GardenKit

Classic! Thanks Bob.

I know you are not knocking dealers in general Steve, but you may well be right to knock this one, the work does appear a little shoddy. There are however many good dealers out there, just as there are very many home based 'garden shed' mechanics who turn out shoddy work. The point is, there will always be good and bad in everything, its just a fact of life. The problem that all dealers face is recruiting suitable staff. There just have not been enough youngsters joining the industry for the last 2 or 3 decades and most of the skills now lie with the more senior staff. When the old guys retire they are often replaced with totally unqualified staff just because the right guys simply are not available these days, there is a massive skills shortage. We are only a small business now with just myself and my daughter doing the work, and it is only myself that touches 2 strokes, but 15 years ago I managed an agricultural engineering business and employed up to 10 staff, but it was an absolute nightmare getting any staff, yet alone good ones. I had a great foreman and one good mechanic, but we were using completely inadequate staff a lot of the time just because we simply had to have someone to do the work, but we knew that a lot of the time the work was below standard. I am not excusing the bad dealers, but I do appreciate their problems.

Chinese Tractor Parts UK | Chinese Tractor Spare Parts Fast

I used to work on these things and although I have forgotten most of what I knew i recall that they were not as scary as they seem. Certainly try the tips mentioned, but firstly change the power steering fluid and filter in the pump, as you could have some aeration of the oil due to age, or restriction of flow from a blocked filter, or both. If you decide to take the orbital unit apart learn a bit about it first. This link may help http://files.danfoss.com/documents/520l0468.pdf

My sentiments exactly. No one on this forum lives in poverty. No one on any social media lives in poverty. Really poor people do not have an iphone or a computer.

Haha, It took a while Eggs, but you got there in the end!

I guess some of their neighbours who were fighting for their country in the Somme may have had a different opinion.

To be honest the plugs did not last longer as they were changed on the service anyhow! But the state of the plugs is an indicator of the state of the rest of engine. A machine run on Aspen from new will remain almost as clean as new. There will be little, if any, carbon build up. The ring grooves stay clean and free, the upper cylinder and piston crown remain smooth and the exhaust port and muffler stay clear. Machines that have previously run on pump fuel and built up carbon deposits will slowly 'clean up' when switched to Aspen. Sure, even though this is all beneficial to the machine I doubt there are any savings to be had, in fact the extra cost of running on Aspen each year would fund a couple of new machines for this particular owner. But he uses it for other reasons. He does not really care if the end of his piston shines. What he does care about is that his machines always work when he needs them. Since switching to Aspen his kit spends much less time with me, so more time working for him and earning him money and saving him stress. He is also a very considerate guy and treats his staff well. He knows that he will get more work out of them each day whilst using Aspen. They don't tire as easily and remain happier throughout the day resulting in jobs being finished on time rather than stretching into the next day. The downside is that they will not use the trimmers if they do not have Aspen, so he has to keep his stocks up.

These plugs have been in use for a whole season on a contractors Stihl hedge trimmers. Running on Aspen obviously:biggrin:

Like the colour Bob!

I dont suppose its as simple as the throttle rod being worn? The 362 throttle link travels through an open topped plastic guide which it should 'clip, into. But it wears thin and and then pops out of the guide when throttled and loses its movement, Result, no revs. Put it back in and it may pop straight out again. Just a thought, and easy to check.

Boats are great fun, but are a money pit. Get a sound hull and a good outboard, then get the outboard checked out by someone who knows them properly. Then get an auxiliary motor and treat it the same Get a good strong trailer and replace the suspension units and hubs with new before you use it. Also new wheels and tyres may be a sound investment. I have had too many bearings fail and tyres burst before I took my own advice and bought a brand new trailer with my last boat. Its a roller coaster trailer which means I keep the wheels out of the water when launching and recovering. A radio and an operators licence are essential as a flares and of course, life jackets. Then an RYA powerboat course as well. I bought a £300 hull, a £1000 used main outboard, a new £500 auxiliary, a £1000 trailer, lifejackets at around £250 for 4, Flares at around £100 (every 4 years or so), a radio, compass, fenders, new steering gear. I already had several thousand pounds worth of powerboat training and lifeboat helmsman training. As others have said, great fun but it must be done properly, and that costs loads of money. I reckon mine has cost me about £5000 so far and now, as the boat itself is 1974 and I have had it all for 10 years its only worth a grand, even if I could find a buyer. Would not sell it anyway though, even though it just sits in the garage most of the year.

Believe me Stephen, I destroyed several until I took a step back and thought about it a bit more.

I have never yet seen a head with no hole, but they can be difficult to spot at times if you are not used to the machine and the hole is blocked solid with crud. But I often get machines assembled without the locking flange. One way getting the head off is, as Stephen says, to take the hacksaw to it. But a neater method is to remove the gearbox from the tube. Take the drive shaft out of the tube and insert it into the head, then clamp the shaft tight in a vice. Next, find a way of also locking the gearbox to the vice, or at least stop it turning, so that the shaft and gearbox are effectively locked. Then you can undo the plastic head quite easily. With the head and flanges off you can clean, and inspect for locking holes and notches.

We have seen price rises from most of our suppliers now. Many have only been around 3-5% but one major supplier of machinery has implemented increases of 8-10%. These rises seem rather extreme after several years of stable prices, but we saw similar increases at the end of the last decade, so nothing new.

And the fact that despite holding back the launch of the saw for two years to 'iron out' the problems, Huskie still managed to produce a poor quality product. Good performer, but poor design in many areas.

You must be better with a drill than me Neil!!! Must have better eyesight too:blushing:

Just point it somewhere safe!!!

I would give it a go at a poke Mike. The needle has had it anyway cause the heads off. Pushing it from the other side should not damage the seat of the inlet drilling, and I bet it will not take much to shift it anyway. But as ADW says, a good soak first may help, or better still boil it up in the US, the heat may shift it.

Nice:thumbup:

They do not

We always prefer Aspen users to buy from their local supplier, if they have one. But there are still some large gaps in the dealer network which can make it a little difficult for some users. We are happy to send Aspen direct to those customers who do not have a local supply and currently supply to several such users throughout the UK. The minimum qty which can be sent is 3x5 litre cans which are despatched direct from UK Aspen warehouse. See our link below for details if interested.

I agree with harrythecat, the Stihl heads are seldom worth considering for repair, simply because of their crazy spares prices and the inability to purchase individual parts. Much better to just buy another. But other makes such as Tanaka, which are actually more reliable than the Stihl IMO, are cost effective to repair as the parts are cheaper. They still come in sets, but I have split the sets and mixed old parts with new many times with absolutely no problems. Most Tanaka gearbox repairs can be done within £100.

Don't know if there is a torque in th huskie manual, but NGK specify 20-30 NM for a 14mm thread in an ally head. I have never torqued them, bur find a lot of finger tight plugs on machines brought in, even from people who should know better.

Helicoils are good Beau, and all I used until recently. They restore the thread, but not the seat, and a good seat is essential to a good seal. But I now use 'timesert'. The fitting process of the timesert also provides a new seat square to the thread.