Tried a cheap cutting oil for my dredge cutterhead and it cost me big time

I figured I'd save $80 by buying that store brand cutting oil instead of the marine grade stuff we usually run. After about 3 hours the chain on the cutterhead started smoking bad and seized up on me. I had to call a barge in to lift the head out and that alone set me back $400 in downtime and repairs. The mechanic said the oil just couldn't handle the mud load and grit we deal with here in the Savannah River. Has anyone else tried to cut corners on fluids and ended up paying way more?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina83415d ago

Margaret, you nailed it, that gritty mud just grinds cheap oil to dust in no time. @the_leo you're right, a $400 lesson stings way worse than it should, especially when you're kicking yourself for trying to save a few bucks. I've seen guys lose whole shifts on the cutterhead over this exact thing, and it's never worth the headache just to pinch a penny. The heat and sediment in a river like the Savannah turn cheap lubes into sludge way faster than you'd expect. That mechanic was probably shaking his head the whole time he was fixing it, same as mine did.

the_leo2mo ago

That $400 lesson probably feels worse than when I tried to save $5 on 2-stroke oil for my old outboard and ended up having to buy a whole new lower unit lol.

margaret_lane2mo ago

That $80 "savings" turned into a $400 hit real fast. I had a buddy who tried the same thing on his dredge pump gearbox up in the Delaware Bay. He used a cheap hydraulic fluid instead of the spec'd out stuff, and within two weeks the seals blew and the gears started chattering. The repair bill came to almost $1,200 with parts and labor. That gritty Savannah mud you deal with eats up cheap fluids like candy, I've seen it first hand. Cutting corners on lubricant always seems to bite you harder than you expected.