Had a main pump coupling let go on the old 10-inch dredge last Thursday

We were pulling good material in a river bend near Augusta when the whole thing just shuddered and quit. Found the flexible coupling between the engine and the pump had sheared all six bolts clean off. Had to shut down for a full eight hours while we pulled the pump back, cleaned the shaft, and put in new hardware. The old bolts looked fine on the last walk around, but they must have been fatigued from all the vibration in that rocky spot. Anyone have a good trick for spotting a coupling that's about to fail before it leaves you dead in the water?

3 comments

3 Comments

noahcampbell13d ago

My buddy Jake up on the Yukon had a similar thing happen with his 8-inch setup. He started noticing a faint, high-pitched whine coming from the pump house that wasn't there before. It would come and go for a few days. He wrote it off as normal vibration until the coupling exploded and took a piece of the guard with it. Now he just does a quick listen with a mechanic's stethoscope during his morning checks. That weird new noise is usually the first clue something's loose and working itself to death.

caleb_stone5d ago

Read an article about a crew that logs pump sounds with a cheap digital recorder. They save the files and compare them week to week. Lets them catch a change in pitch or new vibration way before the human ear would notice it on a walk-by. Seems like a solid low-tech way to track wear. Pair that with the thermal checks and you've got a decent early warning system without fancy gear.

faithwalker13d ago

Heard of guys using a thermal camera on a phone to check for hot spots during breaks. That extra heat from friction can be a dead giveaway before things let go.