Finn T-75 Bent paddles

[HydroRI]

I went inside my tank today for the end of the season thorough cleaning and inspection. Paint still looks great and no rust yet except around the hatch cover. When I made my way down towards the sump I noticed that at least 3 paddles towards the back of the tank were obviously bent. The bends were within an inch of the welds on the shaft. I am not sure how long they could of been like this because I never noticed any performance or mixing change. I tried to put my biggest adjustable wrench with a 14' handle on top of the paddle to try and bend it back and I was barely able to move it. I did bend it back a little but not all the way. I can't believe as strong as these paddles are they were able to bend.

Is it common for this to happen? What is the best way to bend the paddles back? I have always used 100% wood mulch from Profile Products. I load it 1/2 a bale at a time, am I doing anything wrong? I did the pressure relief test for the hydraulics and confirmed the pressure when the paddles get stuck are at 2300psi.

[hydroservice]

I can't say its common but I have seen it before. Even our T-330 had a few that weren't straight anymore. It happens during the mixing process. Usually because there is to much fiber and not enough water and a big chunk gets under the paddles just right. I doubt they bent while mixing but probably when it jammed while mixing. I would sometimes get ahead of the water while loading and the paddles would stop at full rpm and at 3200PSI on the 330 I wasn't surprised to see a few minor bent paddles. Extremely bent paddles are usually the sign of something other than fiber getting in there. We have fixed some that were flat on the auger shaft. If you straighten yours as you have done you should be good to go.