Hydraulic vs cable controls for a 7 month old dredge, which way do you lean?

I've been running the same 12 inch rig near Baton Rouge and my cable setup keeps binding in the mud. I'm thinking about switching to hydraulic, but that's a $3,800 retrofit on top of downtime. Anyone here made that swap and found the extra feel worth the cost, or should I just stick with what I know? What's your call?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethm5814h ago

That 3,800 bucks would buy a lot of greased cables and spare parts. I get that it binds, but we're talking about a 7 month old rig, not some beat up 90s machine that's been through hell. Half the time when guys complain about cable binding it's just not enough tension or they're running the wrong size for the mud temp. I'd bet you could fix the current setup for under 200 bucks with a different fairlead setup and some better lube. Hydraulic feels nice on paper but you're also adding a whole new system to fail in the same mud that's already messing with your cables. Seems like a big spend to fix a problem you haven't fully diagnosed yet.

max_schmidt7714h ago

Hell, you're right that most binding is just bad setup, but 200 bucks of bandaids still won't fix a drum that's already scored.