GardenKit

The gears are only available as a whole unit.

Often if the bearings have failed there will be damage to the gears. The gears are only avaiable as a set (c/w bearings) at a cost of £157 plus vat (for the 0-135 degree model) They are a bitch to fit, involving heating the housings. It depends on how you value your time, but at commercial labour rates its a no brainer. New head every time.

4 side by side and nose to tail = 16!

Kilmarnock certainly got nil from us. I doubt we shall ever bother to go there again. But maybe I do it an injustice, just maybe its beautiful when the sun shines?????

Post pics!!!!

Yeah, been to Scotland, but came back to a queue of work yesterday Rich. Hope your new premises work out OK. PM being sent about the cable.

I have not done a single job all week!

We had planned to drive up through Kilmarnock and your town to take the Dunoon ferry, but the weather on Sunday was pretty bad, so we headed up the M76 and across the Erskine bridge. Finding our way from the M76 onto the M8 was fun, given the heavy rain and spray. We don't have roads that big in Devon.

Sorry, i thought they were still using the current Tanaka head.

Well, we have just returned from our fantastic few days in Scotland. We travelled up from Devon to Thornhill, just north of Dumfries, via Windermere, on our first day in marvellous weather. The next day the weather was rubbish as we drove on to Fort Augustus. The views were limited but the extreme weather added an exhilarating wildness to the trip across the mountains and down Glencoe. The next leg took us to Ullapool (stayed in the Arches) but once again the weather on Monday limited the views and made the place feel very bleak, but the journey back down the west coast via Gairloch, Torridon and Kyl, back to the Invergarry Hotel was great. The weather was not brilliant but,nonetheless, the views were stunning. Wednesday saw us back in the lakes at the Black Bull in Coniston (fantastic beer from the in-house brewery) Yesterday we revisited Lydbury North in shropshire, where we lived in the 80's and overnighted at East Symonds Yat, on the banks of the Wye, at the Saracens Head. Got home lunchtime today after completing 1600 miles. Oh, and not a midge to be seen in Scotland. Thanks for all the tips guys.

If I recall correctly, this is a Tanaka TPH 200 head, with a clamp tightened by a black handled thumbscrew. If this is so, you will notice that the gap is closing right up when the screw is fully tightened. Remove the screw and widen the slot, either with a hacksaw blade or a 1mm thin grinding disc. Refit the screw and it will tighten. A 5 minute fix which I have performed countless times on well used machines.

So it sold on Ebay in Uttoxeter, and its now on Gumtree in Buckinghamshire.

The blue material has been developed to resist the damage caused by the solvents in modern petrol. The black ones soften and deform.

Plenty have said it already, but I will say it too. Congratulations Steve, your effort on Arbtalk is appreciated by all of us. Thanks.

I do not have one in stock, but I can tell you that the RRP is £278.19 plus vat. That is for piston and pot. Any good Stihl dealer will be able to supply.

Sorry Pat, the 361 is totally different to the 362.

Guess it must be. He is an old farmer boy about 75 I guess, and has used Stihls, since they were invented. Could it be that they did use red grease in a tank at one time? Does anyone remember? Spud?......

I mentioned a couple of days ago about the MS170 with red grease in the chain oil tank. The customer came in for it today, and I told him about his blunt chain. "No its not blunt" he said "it cuts fine" I told him about his grease in the oil tank. "That is the right stuff to use" he said' " I have always used it in both this saw and my big Stihl, i was told to use it by the dealer when I bought the saws, and Stihl say in the book its what you should use, You know nothing about saws if you don not know this" Apparently the saw heats it up so it runs through the pump. I am seldom speechless, but it was obvious he was right and I was totally wrong, so I opned the door for him when he left.

It is a problem that many dealer staff are so focused on getting a deal that they ignore the real needs of the customer and the suitability of a particular machine for the job it is required to do. I often get people coming in with the idea of buying a mulcher, not only Stiga, but JD too. They are sometimes dissapointed when I point out not only the 'pro's' of mulching but also the 'cons' Mulching is exactly right for many people, especially those willing to 'work with' the machine to get the best result. Equally well it is totally unsuitable for some, especially those who want to cut the grass infrequently, yet want to achieve a perfect finish with no effort.

All very valid comments, but the problem lay in the choice of machine for the task. Mulching simply does not work on 2 week cutting cycles in normal grass growth. The Stiga deck is the best mulching deck out there for leaving a good finish, but is designed around regular cutting of fairly short grass. It works by holding the grass in the deck and recirculating it until its cut into tiny pieces. This it does extremely well, but going too fast, or cutting too long overloads the deck and strains the drives. (hence the machine is not designed to be fast) The shearbolts on the old 'timed' deck do not break until the blades hit something solid. The mower was not intended for rough terrain or objects in the grass. Because of its front deck and its manoevrability it is often used in situations it should not be in because the operators like to use it, and its not fair to blame the machine for failing through 'misuse' The new range of decks are V belt driven 'non timed' decks and hence have no shearbolts. They also have a removable rear skirt, which when taken out allows the grass out of the deck quicker, enabling longer grass to be tackled and faster forward speeds. The standard of mulching with the skirt off will not be as great, but it does at least allow cutting on a 2 week cycle. It is also possible to lift the rear of the deck slightly to allow even faster discharge. And, for Likeit, spares availability is not usually a problem, with excellent 'pick rates' from Plymouth. I can have spares 'next day' with a carriage cost, but the standard delivery to a dealer is 2-3days, carriage free, so this method is the norm. I also carry stock of common parts so my customers do not normally wait long.

No, its not. Most needle bearings have plastic casings and are perfectly allright. As Likeit says, the fault lay with the dodgy drums, but why it took so long to fix it I really cannot understand.

If yours has done a year and a half then you have not really got any problem. Just replace the bearing as you would during maintenance on any saw.

Huskie are indeed well built, but... They do not mulch anywhere as well as the Stiga Although the have an ariculated rear axle, they are not truly articulated. The rear wheels do not track the front wheels, and the rear of the body swings wide when turning and hits things. (Not a problem to everyone, but caravan sites hate them) Reliability is good though, every bit as good as Stiga, but no better.

I am probably a bit biased, as I have sold hundreds of them over the last 20 years. Many of them are still going strong now which is a good indication of their quality. The Park range consists of the 'compact' machines which are domestic, and the larger chassied traditional 'Parks' the cheaper of which are domestic quality, and the 'Pro' machines which are the heaviest duty. Even the cheaper 'domestic' quality are very well made and extremely reliable and the PRO range are just legendary. The main differences are engines and transmissions, the more you pay, the more you get. The best engines by far are the Briggs and Stratton VANGUARD models. There are no better engines used in the industry than the Vanguard. It is built by Daihatsu. The weakest point on older models are the decks, which often fail due to rust after around 10-12 years. The early 3 bladed decks were adequate for the intended use, but suffer from blade shaft and bearing failure if abused. The new decks are much improved and mulch far better than any other mulching mower on the market. You certainly wont buy better than a Stiga.

Funny you should say that, the job before the 170 was a full service and new chain on a McCulloch. It was so cean and in such good order the whole job took less tan 10 minutes. £70 for 10 minutes =£420 per hour. Who says that dealers charge too much? I do however rise above ryobi.