PSA: That old timer who told me to run my cutterhead slower saved me a repair bill

Ran into a guy named Pete at the fuel dock in Morgan City two months ago. He saw me firing up my 20-inch and said, "Son, you're chewing through that sand like it's mud, you're gonna snap a tooth." I brushed him off because I thought speed was the way to go. Well last week I pulled up a tooth that had a hairline crack starting right where he said it would. Now I run at 1800 RPM instead of 2200 and the material comes up cleaner anyway. Anyone else had an old hand give you advice that felt wrong but saved your gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant.nina22d ago

I read an article in a dredging magazine once that talked about how running equipment at max speed actually creates more shock loads on the components. That crack you found is exactly what they were warning about. Old Pete probably learned that stuff the hard way, like most of those guys. A lot of us think more speed means more work done, but it just beats the gear up faster. Slowing down is smarter, it saves money on parts in the long run.

sean_johnson1628d ago

I dunno man, a hairline crack isn't exactly a snapped tooth. You probably would've caught it on a routine inspection anyway, seems like a lot of fuss over a maybe.

elizabeth90028d ago

Ngl, that old timer Pete knew what he was talking about. I had a similar thing happen with a guy named Walt down in Biloxi who told me to back off my chain speed on a sandy bottom. I thought he was just being old school, but sure enough, I started noticing less wear on my teeth after I slowed down. Honestly, it's like they've seen all the mistakes we're about to make and are just trying to save us the headache.