Vent: Ran my drag arm too deep for 3 shifts straight

I spent three days wondering why my pump pressure was dropping and the cutter kept stalling, finally got a senior guy to watch me and he pointed out I had the drag arm buried way past the sweet spot. Turns out I was digging into compacted clay instead of the loose silt I thought I was hitting. Has anyone else realized they were running too deep and fixed their whole technique after someone called them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_walker1mo ago

Yeah, that "drag arm buried way past the sweet spot" part hit home for me. I did the same thing for almost a week once, fighting with a cutter that kept bogging down and wondering why I was making zero progress. Once I pulled back and found the right depth in that looser material, everything ran smooth and my pump pressure finally made sense.

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tessa_clark741mo ago

Gosh, I feel this so hard! I once spent three days with my drag arm so deep it looked like I was trying to dig to China, just cussing at the cutterhead and blaming the machine. My pump gauge was bouncing all over the place and I thought something was broken. Finally got mad enough to check the manual again, and sure enough, I was two inches past where I should have been. Pulled it back and it was like the whole dredge let out a sigh of relief. Made me feel real smart, let me tell you!