Why I switched from cable to hydraulic cutter heads on my dredge

Last month on the Mississippi I had to choose between sticking with my old cable system or dropping $12k on a hydraulic upgrade. I went with hydraulic after my third cable snapped in the middle of a 12 hour shift. Has anyone else made this swap and dealt with the learning curve on adjusting swing speed?

3 comments

3 Comments

adams.harper22d ago

My buddy Jake ran cable on his rig for years near Baton Rouge. He switched to hydraulic last spring after a cable snapped and whipped across the deck, almost took his arm off. Said the swing speed took him a couple weeks to get used to, but once he dialed it in he wouldn't go back.

casey84321d ago

Did you have trouble with the cable whipping around too? I switched six months back after a snapped cable took out my side mirror, best decision I ever made even with the learning curve on the swing control.

max_ramirez4821d ago

Wait, were you running your cable with a manual tensioner or did you have the auto-tension setup? @adams.harper your buddy is lucky that cable didn't take his arm clean off, that's the kinda thing that keeps me up at night. I had a cable snap on me once while I was pulling a stump near the bank, and it whipped back and hit the side of the cab hard enough to leave a dent. That was the moment I started looking at hydraulic seriously. I've heard a lot of guys say the swing speed takes a couple weeks to get used to, but once you figure out the flow control valve it's way more precise than yanking on a lever. Still, spending that kind of money hurts, so I get why people stick with cable until something bad happens.