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Hydraulic leak ate my whole Monday shift in Baton Rouge
Line on the luffing jib started weeping right after the morning safety brief. Looked like a tiny drip, maybe a loose fitting. Figured fifteen minutes with a wrench and some thread tape. Wrong. It was a hairline crack in the swivel joint, hidden behind the counterweight bracket. Had to drain the reservoir, pull the whole section, and wait four hours for a replacement seal kit from a supplier across the river. That one drip shut us down from 7 AM to nearly 5 PM. The oil bath cost another $260 to refill and dispose of properly. Anyone else chase a small leak that buried your whole day or was I just unlucky with that specific fitting?
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shanes666d ago
A tiny drip, maybe a loose fitting" and you turned that into a full day shutdown? Come on. Any operator who has been around iron knows you do not pull a whole section over a weep. Wrap a rag around it, top off the reservoir at lunch, and keep swinging. That machine runs on a leak the same way it runs on a cold start, it just marks its spot. Plenty of rigs out there leave a drip pan under them every night and still hit production goals. You handed a four hour parts run and $260 in oil to a problem a hose clamp and some cardboard would have handled.
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