Old dredge mechanic in Houma showed me a trick last month that saved my cutterhead

I was swapping out cutter teeth on my 12-inch dredge in the Houma yard and an old mechanic named Ray walked up. He told me to stop torquing the teeth to 500 foot-pounds like the manual says and just go to 350 with some anti-seize. Last week I pulled that same head after 40 hours and the teeth came off clean without any broken bolts. Has anyone else had issues with the factory torque specs locking up their hardware?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_fisher519d ago

Me and my 12-inch rig have been through two sets of bolts snapping clean off at 500 foot-pounds, so I feel your pain there. My wife says I torque everything too tight including the pickle jar lids, but Ray's trick might actually save my back and my hardware. I tried that anti-seize trick after reading a similar post and now I just hand-tighten the teeth with a cheater bar till it feels right, maybe 350 or so. The bolts come out like butter after a run, and I haven't snapped a single one since I quit following that factory spec.

finleybutler19d ago

Betty, you said "the bolts come out like butter" with hand-tightening and a cheater bar. I gotta respectfully disagree here. In my experience, going that loose on cutter teeth can let them wiggle around, which actually cracks the bolt holes over time. I tried a similar trick and came back to find one tooth completely missing and the pocket wallowed out. So your mileage may vary, but I'd rather deal with a stubborn bolt than a rewelding job on the head.