I went with a hydraulic cutterhead over my typical cable setup

Been running a 12-inch cutterhead for 5 years now. When I had to pick between sticking with cable or going hydraulic for a tricky river job near St. Louis, I chose hydraulic. Took 2 days to get it dialed in, but the torque on that thing saved me 3 hours on a single pass through clay and gravel. My buddy still swears by cable for sand, and I get it, but for mixed bottoms I'm sold now. Anyone else made the switch and seen a big difference in wear and tear too?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_butler508d ago

Whoa, hold on. Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, saving 3 hours on one pass sounds good but how often are you actually digging through clay and gravel? Seems like you might be overthinking it for most jobs. The wear and tear argument is the same old story everyone tells themselves to justify a big purchase. What kind of maintenance are you seeing on those hydraulic lines compared to a simple cable swap?

sethp268d ago

I read an article from a contractor in Texas who said his hydraulic maintenance costs dropped by half after switching to a better filtration system, so maybe it depends on the setup. The real question for you @victor_butler50 is whether you’d rather spend time swapping cables or flushing lines.