Marine reduction gears
Propulsion and auxiliary gear sets from tugs, dredges, and workboats, rebuilt with matched gearing and seals fit for saltwater service.
Galveston, TX · Industrial gearbox repair
Gearbox Repair in Galveston, Texas
Solution Gear Co. provides industrial gearbox repair for Galveston, Texas from our family owned Houston shop, about 52 miles up Interstate 45 from the island. Since 1998 we have rebuilt the gear drives that keep ports, vessels, shipyards, and plants turning: marine reduction gears, winch and windlass drives, crane and conveyor reducers, pump gearboxes, and the worm, helical, and bevel units behind them all. Pickup from Galveston is free, the teardown and inspection are free, and shipping is free both ways, so finding out what is wrong with a failed unit costs you nothing. Every rebuild happens in house and carries up to a 24 month workmanship warranty.
Solution Gear Co. rebuilds industrial gearboxes for Galveston port terminals, shipyards, vessels, and plants. Units are collected free on the island or the mainland, torn down and inspected free at our Houston facility, and returned test run with a written quote approved before any work begins.
The island economy
A working port behind the beach town.
Cross the causeway and Galveston reads like a resort city, but the harbor side of the island earns its living the hard way. Cargo operations at the public and private terminals on Galveston Harbor generated $6.5 billion in statewide economic value and supported about 19,000 Texas jobs in 2023, a year in which the Port of Galveston moved 3.6 million tons of cargo, per the Port of Galveston. Every ton of it moves on machinery that turns on gears.
The passenger side is just as unforgiving. Galveston is one of the busiest cruise homeports in North America: nearly 1.5 million passengers embarked on 354 cruises in 2023, supporting 4,547 local jobs, and Galveston Wharves forecast about 1.6 million passengers and roughly 390 sailings for 2024, per the Port of Galveston. A cruise terminal cannot miss a turnaround day, and that puts real pressure on the drives inside gangways, provisioning conveyors, and every piece of shoreside equipment that has to work on schedule.
Across the channel sits the heaviest work of all. Gulf Copper Dry Dock & Rig Repair operates the Pelican Island Marine Repair Facility at Galveston, providing dry docking, repair, and retrofit for vessels and offshore drilling rigs, per the Port of Galveston. A ship repair yard concentrates more gear driven machinery per acre than almost any workplace on the Gulf: dock winches, pumps, cranes, and the reduction gears inside the vessels themselves.
Saltwater duty
Gear drives that earn their keep in salt air.
Galveston's industry mix is maritime first, so the work that reaches us from the island looks different from what the refineries up the highway send.
- Marine reduction gears. Propulsion and auxiliary gear sets from tugs, dredges, and workboats, rebuilt with matched gearing and renewed thrust surfaces for continuous duty offshore.
- Deck and dock machinery. Winch, windlass, capstan, and davit drives that have to hold rated load in spray and weather, plus the hydraulic cylinders that work alongside them.
- Port terminal equipment. Hoist, slew, and travel gearboxes on cranes, crane wheels reground true, and the conveyor and ship loader reducers behind the cargo numbers above.
- Shipyard machinery. Dry dock winch drives and the pumps that flood and dewater docks, where a failure stalls every vessel in the queue.
- Island plants and utilities. Cooling, mixing, and process pump reducers, along with planetary units and babbitt bearings from older equipment still earning its keep.
The common thread is salt. Gulf air and deck spray attack seals and housings faster than any inland service, so a Galveston rebuild leaves our shop dressed for the environment it returns to, with corrosion resistant seal packages and coatings chosen for marine duty. The step by step process lives on our industrial gearbox repair page. This page is about the island itself.
Obsolete is our specialty
The OEM being gone is not a problem here.
Marine and dock gearboxes outlive their makers. Vessels working out of Galveston carry gear units from builders that closed decades ago or never had a United States office, and terminal equipment can spend forty years in service before a tooth lets go. That is the exact situation our shop was built for. When drawings no longer exist we measure the worn parts, reverse engineer the gearing, and cut new gears in house, heat treating, carburizing, and flame hardening them to spec.
Everything else happens under the same roof: teardown, cleaning, magnaflux crack inspection, journal regrinding, bearing and seal renewal, keyway recutting, precision reassembly, and a live test run before delivery. The people who quote a Galveston job are the same people who rebuild it, so nothing is brokered out and nothing gets lost in a handoff. The result is a unit rebuilt stronger than OEM, often at up to half the cost of a new replacement if one even exists, and every job is backed by up to a 24 month workmanship warranty.
