Lost a cutterhead bearing on a job last Thursday

Was working a beach restoration project near Galveston. Dredge was running fine at 6 AM. By 10 AM I heard a grinding noise from the cutterhead. Shut it down quick. Found the bearing housing had cracks and grease was leaking out everywhere. Had to call for a barge to tow us back to port. Lost a full day of production and about $4,000 in downtime. Anyone else had a bearing fail on them without warning like that?

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3 Comments

kelly3853mo ago

You need to make sure you're checking those bearing temps at startup, not just listening for noise. On my last Galveston job, I had a similar failure but caught it early because the housing was running 20 degrees hotter than normal before any sound started. Grease leaks are usually a sign that the seal already failed, which means water got in way before you heard grinding. If you're running in sand or silt, those bearings eat it faster than you'd think. Check the grease fittings daily and maybe set up a temp gun log during the first hour of operation. Lost a full shift myself last summer because I ignored a slight temp rise for two days.

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nancyn693mo ago

That temp gun log idea is solid, nobody thinks about logging until something fails. One temp reading in the morning could save you a whole weekend of rebuild work.

3

spencer9813mo ago

Damn, $4,000 in downtime just from a bearing going south. That's rough. Surprised it cracked the housing that quick too, usually you get some warning noise first. Did the grease leak out before you heard the grinding or was it all at once?

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