Blew a hydraulic line on the cutterhead this morning and lost half an hour of pump time

Was running through a dense clay pocket down near the old barge channel and the pressure surge just popped a fitting at the elbow, had to shut down and patch it with a spare line I keep in the truck, anyone else deal with random blowouts on older rigs?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason_jackson5d ago

Honestly I gotta push back on that, newer rigs have their own issues with these electronic pressure sensors that give you zero warning before a total failure, at least with an older machine you can usually hear the strain coming and shut down before things get ugly. Popped a line myself a few months back on a 2019 model and the downtime was triple what you dealt with because the dealer had to order a special fitting that wasn't in stock anywhere. Give me a 90s era machine with good maintenance any day, I'll take a random blowout over a computer locked down tighter than a drum.

wade7674d ago

Man, @mason_jackson, you're speaking my language with that one. I had a 2020 dozer throw a code for a pressure sensor and it completely shut down the hydrostatic drive, no warning at all, cost me a full week and a half waiting on the part. Give me the old mechanical stuff any time, I'd rather fix a leak in an afternoon than chase an electronic ghost for a month.