Near miss on the Mississippi last Tuesday, check your swing cables

Was running the 8-inch cutterhead just north of Baton Rouge around 6am, suction line was pulling fine. Felt a hard shudder, like the ladder hit something big. Killed the swing before I even looked. The port swing cable had frayed almost half through, right where it rides the sheave. If I'd run another 10 minutes it would've snapped and the ladder would've whipped sideways hard enough to bend the trunnion. Had a spare onboard so I swapped it myself, took about 3 hours. But now I'm second guessing how often I'm inspecting those cables. Anyone else do a full visual run on them every shift or am I just being paranoid after that one?

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hill.david20d ago

That fray pattern you found sounds like classic sheave wear from cable whip, not just a random break. I've seen the same thing on a 10-inch rig in Memphis, where the cable wasn't seated right and it wore a groove in the sheave face. A full visual run every shift helps, but you gotta also check the sheave itself for flat spots or burrs. Three hours to swap is decent, but next time check the opposite side cable too, since they usually wear at the same rate. Not saying you're paranoid, just saying one close call usually means there's a second one waiting.