Threw $600 at a hydraulic cutter head and it wrecked my whole season

Bought a fancy new cutter head for my dredge last spring, thought it'd chew through the clay like butter. Turns out it was overkill for the sand and gravel I usually hit, and it cost me a week of downtime swapping back to my old one. Anyone else drop cash on an upgrade that just didn't fit your site conditions?

4 comments

4 Comments

pat_moore1mo ago

@karenb97 has a point about testing, but sometimes you don't know until it's in the ground. I did the same thing with a high-torque auger bit for my well rig. Looked great on paper, but the local clay was way stickier than the spec sheet showed. Spent a whole Saturday swapping it back out. Best advice is to run a rental or a loaner from a supplier on a small job first. That way you're not stuck with a $600 paperweight.

logan5616d ago

@pat_moore nailed it with the rental idea. I tried that with a new drill head before buying, saved me from a bad purchase when the ground conditions didn't match the specs.

leo_black761mo ago

Rentals first. That's the real pro move right there. How long did it take you to find a shop that actually had the loaner option for specialty rig parts?

karenb971mo ago

Wrecked my whole season" sounds like you didn't test the new head on a small patch first.