Weed wacker - extending string life

[WinterDeere]

next time your string breaks, take a look at the wound spool: you'll see the break occurs when one line is crossed over another, melted & broke. i'll wager 90% of what members are complaining about here is due not to line failure, but improperly wound trimmer line. do not cross one line over the other. simple fix

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've personally never seen my own line break inside the head. It's always about 1/4" outside the spool, just outside the eyelet, where maximum flexure would be occuring at the eyelet.

 

[big bubba]

good point, must be another problem. all of my breaks are inside the head when i have improperly crossed the lines while winding. regards,

 

[Rayrla]

Another vote for Echo trimmer line. Have owned DR walk behind trimmers since the 90s and always used DR line. Recently ran out of DR and could not wait 7 to 10 days for shipping, so went to my local mower shop and found Echo trimmer line. Was highly recommended by the owner. The Echo line cut better and lasted much longer than the DR and no longer put in water. Also changed my Stihl hand held to Echo with similar results.

 

[Oaktree]

A little OT, but does the OP's spool have some sort of auto-feed on it?
I've got a battery Ryobi trimmer, and every start/stop cycle the string advances, whether it needs to or not. There's a cutter bar on the shield that trims it to length, so it doesn't get too long. A lot of start/stop cycles and you're gonna go thru a lot more string than if you kept it going.

Add me to the list of those who've never heard of soaking string before. Usually when I run out I'm in the middle of cutting, no time to stop and soak replacement string.

 

[Chiefwebb]

My 2 cents... I have found that round line outlasts the fancy shaped lines designed to cut better. I soak my lines and it does extend the life of my strings.

 

[Todd727]

Has anyone seen a variant that screws directly onto Stihl FS-KM straight shaft? It seems the Echo comes with an adapter that will allow it to attach to Stihl, but it sounded less than ideal.

Stihl Autocut Easyspool C 25-2

 

[dodge man]

next time your string breaks, take a look at the wound spool: you'll see the break occurs when one line is crossed over another, melted & broke. i'll wager 90% of what members are complaining about here is due not to line failure, but improperly wound trimmer line. do not cross one line over the other. simple fix

That’s not what happens to me. I have had mine jam because I don’t wind it but normally mine just gradually get shorter until I need to advance it.

 

[zzvyb6]

There's a gal mechanic on YouTube that recommends soaking the line spool with WD-40 after you load it.

 

[kenmbz]

I use square line and the only time it breaks vs. wears is on rocks and tough woody stems.
I love the Echo self feed.
Keep the line out of direct sunlight as that breaks down plastics pretty fast.
My 700' spool still has plenty of line and works great, 7 years later.
I use my trimmer almost weekly through spring/summer/fall.
Have 700 foot shared road, 400' main roadside, 200' trench and many smaller areas.

Just finished cutting about a 1/3 acre of stiltgrass with some autumn olive and firebush shoots in it and did not have to respool yet.

Those rocks I keep finding though, the line don't like them

 

[Mister3]

What would you experienced trimmer operators suggest for cutting back the "stuff" from the neighbors yard that grows thru the chain link fence that separates properties?
This is in Virginia where grass, vines, saplings, etc. have been growing fast.
Would one of those 3 plastic blade heads do well?
Herbicides are not permitted.
Trimmer of choice is my DeWalt Flexvolt.

White vinegar spray solutions

 

[Torvy]

A little OT, but does the OP's spool have some sort of auto-feed on it?
I've got a battery Ryobi trimmer, and every start/stop cycle the string advances, whether it needs to or not. There's a cutter bar on the shield that trims it to length, so it doesn't get too long. A lot of start/stop cycles and you're gonna go thru a lot more string than if you kept it going.

Add me to the list of those who've never heard of soaking string before. Usually when I run out I'm in the middle of cutting, no time to stop and soak replacement string.

I think the idea is that you keep your replacement spool soaking in water.

I don't soak, but I've heard about it. It's so humid here that the line has plenty of moisture to aborb!

I just bought a huge roll of 095 that will work in all of our trimmers. (Some will not take the heavier stuff).

On the chain link (or in my case, woven wire) glyphosate works best. Either ignore the HOA or burn along the fence. Or, just grow a thick hedge along the fence and stop trimming there.

 

[WinterDeere]

Stihl Autocut Easyspool C 25-2

That's the one I have! Hate the thing, since you have to disassemble and then carefully wind line onto it. It's not a huge deal, I've been doing it for years, but that Echo Speed Feed system looks soooo much better.

I use square line and the only time it breaks vs. wears is on rocks and tough woody stems.

Same. I've been using Echo square profile, either .095 or .105 (can't remember now) in my Stihl trimmers, for years. Great stuff, rarely breaks except when I cause it by getting trimmer head too close to rocks.

 

[7four7]

I have a Stihl weed wacker that I like but seem to break a spool worth of string every couple weeks.

