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I stopped greasing every zerk fitting on the dredge and nothing blew up
Everyone told me I was crazy when I stopped greasing the cutterhead shaft bearings every single shift like the manual says. I work on an Ellicott 370 down in Louisiana and those bearings were just puking grease everywhere, making a mess in the bilge. So I started doing it every third shift instead, listening for any change in sound or heat. That was six months ago and I haven't had a single bearing failure, plus I saved about $40 a month on grease alone. The old heads on my crew still give me side eye about it but the numbers don't lie. Has anyone else tried backing off on the factory lube schedule or am I just asking for trouble down the road?
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mason_flores2123d ago
Preach brother. I run a 12 inch sand mining dredge over in Texas and we did the EXACT same thing. Those cutter bearings on our IMS machine were just barfing grease out the seals every single day, what a waste. I cut it to every other shift and paid attention to the temps with an infrared gun, been two years now with zero failures. The old timer on my shift said I was going to seize it up but I told him let's compare grease bills at the end of the year. That shutdown risk is real though, you definitely gotta stay on top of listening and feeling for any vibration changes.
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troy_palmer7622d ago
Not sure I'd gamble that way, a seized bearing costs way more than grease.
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