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Rant: a veteran operator on the Ohio River told me never to run my spud winch in cold weather without warming the hydraulic fluid first
I've been running a 8-inch cutterhead dredge on a small marina job near Paducah, Kentucky since January. About three weeks ago one of the old guys on a nearby pipeline job told me to always idle the winch and cycle the hydraulics for a good 15 minutes before putting any load on the spuds, especially when the temp drops below 30. I figured he was just being slow and careful, so I half did it. Two mornings later it was 19 degrees and I cranked the spud winch cold to lift the starboard spud, and the seal blew out on the cylinder. That cost me $680 and a full day of down time while I drove to Evansville for a rebuild kit. I have been doing the 15 minute warm up ever since and the winch has not so much as squeaked. The part that bugs me is he was not smug about it at all, he just nodded when I told him what happened. So now I am wondering if any of you all have a cold weather routine for the hydraulics that goes beyond just idling, like do you run a lighter oil in the winter or keep a magnetic heater on the tank overnight?
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