Was working a beach restoration project near Galveston. Dredge was running fine at 6 AM. By 10 AM I heard a grinding noise from the cutterhead. Shut it down quick. Found the bearing housing had cracks and grease was leaking out everywhere. Had to call for a barge to tow us back to port. Lost a full day of production and about $4,000 in downtime. Anyone else had a bearing fail on them without warning like that?
I was working a job in Baton Rouge last week, clearing out a drainage canal with a 12-inch cutterhead. About 8 hours in, the whole thing started shaking real bad and I had to shut it down. Turns out one of the teeth had snapped off and the imbalance was wrecking the bearings. I learned to check every single tooth before a long shift now, not just glance at them. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden vibration like that on a long job?
I keep seeing guys on newer rigs force the ladder down hard when the material gets tough, that just chews up your teeth and stalls the pump every time. My mentor Frank showed me 15 years ago on a job down in Pascagoula that backing off 10 PSI and letting the cutter spin free does way more work than brute force. Anyone else notice rookies not reading the mud right anymore?
I was working a job down near the Port of Savannah and this old cutterhead just locked up solid on some buried cable or something. Took me and my helper from 6am till 3pm with torches and pry bars to finally get it free. Anyone else ever have a routine day turn into a nightmare like that?
I had a long talk with a guy named Pete at the marina equipment supply in Biloxi last Wednesday and he told me his crew found metal shavings in a filter housing that looked clean on the outside... he said they almost sent it back out until they cracked it open and saw the damage inside. Has anyone else had a near miss like that with a housing that looked fine but was actually junk?
Was running the dredge on the Houston Ship Channel approach and felt the vibration go weird. Shut down quick and found a 3-foot piece of rusted chain wrapped around the cutter teeth. Took 4 hours to get it cleared with torches and a crane. Anyone else deal with random junk showing up in the cut? What's the weirdest thing you've pulled out?
Back in 2019 I had to decide between replacing the old mechanical pressure gauges on my dredge with digital ones or keeping the originals. I went with mechanical because I didn't want to deal with batteries dying mid-shift on the Mississippi River. Three years later and they still read true, while my buddy's digital setup crapped out after two flood seasons. Any other guys here prefer the old analog stuff over the fancy screens?
We were about 3 hours into a 12 hour shift on the Stockton Deep Water Channel when I heard this grinding noise that just didn't sound right. Shut everything down quick and found the coupling was completely chewed up. Looked like it had been wearing funny for a while maybe. Had to call in a replacement from the shop in Antioch and lost half the day. Anyone had luck with aftermarket couplings or should I stick with OEM on these?
I was out on a job near the Mississippi last week and my primary dredge pump started acting up. The seals were leaking and I was about to lose half the day to repairs. Then I remembered an old trick my mentor showed me 3 years ago on a rust bucket in Louisiana, using a wooden wedge to adjust the pump alignment on the fly. It worked long enough to finish the cut and get it back to the shop. Anyone else still using old school fixes that the manuals don't cover?
I was running a cutterhead dredge near the Illinois River mouth last Tuesday and hit something big. Turned out to be a buried oak log about 3 feet thick that wasn't showing on the survey. It wrapped around my cutter teeth and bent the ladder frame before I could shut down. Anyone else seeing old timber getting stirred up in the lower Mississippi tributaries after heavy rain?
I was operating on a barge near Baton Rouge last month when one of my 3-inch hydraulic hoses blew out right at the pump connection. Oil sprayed everywhere and the cutterhead just stopped dead in the mud. The whole crew had to stop and I felt like a fool because I hadn't checked that hose for chafing during my morning walkaround. We lost about 4 hours waiting for a supply boat to bring a replacement from the yard upriver. Now I run my hands along every hose coupling before I start up and carry a spare set of hoses in a crate on deck. Has anyone else had a simple inspection miss turn into a full day delay?
