Tried skipping the daily grease check on my dredge pump and learned a hard lesson in 45 minutes

Got lazy last Tuesday on a job near the Mississippi and figured I could skip the morning grease gun routine since everything sounded fine. By 10 AM the pump started groaning like a sick cow and I found the bearing temps hit 190 degrees. Felt like an idiot digging out the manual to see I missed the recommended 10-pump every 8 hours spec. Has anyone else gotten burned by assuming silent parts are happy parts?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery_black7d ago

Been there with pretty much the same mistake on a dredge pump near the Missouri last spring. One thing that got me though... the 10-pump every 8 hours spec only works if your grease is fresh and not contaminated. Had a buddy who followed that exact number but his grease had water in it from a bad storage can, ended up with a seized bearing anyway. Might be worth checking your grease supply if you haven't already, especially on humid jobs near the river. Silent parts aren't always happy parts but sometimes the real problem is hiding in the grease itself.

kellyjones7d ago

@emery_black that's a solid point about water in the grease. My buddy Mike had a similar close call on a job near the Allegheny River last summer. He was religious about the 10-pump schedule but used an open bucket he'd left sitting in the rain. By week two his bearing started running hot and he found rust flakes in the grease fitting. Cost him a whole afternoon tearing the pump apart and repacking it.

jasonf176d ago

And that's exactly where problems creep in, people assume fresh grease is clean but don't think about how it's stored or handled on site. Water contamination can happen so easy without you even noticing until the damage is already done.