The extraction cradles enable horizontal direction drilling (HDD) contractors to orient a ramming tool 180° to extract stuck pipe or tooling, assist in product pullback and remove washover casing at the end of the HDD job. Extraction cradles also give pipeline installers an effective means to slick bore and install cathodic protection (CP) pipe.

An extraction cradle is mounted directly in line with the pipe or tooling. This alignment transfers impact force from the ramming tool to the pipe or HDD tooling with maximum efficiency.

Alan Goodman, a global sales manager for HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, stated that the ready-made extraction cradles are reusable and highly versatile. A single cradle can also accommodate a range of both pipe and hammer sizes.

"For instance our 36in (914mm) extraction cradle can mount to 36in casing on one end and a 30in (762mm) casing on the other end. Then it can be modified further to address other casing sizes by using standard pipe reducers," he said.