GardenKit

But not too good when the customer wants his saw back, Bob:biggrin:

I too am a 'saw dealer' as well as selling repairing and servicing many small engines over many years. It is this experience that has taught me the benefits of Aspen over pump fuel, as well as giving me the experience of changing over many hundreds of machines to Aspen use and seeing these machines again in subsequent years. Many 'saw dealers' who do not sell Aspen are also very ignorant about it and tend to malign that which they do not understand. Therefore it is not a case of being partial, just of keeping the record straight. I am very pleased that you see the benefits of Aspen though, but please rest assured that it will definately not be harder on the engines in the long term. Quite the opposite in fact.

Who are 'THEY'? I have perhaps 'converted' more operators to Aspen than most others, certainly more than anyone on this forum and have never experienced a hotter burn than petrol. Certainly a smoother engine and possibly very slightly higher power as a result, but not hotter. Aspen is without any doubt kinder on an engine than pump fuel and a longer engine life can be expected.

I have had this 346xp around for a while now. The chain break lever pivots had worked loose and not been tightened causing the threads to wear. The clutch side one was worn too big to helicoil to the original 5mm, so the only option was to helicoil to 6mm. The problem then was to find a shallow head shoulder bolt of the right size. That is easy to say but not easy to do, so I had virtually written the saw off. But today I stumbled on a bush under the bench which looked promising. It turned out to be a perfect diameter, the flange was a little too large but was easily reduced on the bench grinder. It was also too long, but once again, easily reduced. it was also 8mm in the hole, so maybe a little too large. The next problem was to find a shallow headed bolt, as it has to clear the three pointed thing. I have plenty of cap heads and hex bolts, but nothing very shallow, so put the saw back on the shelf again. The next job up was a Tanaka hedgecutter, and low and behold, one of the the bolts I took out was an M6 countersunk. This set the old and slow thought process off again, so the 346XP came off the shelf again. The M6 countersunk bolt fitted very well into both the new bush and the recess in the handle. Result!!!

Best get a new file Beau:biggrin:

The trouble with that Jon, is that your mate will never learn to do it himself, and you will always do it F.O.C. I hope he has some skills that he can give you for free, and often.

I charge £7.50 per chain Beau. Thats for any chain, any size, as its just too difficult for me to try and charge by length. I would not do the little ones any less than £7.50, but by that token an 84 link 3/8 could be £15 which is just too much, so I keep to the £7.50. If they are really blunt, like the ones that domestic users bring in after cutting roots, I either condemn them or tell them I will have to sharpen it twice. I am sharpening by machine though.

You need part number 06751-VE1-305 RRP £54.43 plus vat from any good mower repair shop.

Oh, alright. But some of the info that flashed up briefly was quite amusing. I remember one well known member had quite a record:biggrin:

Those ranking systems that Steve was playing around with at the end of last year might help to encourage good posting, along with the thanks button etc. Did you give up on it Steve?

just yank it, it will slide off

Carl 'tis easy. Take off the blade then do the central bolt. The clutch assembly then slips off the shaft. It should be a 'cone' clutch. The lining sits inside the top 'cup' and wears away. Have a look and replace the worn items. Post pics if in doubt.

You beat me to it Beau! Here is ours.

Nice result there Marc. Panic over!!!

Snap!!

My regulars customers know that demand for my service is high so some get in early to ensure its done. We could not do them all if they were left for another month. Actually its not unusual to cut all through the winter in this part of the country, maybe not ss often, but many mowers do not get 'put away' as they might further north.

A very good question dig-dug-dan. In a nutshell. Aspen is a chemically pure petrol product containing only 10 of the aprox 100 chemicals that petrol has. The 90 or so that have been lost in the alkylation process are not needed to run an internal combustion engine. This results in a fuel free of harmful solvents, benzene and sulphur. All of these are injurious to health. Some cause short term problems such as headaches and energy loss, others such as benzene are carcinogenic, causing potential long term health issues. (harmful both from the fumes of the liquid, as well as exhaust fumes) The 'pure' nature of the product gives it a workable shelf life of around 5 years as opposed to 30 days with standard unleaded. Aspen will not decompose the rubber and nitrile components of the fuel lines as petrol does. It also burns extremely cleanly, keeping pistons, bores, plugs and exhausts extremely clean. This, without any doubt, extends engine life. As said by geoff, there are many references to this on the forum, the most comprehensive probably being the 'One reason I use Aspen' thread. Its well worth a read and presents opinions from those who are in favour of the product as well as those who are not. Aspen also have their own website which contains all sorts of info, a link to this can be found in the advertisers on the right of the screen. Happy reading. Barrie

Sorry, I was generalising on the comment about pre existing problems, not aiming it at you. And your dealer is right, there is not a lot of margin on a can of Aspen, but he is being a little shortsighted. Give the man a free tune up (in the unlikely event that is needed) and he will be back every few weeks for more cans. And whilst in the shop may well buy other things. Its better than letting him go to the garage for petrol. I think the old saying 'a sprat to catch a mackeral' applies.

I agree in principle, and I always do tell my customers that it is a possibility, but also that it is rare to need any attention. I also offer to retune free of charge should it be needed, as it is after all only a 2minute job. But I also stress that Aspen will not fix pre existing problems. These need fixing whatever fuel is going to be used. Barrie

Nice one Eddie. Be sure to keep us informed on the progress!!

Its that time of year again! The winter service booking forms (1800) went out last week, and this little lot was booked in straight away .

New York have "Liberty". She is Verity's gran.

When I get those telephone companies telling me they can reduce my phone charges I sometimes say (in a country yokel accent):- "Oim zorry, Oi dont av a telyfone yer" There is usually a few seconds of silence before they put the phone down.

Before you change the coil its worth getting someone to put a spark tester on it, as just looking at the spark is not really sufficient unless you really know what a good spark should look like. Your starting issue could lie elsewhere and just changing bits can be an expensive way to make a diagnosis.

I have now been using Aspen in 99% of my workshop activity for the last 2 years. I have staked both my own reputation, and the future of my business on Aspen and it has not let me down, in fact I now have more 2 stroke machines on my books than ever and sell a very large amount of Aspen. The rumour that some engines will not run on Aspen is untrue. I can guarantee you that as long as your HS45 is mechanically sound and capable of running on petrol, then it is perfectly capable of running on Aspen. I have changed dozens of them over to Aspen with no problems at all, after which they run cleaner, smoother and just a little faster. I can totally understand your thoughts, but I am also positive that it is an unfortunate coincidence. Where abouts are you? I will happily get your machine working if you can get it to me.