GardenKit

Poor and healthy....what more can you want?

Any particular reason? I initially thought it sounded a good idea. Wished I'd thought of it.

It is not uncommon for a customer to complain out the pricing of spare parts to the dealer. But, as PeteB says, we are also the middlemen and have no control over the pricing set by the manufacturers. There are very few dealers large enough to carry much clout with the the manufacturers, so passing on comments is largely a waste of time. So 'not me guv' is actually a very valid comment. It has to be remembered also, that when a customer complains about the cost of the spare he has just bought from the dealer, he is not the first person to buy it. The dealer has already bought it, not to use for himself, but to have it in stock for the customer when he needs it. Imagine the cost to the dealer of keeping these parts just sitting on the shelf. Having said that, I must agree that many manufacturers have very overpriced spares compared with others of equal or even better quality. I therfore try to stock product not only with a good purchase price and quality, but also with reasonable after sales costs. I also strongly dissaprove of the practice of 'marking up' spares prices over the RRP. This is common practice in some of the larger dealerships.

Aspen2 for hedgetrimming. It will change your life.

The success of a weld repair is dubious. It will need to be done by the very best welder you can find. He will need to know exactly how to weld cast, and there are very few who can do it, but plenty who think they can. It will need pre heating and preparation. The end of the crack would need stopping as part of the prep. It will also depend on where the crack is, remember that a tractor block is highly stressed compared with say, a landy block, as the engine holds the tractor together. I served 25 yrs as a qualified ag engineer and would never have carried out this type of repair, I have seen too many fail. Possibly ok on a non working, vintage machine, but not a working tractor.

As Pleasant has said, we get a lot of people, who we could describe as Muppetts, phoning up and asking what seem to us to be stupid questions. I always try to refrain from classifying them as muppetts untill I have heard them out, often they are just ignorant of the subject and need educating. these can often be converted to good long term customers. Its the ones who wont listen, and always think they know best that really get my goat. Some ask for advice and then argue with the advice given, this results in me getting wound up and taking it out on my wife. The name 'muppett' is then usually prefixed with something I cannot write here.

The 020 carb is more reliable than the 200 carb and does not have the troublesome accelerator pump. Its also cheaper than the 200 one at around £65 I think ( can check in morning at the shop) i fit them to 200's to cure the problems. Carb kits are way cheaper than £24.00.

Its all very well to buy a rebuilt carb, but thats only part of the job. The carb will still need to be tuned on the saw. Great if you are confident to do it. And of course, the problem you have may not be just the carb, you will need to check your fuel pick up hose for air ingress, your inlet manifold boot for splits and also your impulse line. You may have poor compression due to a worn or scored piston, its worth checking that before you go too far And if all else fails you will need to get a crankcase pressure test and vac test done. Good luck

You will be able to get a Tanaka THT210s for not much more than £300. This machine is IMO far superior to the HS45 which is only domestic quality. The Tanaka THT210s has a 2 year Pro User warranty, full AV, is light to use, and, unlike the Stihls, it has blades which can be adjusted to compensate for wear and close the gap between the blades. I have been selling them for 20 years and am still servicing some of the original machines. IMO you may be able to equal them with some other Jap kit, but not beat them. Well worth a look.

Check the joint between the two halves of the crankcase which is also the oil tank. Wash it off with petrol and watch it closely. You may see oil start to seep through the gasket. The remedy is to split the crankcase and replace the gasket, but this is a time consuming job. I think Stihl have a warranty time allowance of 2hrs for this (on a new, clean, saw) so this wont be cheap and you may prefer to let it leak. Edit, I diagnosed one just like this a few weeks ago. It may however be as Spud was posting while I was writing this, because that happens too.

If you are using Aspen then you really should not have a carb that needs cleaning. It may need other attention because of wear or air ingress. It does sound from what you say that the saw is running a little weak, so a tune up is in order. Its not going to hurt to richen up the H screw just a fraction ( as long as the limiter cap allows it) This should lower the revs and restore a little power. It may be best to entrust a tune to a skilled techie with a tach, rather than mess around yourself if you are'nt totally sure what you are doing. On a year old saw there really should not be an issue with crankcase sealing, but it is just possible. I would try tuning first, but be aware that if any significant tuning is required it will only be compensating for another problem which will need fixing, such as a leaking hose or impulse tube.

Nice pics, Martyn. I just bought the Lumix TZ30 too, an amazing little camera. So far I have only used it on Intelligent Auto and video, but I have to try to learn all its other little tricks. The video is fantastic quality and so easy to use with its seperate button. Macro is great too.

