please can anyone tell me the identity of the manufacturer of the pumpjack? I recall that all the pumpjacks where I grew up had either a plate (on the older ones) or a black-on-orange transfer (on the newer ones) with the word "Oilwell" on them, but I can't trace a manufacturer of that name. It always struck me as a rather obvious thing to put on an oil-field pumpjack! The ones I knew were quite different in design to this; they had semi-circular balance weights, and no tail weights.

[@zaggnutt2479]

grumpyoldsoandso it was removed last year i no longer have access to it.

[@alhulcy9975]

This is a oil well brand pump jack size 16

[@JimJones-lc1kv]

al i do think ur right. an oilwell 16. good pjacks man. ....smooth runner

[@pumpe69]

where is it?

[@adamadam8937]

Whatssap et

[@RobertLarsen]

Is it a Fairbanks Morse engine?

[@bourbonfan1]

F.M. 118

[@texasfairbanksman272]

bourbonfan1 that’s a 208.

[@ChillFrost]

american restoration

[@taximan-ij8uf]

Is that a jenson

[@texasfairbanksman272]

taximan1969 it’s not a Jensen. My guess it’s an Oilwell or American.

[@elonmust7470]

Sounds a little rod heavy.

[@gary24752]

The radiator looks like an add on. What is it for or does the engine have liquid cooling?

[@zaggnutt2479]

gary24752 yes it is liquid cooled. no water pump just convection

[@bilpayne]

water boils in the hopper under the radiator then the fan cools off the steam it does not pump water through the radiator

[@macyarbro8419]

Yes. It looks more like a Bell D12. Radiator and fan shell I know are Bell 208

[@Snowcube]

Who refuels these? Does the oil company have to do it?

[@zaggnutt2479]

They run right off the gas from the well head. No refill needed as long as the well has some gas in it.

[@amozoness6]

Do you know how much horsepower the motor has? And how many barrels does grandpa think it's pulled up? haha:)

[@alhulcy9975]

its a zc208 fairbanks probably an 8 hp which was common in the oil field. How ever a 208 was available with an 8,10,12 hp ratings

[@wayneakins7850]

Instead of ac they should have left it alone with ac they are charging for the use

[@psirvent8]

Hit and miss engine

[@lonnybruce9407]

Nope

[@psirvent8]

@@lonnybruce9407 So what type of engine is it ?

[@FlatBroke612]

@@psirvent8 throttle governed Fairbanks Morse ZC

[@psirvent8]

@@FlatBroke612 Isn't that hit and miss though ?

[@billhudson1923]

Nothing antique here. This is very common equipment running today in north texas oilfields.