TIL my old cutterhead has moved over 2 million cubic yards

I was looking through some old logs from my first big job on the Columbia River back in '08. It just hit me that the same head has been through three different hulls and is still running. Anyone else have a piece of gear that just refuses to quit?

3 comments

3 Comments

lindaw292mo ago

What kind of maintenance schedule do you even follow for something like that? That's an insane amount of work for one piece of gear. My old winch is on its second rig and I'm starting to believe it'll outlive me. It's a good feeling when the equipment just works.

the_wren2mo ago

Maintenance schedules are really just a guess about how hard you'll push the gear. My buddy treats his like a rental and still gets years out of it, while I baby mine and find new problems. Sometimes the best plan is just knowing the sounds it makes when something's wrong.

richardrodriguez1mo ago

Man, knowing the sounds is the real skill right? But here's what I wonder. How do you tell the difference between a normal noise and a bad one? Like my hydraulic pump has this low hum that changes pitch under load. Some days I think it's fine. Other days I swear it's gonna grenade itself.