Exactly. If you run your business properly, with a good accountant, and dont try to be clever to 'beat the system', you will have no problem at all with Companies House or HMRC. I have a friend who tried to be clever in the IFA business, he expanded very rapidly, took on loads of corporate business and everyone envied him. He bought the Beemer, moved to a larger house, took the holidays etc, all on money drawn from the business, whilst the business ran on loans. Within 2 years it was all gone, and even though the company was limited, he was also made bankrupt himself. I have never borrowed a penny to run my business. I set it up from savings and a small redundancy payment and then reinvested profits as and when. I have only ever drawn dividends when there has been sufficient cash in the bank, even if it meant waiting for my money. OK, I will never be rich or flash, but I am comfortable and sleep well. Best of luck with your venture Pedroski, it beats sharpening hedgecutters!

I seem to remember a previous thread where someone posted that the throttle linkage has a tendancy to rub on something near it and holds it back when throttling down.

There is of course an important difference between what we do. As I see it, you are keeping your blades sharp with a regular sharpen, possibly better described as 'honing'. This is, as you say a quick "shp shp shp" ( I like that description!) with very little metal removal. This is the ideal way to look after your hedgetrimmer. What I do as a dealer workshop job usually involves restoring a blunt blade. This inevitably requires the removal of more metal. This would take hours with a file, and even takes quite a time with the grinder, as we need to be gentle to keep the steel from 'blueing'. Even so, I have reground the same blades many times before replacement.

I did buy the Oregon hedgecutter blade sharpening attachment for their chainsaw chain sharpener. This was about 12 yrs ago, but it looked complicated to set up, and time consuming to use. Also the blades have to be off the machine. Its still in the box, never used. I always use the grinder with the thin disc, no need to take the blades off, just remove the guard tooth bar.

Aprox 30 teeth per side, 4 sides, 2 edges per tooth = 240 edges. Thats more than 1 tooth per second to sharpen in 3 minutes by hand, impressive. It takes me about 15 minutes with a grinder, and thats fast.

You can sharpen loads of times. Dont let them get blunt, so you dont need to sharpen too hard. That way you keep them sharp all the time, they work fast and use less fuel. You will know when they need replacing as the teeth will start to break off. I use a 4.5" grinder with a 1mm thin cutting disc. You should not really use a cutting disc for grinding, but as it is only light work it seems fine. I have done this hundreds of times with no misshaps and it does a great job.

Well put Rich.

These machines are very common and are fitted with a two blade, side discharge deck. Ideally you would find a good secondhand deck as Carlos has said, but the problem is that the deck is the first thing to fail, as they rust away. If you find a secondhand tractor with a good deck, the chances are that the tractor is quite good anyway, so probably no point in swapping it over. Best of luck anyway.

I've just come back from the physio who wants to refer me to an orthopaedic surgeon for the lower back problem that I have put up with for years while I found the time to get it looked at. Maybe I should have gone sooner. Maybe I should have been more sensible when younger and asked for help lifting massive things. Maybe I should have listened to older people with bad backs. Maybe an office job would have been better.

i have several customers each year who have full services done on machines in order to sell them. I have sometimes had to to talk them out of spending £80 or so to service a 15 yr old mower worth £40 just to sell it, even then some still insist as they think its bad to waste a good machine. So some of the claims of " just serviced" are quite true, but I suspect most are not. And it would be interesting to define 'service'. Is it a full service by a tech, or a spark plug and oily rag from an owner?

A chainsaw tank does not usually presurise, the only cause would be the natural expansion of fuel gas with heat. This pressure is vented by the breather or it will cause an imbalance between the atmospheric pressure acting on the carb and the pressure in the fuel line. As the tank empties it causes a vacuum which must be released by air entering through the breather or the carb will be starved of fuel. Some primer bulb systems rely on a brief pressurisation of the tank to push some fuel into the carb faster than the normal way of the vacuum in the carb pulling it up.

Yep, I broke several springs years ago until I sussed this. As regards winding the spring, I do have a proper winding tool, but seldom use it. I usually wind the spring in my fingers, away from the housing. I pull it tighter and tighter until its outside diameter is just less than the housing and then clamp it with some snipe nose vice grips. Then insert it in the housing and release the grips. My fingers then slowly uncramp over the next hour or two.

Anything can be done to a Briggs Vanguard, but it depends how much cash you want to chuck at it. You will need Flywheel with ring gear ( around £220 plus vat) Starter motor. ( around £ 100 alternator stator Votage regulator Key switch Solenoid Battery So you can see it will cost quite a bit, probably best to get a donor engine off fleabay, but make sure its the same code.