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Ran a dredge for 2 years before I figured out my swing cable was way too tight
I was out on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge, fighting this cutterhead that kept binding up. Old mechanic came out to look at something else, watched me for 5 minutes and said why is your swing cable so tight you're fighting yourself. Loosened it a notch and suddenly the whole rig moved smooth. Felt like an idiot. All those days of burning extra fuel and fighting the controls for nothing. Anyone else have a setup thing they overlooked for way too long?
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king.robin6d ago
Ever checked your ladder angle when you're in heavy clay? I ran a dredge on the Red River for a whole season burning through swing cables every three weeks before someone pointed out I was running the ladder too steep. Dropped it two notches and cables started lasting months. Also check your pump speed against the material density. If you're pushing too many RPMs through heavy stuff you're just beating the system to death. Might save you some headache.
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