Rant: Not checking your swing clearance before starting a job will cost you real money

Saw a guy last week on a job in Baton Rouge try to squeeze a 12 inch cutterhead through a 11 foot wide section of canal. Took him 20 minutes to realize he was stuck and another hour to back out. The foreman was screaming at him on the radio. That kind of mistake wastes fuel, busts up your gear, and makes everyone look bad. I always walk the whole stretch first with a pole. How do you guys measure tight spots before you drop in?

3 comments

3 Comments

milesrobinson13d ago

Pre-walk with a tape measure and a stick, saves every time.

spencer_thomas413d ago

Preach on the pole walkout, @milesrobinson. But real talk, do you just use the same stick for everything or do you switch it up depending on the cutterhead size?

hall.charles13d ago

Ha, I gotta disagree a little here. I used to think one stick was fine too, but after getting burned on a 14-inch cutterhead that kept snagging, I switched to a thinner stick for tighter spots. The fat one works great for general cleanup on bigger cuts, but it'll leave you fighting with the mulch in narrow gaps. I keep two in the truck now, it's worth the extra ten seconds to grab the right one.