Replacement for awful Stihl KM 130 R 4-Mix?

[doobin]

8 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

I can't remember where I picked it up but top tip is drill through the Stihl grease plug and tap M6, then fit a normal grease nipple. Easy greasing forever.

I did it a few years back. Got egg on my face when I did it to non long reach cutters though- they sit on the floor where the plug is! 🤦‍♂️

[marne]

Hated the km130 as well, noisy, hard to start and vibrates the Fingers numb. 

Just take a Honda umk435, remove the drive shaft and put in the drive shaft from your km130 on it, plug and play, it's really simple. 

Than you have a true 4 stroke with literally no vibrations, low noise, gobs of torque and a super easy starting procedure. Just a little heavier. All your stihl attachments, which are superior to others, can stay with you. 

 

[Pete Mctree]

One thing sure to kill the Stihl hedge cutting attachments is letting the tip hit the floor whilst running.  

[doobin]

1 minute ago, Pete Mctree said:

One thing sure to kill the Stihl hedge cutting attachments is letting the tip hit the floor whilst running.  

Sounds painful but I'd be quite happy if mine did!

[Dan Maynard]

5 hours ago, doobin said:

I did it a few years back. Got egg on my face when I did it to non long reach cutters though- they sit on the floor where the plug is! 🤦‍♂️

Ah I've got Makita hedge trimmers as they bought Robin, sensibly comes with a grease nipple from the factory.

[MattyF]

I used to grease them daily , never had that problem with hl75's so I will stand by what I said say a km 130 has more torque than a two stroke and will kill gearboxes if your using it for cutting instead of trimming... not ideal in our line of work , I had one last two hedge sessions on a 130 and I had a Hl 75 that was 5 years old and still on the original head gear box... I would also make the statement that the 130 is a god awful pile of shit and by stand by that too! Sell it and don't look back.

[spudulike]

Can we take it that you aren't that keen on the KM130 then?

[adw]

Why do you need to keep pumping grease into the gearbox? it must force out all over the place including up the drive shaft, between the blades creating extra loading, loading the gearbox etc

[spudulike]

41 minutes ago, adw said:

Why do you need to keep pumping grease into the gearbox? it must force out all over the place including up the drive shaft, between the blades creating extra loading, loading the gearbox etc

Because, those that don't, end up wiping out expensive gears, rods and bearings. 

I very rarely see a well greased gearbox have issues. The ones that do have very little grease or the grease has gone hard. 

Of course there is a happy medium but you can't tell how full the box is so generally, once the grease starts seeping out, it is full and will then do the 25hrs until it is next greased. I guess the smartest operators will give the head 2-3 pumps each time the unit is used but that is a rarity  from what I have seen. Many miss one of the greasing points on the gearbox and have no idea they should be regularly greasing it.

[doobin]

12 hours ago, adw said:

Why do you need to keep pumping grease into the gearbox? it must force out all over the place including up the drive shaft, between the blades creating extra loading, loading the gearbox etc

The gearbox wants to be full. How long do you think your gearbox on your car would last without oil? Or do you run it dry to ‘avoid extra loading’?

 

The only reason car gearboxes use oil and hedge cutter boxes use grease is that you can’t fit a rotary seal around rectangular profile reciprocating blades.