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My cutter head hit 10,000 hours on the meter yesterday and I wasn't ready for it.

We were doing maintenance on the big suction dredge for the Savannah River project and I saw the clock roll over. That's a lot of sand and gravel. Some guys on my crew say you should do a full rebuild at that point to avoid a major failure. Others say if it's running smooth and the wear plates are good, you can push it to 12,000 or even 15,000 hours. We've had zero issues with the pump pressure or vibration, but the manual from the manufacturer is pretty clear about the 10k mark. What's the real world rule here for pushing past a big service milestone?

2 comments

2 Comments

chen.jade15d ago

Buddy pushed his to 13k. Catastrophic failure.

jessel3515d ago

Oof, that's brutal. I've seen a few of those meltdown videos where the whole screen just goes black and you hear the fan die. It's the worst kind of silence. Pouring all that time and money into a build just for it to fry itself. Your buddy has my deepest sympathy.