Last month I was pulling my hair out with suction loss every 20 minutes. I tried adjusting the cutterhead speed and messing with the ladder angle nothing worked. Then an old timer at the yard told me to check the suction inlet screen. Turns out there was a buildup of debris that was partially blocking it. I cleaned it out with a pressure washer and now I'm getting consistent flow on my channel job near Mobile Bay. Has anyone else run into this issue with the 370's screen setup?
I was picking up some wire rope down at the Port of Long Beach last Tuesday, and this kid maybe 25 years old was telling his buddy our old Ellicott 8-inch is basically a dinosaur. Said it's all about the hydraulic dredges now, no point keeping that 'antique' running. I just nodded and paid for my stuff, but on the drive back I remembered pulling 12 hour shifts on that same machine back in '98 during the harbor deepening project. It's still got plenty of life if you know how to treat it. Anyone else have a machine folks told you to scrap that still does the job?
I was working a job near Portland on the Willamette last spring, clearing out a silted-up marina channel. Had this nasty patch of clay and old tires that kept clogging my cutterhead every 20 minutes. I was about to pull the rig and go complain to the foreman about the site conditions. But the old boom truck guy who was feeding me pipe just said "try swapping to the wider tooth pattern you used on that gravel job upriver." I thought he was nuts but I gave it a shot. The clay dropped off way cleaner and I ran 6 hours without a single plug. Now I always ask the support crew what they see from the bank before I change anything. Anybody else ever had a tip from a deckhand or crane operator that totally changed how you run?
I was running a job near the Mobile River delta last Wednesday and my dredge just kept losing vacuum. Thought it was the pump impeller wearing down again cause of all that fine sand. Ended up pulling the whole suction head apart, checking valves, even called my buddy for advice. Turned out a chunk of old rope got wrapped around the intake screen. Six hours wasted cause I didn't check the simplest spot first. Anyone else spend forever hunting down basic stuff like that?
I was just going through my logs for the end-of-month report and realized I had passed 10,000 cubic yards on the Johnson project without even noticing, which surprised me because I usually feel like I'm just crawling along down there.
The production rate jumped by nearly 30% with less wear on the pump, has anyone else seen that kind of gain from just changing the head angle?
We were on a job near the Mississippi backwater last week and the suction kept dropping out every 20 minutes. After pulling the intake screen 4 times and checking the hydraulic fluid levels twice, my helper noticed the water level was just barely below the suction head. Has anyone else spent way too long troubleshooting something that turned out to be simple and obvious?
I was working a maintenance dredge job on the Mississippi just south of Baton Rouge about 2 months ago. All of a sudden the gauges started jumping and the cutterhead just stopped spinning. We pulled up and found a big truck tire wrapped around the hub like a donut. Took us 3 hours with a torch and a winch line to cut it free. Anybody else ever snagged something weird that shut down your whole operation?
Figured I'd save $50 on hydraulic oil for my dredge by buying a 5 gallon bucket from some guy on Craigslist. Ran it for about 3 weeks before the pump started whining real bad. Took it apart and found sludge and water mixed in with the oil. New pump cost me $1200 plus a weekend of swapping it out. Anyone else get burned buying secondhand fluids?
Spent 6 months fighting wet clay that kept packing my cutterhead solid every 30 minutes. Tried running at half throttle and it actually cleared the junk out way better than full speed, plus I burned less fuel. Anyone else have a weird setting that works better than the manual says?
I checked the totalizer on the barge computer after finishing a tricky spot near the old bridge pilings and it rolled over 100k exactly. Has anyone else hit a round number milestone that actually made you stop and think about all the mud you've shifted?
I was running the cutterhead at 80% and heard a clunk that sounded like a car crash, pulled up the ladder and there was a rusty cart tangled in the chains with a tire still on it, has anyone else pulled up something that stupid?
I was at the Green River project last month and watched a guy finish a 2 inch steel line in under a minute while I was still fighting with my old cable cutter. He let me try his hydraulic unit and it cut through like butter, no busted knuckles or strained arms. Anyone else made the switch and regretted not doing it sooner?