What am I doing wrong? What’s the proper way to use it? Thanks.

Good suggestions being posted for your issue. I had the same issue with a large spool of expensive trimmer line. Poured hot water into a 5 gallon bucket and soaked the trimmer line over night. It worked. The line does not prematurely break when weed whacking.

 

[bgr]

You have a lot of expert suggestions here. I have used a lot of Oregon Gator Magnum supertwist line in .105. I have never had to soak it, but soaking does help.

If the eyelets in the head are clean and smooth, backing off on the throttle just a bit can do a lot to stop breakage. I always run at just sufficient speed to cut what I am trimming. Usually only 1/4 speed for trimming regular grass around the house.

I have a tendency to go full throttle on heavy cutting, and it breaks line fast with a powerful trimmer like a Stihl. I use a fixed head with .155 gatorline for heavy weeds. That will break in 2 minutes at full throttle. If I back off just a little, it will run till the line wears out.(5 minutes at least.) I can't tell any difference in cutting power at slightly less than full throttle.

The folks recommending the Speedfeed head for ease of loading are absolutely correct. Very easy to just crank line in, instead of taking the head apart to wind the spool full of line. The biggest Speedfeed head is a 450 or 500 model which I can use .130 line in. All my heads are over 3 years old, and I have read comments that the newest Speedfeed heads have problems with welding the line together on the spool. My older heads are not doing that and are tough as nails, but best to check online about new Speedfeed problems. Chinese copies of Speedfeed heads don't work for me, bad vibration and hard to crank in line after a little use.

My Stihl 110 and 130 straight shaft trimmers have a thread on the end of the shaft which I cannot adapt to the Speedfeed head even when i buy the adapter kit for Speedfeed which Echo sells. Stihl has begun to sell a self feeding head, the 27-2, I believe. I have found it a little harder to load, but not bad. The largest line you can fit is .105.

If someone has adapted a Speedfeed head to Stihl, please let me know.

 

[ning]

The 3 rotating Stihl knives cut like butter but snap if contact made with old fence wire or rock…

I'm a fan of this blade -

It'll obviously dull if you run it into rocks a lot but in general use of sweeping back and forth, rock contact may not even hit the cutting edge and instead hit the back of the cutting part which just bounce it away from the rock - the only significant damage I've had to mine (a ding in the edge) has been from bringing the blade down on a rock instead of sweeping into it (not deliberately, of course).

I've got one that I've sharpened many times already and while the cutting edge is getting ragged it still works great.

Pretty sure it's also what the utility guy uses to denude the ground around the power pole near our gate (they keep the area under transformers bare dirt).

 

[WinterDeere]

I have read comments that the newest Speedfeed heads have problems with welding the line together on the spool. My older heads are not doing that and are tough as nails, but best to check online about new Speedfeed problems.

I dug into this a bit, and it appears the issue is isolated to the SpeedFeed 500 heads, which is a new design using a metal spool. It does not appear to affect the 400 or 450 models at all, both of which have a plastic spool with a metal threaded bushing inside. The theory is that the metal spool on the 500 is conducting too much heat from the gearbox down into the head, and overheating the line or internal components.

If someone has adapted a Speedfeed head to Stihl, please let me know.

They're supposed to come with all of the threaded adapters to fit any Stihl, or so I thought. Perhaps you have one or two models that are exceptions?

 

[Auminer]

I wish I could find my trimmer line. I put it some place where it wouldn't get lost. I'm sure it's not lost. I just can't find it.

I find my stuff by searching in the last place I'd look.

Darn someone must have moved it...

 

[kenmbz]

I can only use string on the stiltgrass.
Any plastic or metal blades just get wrapped.
Brushcutter has a saw blade for woody shoots and use after clearing most of the stiltgrass.

Never could use the plastic blades, would either break or get wrapped.
The metal two sided one, was great at getting wrapped with grass.

 

[WinterDeere]

I dug into this a bit, and it appears the issue is isolated to the SpeedFeed 500 heads, which is a new design using a metal spool. It does not appear to affect the 400 or 450 models at all, both of which have a plastic spool with a metal threaded bushing inside.

Quoting myself here, but I just looked, and it seems the 450 was discontinued. Some sellers are getting bad reviews because they are advertising 450's but shipping 500's, which of course are a defective design.

So, if you want a SpeedFeed for now, you're stuck with the 400, which is reliable but comically tiny for my 36cc trimmer. Still, I just went ahead and ordered one to try it out... it's worth the $28 for a season, even if I ultimately switch back to the Stihl head.

 

[Oaktree]

Never could use the plastic blades, would either break or get wrapped.
The metal two sided one, was great at getting wrapped with grass.

First one of those cutters i bought, brand name was Grass Gator. Deceptive name, as you noted, it would constantly get wrapped if you tried to use it on grass, was a lot better for thicker stuff like blackberry bushes, goldenrod, etc. It would cut woody stuff up to 1/4" or so.