Old timer on site swore by greasing the cutterhead every 4 hours

I used to think that was overkill, figured every shift change was plenty. Then I pulled 3 seasons in a row where I was replacing bearings every October in Cleveland. Last summer I tried his method on a sandy stretch of river and the cutterhead ran smooth through August. Anybody else find a big difference in bearing life with more frequent greasing?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_murray261mo ago

Grease is cheaper than bearings, guess that guy knew what he was doing lol.

hannahs451mo ago

lol the "grease is cheaper than bearings" logic is a classic. but i gotta ask - was that guy actually trying to save a few bucks, or did he just not know how to grease the bearings properly in the first place? seems like a lot of people think packing them with grease is magic but skip checking if they're already shot. did the thing actually last longer after he did that or was it just a ticking time bomb?