Straight terms
What we promise Galveston customers, and what we will not.
You will not find made up reviews or borrowed testimonials on this page. This shop has operated in Houston since 1998, first as Hanson Gear Works and now as Solution Gear Co., with the same family ownership and the same in house capabilities throughout. That history is on our about page.
What we offer Galveston operators instead of stories is a deal with no downside. We collect the unit for free, tear it down and inspect it for free, and put a written quote in front of you before you owe us a dollar. If the quote does not make sense for the equipment, we say so and you have lost nothing but a phone call. That is how the shop has earned island work, one rebuild at a time.
Across the causeway
Fifty two miles, and the logistics are ours.
From our building at 8449 West Bellfort Ave the drive to Galveston runs about 55 to 70 minutes, roughly 52 miles via Beltway 8 East and Interstate 45 South across the causeway. That distance sits comfortably inside our free pickup range, so a gearbox that comes off a winch or a crane in the morning can be on our bench the same afternoon, with crating and rigging handled by our crew rather than yours. Prefer freight? Shipping is free in both directions too, whichever way suits your dock. When something fails at night or on a sailing day, the 24 hour line at 832 270 2009 gets a human, not a voicemail.
Island duty
What comes off the island most.
Winch, windlass, and davit drives
Deck and mooring machinery stripped, magnafluxed, and rebuilt to hold rated load without drama, in weather or out of it.
Crane and terminal drives
Hoist, slew, and travel gearboxes plus reground crane wheels for dock and yard equipment that cannot stall on a turnaround day.
Pump and utility reducers
Drives for dock flooding, dewatering, cooling, and process pumps, reassembled to tolerance and test run under load before delivery.
Galveston questions
Answers for island plants and waterfront operators.
Do you offer free gearbox pickup in Galveston?
Yes. Galveston is inside our free local pickup range, island and mainland alike. We handle the crating and rigging, load the unit on our truck, and return it the same way once the rebuild is test run. If you would rather ship, freight is free in both directions, so either path costs you nothing.
Can you rebuild marine gearboxes from vessels working out of Galveston?
Yes. Marine reduction gears, winch and windlass drives, and davit and capstan units can all be rebuilt in our shop. We renew bearings and fit seal packages suited to saltwater duty, magnaflux the gears and shafts, and test run the unit before it goes back, and we can work around a dry dock window or a sailing schedule when the clock matters.
How far is your shop from Galveston Island?
About 52 miles. The run from our dock at 8449 West Bellfort Ave in Houston takes roughly 55 to 70 minutes via Beltway 8 East and Interstate 45 South across the causeway, which is why we can usually collect a failed unit the same day you call.
The manufacturer of our gearbox is long gone. Can you still repair it?
Yes, and this comes up often with older vessels and dock machinery in Galveston. When OEM drawings no longer exist we reverse engineer the gearing from the worn parts, cut new gears in house, and heat treat them to spec. The unit comes back rebuilt stronger than OEM with up to a 24 month workmanship warranty.
What if a gearbox fails during a cruise turnaround or a port emergency?
Call our 24 hour line at 832 270 2009. We answer nights, weekends, and holidays, start the pickup and teardown immediately, and give you a straight timeline. Because every step happens in our own building we control the schedule, and we have returned emergency rebuilds to service in as little as 5 days.
Up the highway, along the coast
The county, the coast, and the rest of Texas.
This page covers the island. It belongs to our Galveston County service area, which pairs Galveston with its mainland neighbor across the bay: the county's industrial base includes two major refineries in Texas City, Marathon Galveston Bay at 631,000 barrels per calendar day and Valero Texas City at about 260,000 barrels per day, per Marathon Petroleum. We cover that refinery corridor in Texas City from the same trucks that serve the island. Down the coast in Brazoria County, the petrochemical and port complex at Freeport rides identical free logistics, and up Interstate 45, our home city of Houston is where every one of these rebuilds actually happens. For the wider map, start at the Texas service areas hub or browse every area we serve.
Got a gearbox down in Galveston? The truck is an hour away.
Free pickup on the island, free teardown and inspection, free shipping both ways, and up to a 24 month warranty on every rebuild. Send the details and we reply fast, often the same day. Email Shop@sgearbox.com or call the shop.