stellat87•2d agoProlific Poster

Finally switched to a hydraulic dredge setup after 8 years

I used to run a cable arm dredge on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, and it was a constant headache with snapped cables and lost time. Last month I made the jump to a hydraulic system, and the difference in maintenance alone is huge. Has anyone else here made that switch and noticed better production numbers on their end?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_taylor642d ago

Got my first hydraulic rig about 2 years ago after 15 years on cables and never looked back. Production jumped maybe 20 percent once we got the pump settings dialed in, and weekend breakdowns basically stopped. What kind of material are you running through yours now?

ross.jason2d ago

Man, that's a solid jump in production. What most folks don't think about though is the whole learning curve on those hydraulic pumps. Ive seen guys buy a nice rig and then get frustrated because they didnt spend enough time tweaking the pressure and flow for their specific material. @xena_taylor64, it sounds like you dialed that in right. For me, I run mostly heavy clay and some rocky stuff, and I had to mess with the pump settings for like a month before it clicked. The real kicker is that once you figure that out, you can actually run it harder without worrying about snapping a cable or burning up a motor. That's something nobody warned me about when I switched.