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My backup pump failed mid-shift on the Mississippi River job last Tuesday | Dredge Operators - Free To Speak

My backup pump failed mid-shift on the Mississippi River job last Tuesday

I was running a 12-inch cutterhead on a bank stabilization project near Baton Rouge when the hydraulic backup pump just seized up. No warning lights, no weird noises, it just quit around 3 PM. Had to call the shop and have them overnight a replacement from Memphis, cost me about $1,200 in downtime and shipping. Anyone else ever had a hydraulic pump lock up out of nowhere like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_grant343mo ago

Can't believe you said the housing was cracked too, that's just adding insult to injury. @amy_west I bet you were plenty ticked off when you found out it wasn't just a simple bearing swap. I pulled mine apart after the shop got it back, and sure enough, the shaft had snapped clean in two. Looked like a bad casting or something, no warning at all. Made me wonder how many of those pumps are actually tested before they leave the factory.

xena_bailey183mo ago

Heard a guy on a podcast talk about this exact thing. Said some factories just stamp out parts without checking anything. Quality control is a joke these days. Makes you wonder if they even bother running them for five minutes. My buddy had a brand new pump grenade on him too. Wasn't worth the box it came in.

amy_west3mo ago

Ran into this exact same problem a few years back on a dredge job near Cairo, Illinois. The pump was a brand new replacement too, lasted maybe 40 hours before it locked up solid with no warning. Found out later it was a bad bearing that let go internally, but the housing was cracked from the vibration so I had to replace the whole assembly instead of just rebuilding it. Did you pull the pump apart to see what actually failed, or did you just swap it and move on?

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