[RANT] String trimmers ....

SkyHiK5 said:
the holes you upsized should have had brass or bronze guides....my echo does and when one of them got knocked out I had that problem replaced the head to get the guides back and viola...but seriously i would swear you are just wrapping he shit backwards if I didnt know you are a fairly mechanical sane person....
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no brass, no metal in the head other than the spring and the nut to the drive shaft.

I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't go back to Duplo blocks and lincoln logs,
 
I know its been said already but my Wally world weedeater with a weedeater brand 3 blade head has served me well. The nylon blades do well and don't wear down as fast as you'd think. Plus I've found them for as cheap as a dollar for 12. I cut along block walls, post, welded wire fence, heavy brush and edge my drive. If one does break it only takes seconds to switch out........
 
As for it the troy built not running as strong as last year. I have to pull the spark arrestor out of the muffler ever now and then (stihl is what i have). Burn the screen clean and put back in. Runs like new again. Not sure if 4 strokes would have this problem or not.
 
I HATE using a weedeater, but figured I needed one after I bought my house 5 years ago. I got a Craftsman unit, and it has the style head where you replace the string with a 12" piece of thick pre-cut length stuff. The string works great, but the damn thing is impossible to start, and cuts off on you when you give it gas until it is really good and hot after a few minutes of running. The mixture screws are preset anti-tamper which blows goat and really pissed me off. I think I need to take it apart and make them adjustable. If this fawking thing would start easier, then I would use it more.

Bottom line, I'd recommend changing out the head to the type that uses the pre-cut length pieces, then buy some thick stuff to put in it.
 
ok for what it's worth I run mowers and weedeaters for probably 15 hours a week or more- it's how i help pay for school. (GO HEELS)

It honestly took me a while to not have the problems you are describing, takes a while to have a feel for the trimmer and know what it can do. I have had 3 stihl trimmers FS 85 and 90. Some carb issues on them but no line issues like your talking about.

My biggest recommendation is that when you are running next to a fence, wall etc. or edging you want the very tip of the string barely grazing what you are trying to cut. In other words if you are trying to cut weeds right on a fence the head of the weadeater should be 5-6 in away from the weed (this way it slowly uses line instead of using it all at one time). Too often employees and friends will smush the head of the weadeater right against the wall and it just burns through line and breaks in the head.
 
I only have problems with the string trimmer when my septuagenarian step father tries to "fix it."
 
I use the old style Echo tap/feed head. They are tried and true. When you wind the string, you are probably holding the spool in one hand and wrapping two lines at once into the spool. This twists each individual line over and into itself many times over causing the breaking and welding.
Try holding the spool in one hand and actually turning it with your thumb thru the center and your fingers on the outside turning it all the time while keeping the line tight and feeding onto the spool with the other. It's very hard to explain but when you have the lines and are wrapping them around the spool to get them loaded you are twisting with each wrap.
Let the line feed into the spool as you would an air hose onto a hand cranked spool.
 
Gator Line

I bought a 50ft reel of Gator line yesterday, tried it out this evening when I got home.

.105" Gator Line with Aramid fiber core, was $6 at Northern for a 50' spool pack.

This stuff is the shit.

I cut thru some of the heaviest weeds I have in the yard ( this area HAS NOT been cut this year at all ) and it blew right thru it like it wasn't there. I advanced the line once, maybe twice, line never broke, cut for about 15-20 minutes with no problems at all. Even along the fence line it did well.

I think this will work.

As for power, this trimmer has some ass to it, more than I've had in past trimmer's, I do think this may be part of the issue of keeping string in a useable fashion.
 
Geebus... are we still talking about weed eaters?

Maybe you should just get a goat. Or better, borrow a goat from your neighbor. Then you won't have to mow or trim.
 
saf-t scissors said:
Geebus... are we still talking about weed eaters?

Maybe you should just get a goat. Or better, borrow a goat from your neighbor. Then you won't have to mow or trim.
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The dogs would eat the goats, thats the only down fall, the thought has crossed my mind quite a few times.
 
you dont want goats. you CAN NOT keep them in a pen. i know it was a joke but damn they are some particular animals!

so far as the weedeaters are concerned. we have some kind of stihl and its tough as nails. if the mexicans who use it havent been able to break it, it pretty much cant be broken. :lol:
 
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