Cutterhead sheared clean off on the Arkansas River last Wednesday

I was running a 14-inch cutter suction about 30 feet down when the whole head just snapped off. No warning, no vibration change, nothing. Cost me 8 hours of downtime and $2,800 in replacement parts to get back up. Turns out the weld on the hub had been cracking for weeks and I missed it during my morning checks. Anyone else had a cutterhead fail on them mid-job? What do you look for to catch it early?

2 comments

2 Comments

price.jake1mo ago

That SUCKS man, sorry you had to deal with that mess.

simontorres1mo ago

Yeah, "that SUCKS" is right. I was reading something the other day about how much worse customer service has gotten across the board, and it really hit me. It's like companies just don't care anymore once they have your money. You spend hours on hold, get transferred five times, and nobody can actually fix the problem. It's exhausting, and you're just left dealing with the mess on your own. Makes you wonder why we put up with it, you know?