Debate: Do you baby your dredge or run it hard until something breaks?

Honestly I've been going back and forth on this with a guy I work with on the Mississippi. He swears by doing full teardowns every 200 hours and greasing every fitting twice a day. I'm more of a run it till it rattles then fix what broke kind of operator. Last month I pushed through a really rocky stretch without stopping to check the cutter head and ended up cracking a tooth on the starboard side. Cost me near $400 to replace it on a Saturday. But his way? He spent 3 days last week just on maintenance while I was pulling material. Which side do you lean on and why? Has anyone else dealt with a blowout from skipping too much maintenance?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.river3d ago

Ran into a similar situation last year on a job down near Baton Rouge. Had this old timer tell me his grandfather never did a full tear down on their dredge for like 15 years, just patched stuff with baling wire and epoxy. Swore by it. Meanwhile I'm replacing a pump seal after ignoring a weird vibration for two weeks. Cost me a whole weekend and a tow. I think there's a middle ground nobody talks about. Like, you don't need to baby every fitting but you gotta listen to the machine. If it's screaming at you, it's probably gonna break. That rock you hit probably felt off before it cracked, right? I've started keeping a log of just weird noises and temps, helps me decide when to actually stop.

violag803d ago

Hear that about the noise log, that's smart but how do you separate the normal creaks and groans from the ones that actually mean something? Like my old truck has a squeak that's been there for years, but last month a new rattle showed up and I thought it was nothing til the alternator bracket cracked clean off. I feel like every machine has its own personality and you gotta learn which sounds are just its quirks vs which ones are it crying for help. What's your rule of thumb for when a noise goes from background chatter to 'alright time to pull over and look'?

olivermason3d ago

Man I read somewhere that if you hear a NOISE that's totally NEW, stop right there no matter what.