GardenKit

This has certainly been a thought provoking thread, It has brought out the best in people. I feel truly humbled, a I was starting to have doubts about Arbtalk and was siding on the belief (as in another thread) that some of the members were indeed, 'cliquey' and not welcoming of newbies. I have now seen many of those members enagaged in this thread and feel that I may have been reading them wrongly, for which I apologise. The feeling of 'cliquey' came from the fact that there is a core group of frequent posters, so obviously their posts occur on most threads and therefore can be interpreted as being outspoken, whereas in reality they are just enthusiastic members, without them the forum would not be what it is. Respect to all the the members who have posted in support of Predator. And to Predator.. I wish you all the best and hope you are now climbing out of the bad place you have been. You now have the support of a good bunch of guys.

Nice to see a few more positive posts on Aspen. I convert all the 2 strokes that I service to Aspen and it is rare to get problems. Had an 025 through this week that would not run after service. It turned out to be due to a very small hole in the fuel pick up tube, which was perished, but only slightly holed. This saw ran on petrol, but not on Aspen. Replaced the tube and now it runs happily on either fuel, with same carb settings. So, why would it not run on Aspen? I believe that the pump petrol is the main culprit in causing fuel lines to disintegrate, due to the solvents present, but I think these same solvents also keep the rubber a bit 'sticky' So a fuel line in the early stages of failure is kept glue together by petrol, but when used on Aspen, without solvents, the rubber tends to dry up and therefore leak a little. But , the hose needed changing anyway, and if used on aspen from now on it will not deteriorate like it would under petrol. With regards to price, its not just higher production costs but costs relating to packaging, transportation, warehousing, more transportation and retailing that add the price up. Everyone who handles it makes a bit on it, hence the price.

You resemble a naughty boy? or is that damn predictive text again?

Hi kids, I'm 55, but still got my own teeth!

I would think its down to a fuel starvation. If the tank filter is clean and the pickup is good, then I would be looking at the carb again. If the carb is kitted correctly, then maybe the metering arm is set a bit low. Or there may be a bit of air ingress when the vacuums high (revs) which weakens the mixture. I would bang another (known) carb on, it only takes a couple of minutes, and see what happens.

Cheers Brett, glad I could help:001_smile:

It might be that the clique you want to join is full. Wikepedia defines a clique of being 2-12 people. So there maybe waiting lists to join the selected first choice clique, so you may have to take a place on your second choice and upgrade later. Oh, I nearly forgot, there are'nt any cliques so it does not matter.

You will find that sealed bearings are not 'packed with grease' but only part the filled, for the reason I stated, in line with the SKF extract. I did state that I was talking bearings in general, which maybe I should not have, as the post was about slow speed roller bearings. I also stated that slow speed, dirty applications should have more. Although I deviated from the OP, I hope others have found this of some interest.

In theory, you dont expel grease when you grease a bearing, because you should only be replacing lost grease, if there is no lost grease then there is no need to grease. In practice, of course, we cannot tell how much grease, if any is left in the bearing, so we pump it in, often unneccesarily. If the bearing is in good condition, with good seals, then it really does not need greasing too often. This is the theory behind 'sealed' bearings. When the bearing is in bad condition and wont hold grease, it should really be replaced, but in practice we tend to keep them going by pumping vast amounts of grease in, which disapears quickly through bad seals and overheating. On modern bearings in good nick, even a daily shot may be too much. Its a difficult one to call. If you grease them as infrequently as is technically correct its easy to forget to grease them at all. These comments obviously refer to bearings in general, not to the specific ones mentioned by the OP. I would follow the makers instructions, they know best.

Brilliant:lol: Edit... My moneys on Spud!

"there's no such thing as too much grease"........WRONG High speed, sealed bearings should have a 30% fill of grease, some low speed bearings in dirty applications may have a little more. This is because grease is in fact, only oil, suspended in a soap (often lithium). The soap gives grease its thickness and stops it running away. When the grease is compressed between the ball (or rollers) and race, the soap melts and the oil is released to do its job of lowering friction between the surfaces. Once the ball has passed, the soap immediately returns to its viscous state, suspending the oil once again. This occurs incredibly quickly, but relies on open space within the bearing for this to happen. Too much grease means too little space, hence the soap cannot reform, the oil becomes hotter as the bearing overheats, and as it does not resolidify, it runs out of the bearing. Greasing regularly is good, but over greasing is most certainly bad. The correct choice of grease is also important. High temp greases are inaffective in low temp applications, and vice versa.

Thanks for the good rep, coppiceer, but it wasn't me! This is the first time I have replied to this sort of problem.

Firstly, welcome to Arbtalk. secondly, your McCulloch 842X saw. Although this is very much a domestic saw there is no real reason why the toolless adjuster should not hold the bar forward, maintaining tension. I think the problem may be more due to tensioning technique. The bar on any saw has a bit of up and down movement at the tip when not tightly clamped. Usually the chain slackens as the tip moves upwards, which it tries to do naturally in work. The toolless adjuster will not provide sufficient grip to stop this. Many operators who are unaware of this, tension the chain and clamp it with the weight of the bar hanging down. When put into work it then slackens. If you ensure that the bar tip is held up as you tighten the side cover you will prevent further movement in work and may solve your problem. Failing this, the standard 2 bolt side cover from a 738 should fit this saw and will set you back around £26.00.

Its not actually a switch, but a sliding vent which allows exhaust heat to the filter housing, or not, depending on where it is manually set. Just like the reversable plate of an MS200t but posher.

Brett Zama C1Q-EL19c carb @ £42.84 plus vat and postage . Available next day from my supplier. PM with your contact details if interested. cheers

You will need 1132 640 3200 pump at £35.86 and 1128 640 7112 worm at £5.20 all plus vat. Many pumps fail due to the clutch drum wearing them out when the needle bearing fails, so its worth checking that out. If you still require the parts, I can get them. PM me if interested.

The earlier 40" decks (front mounted) had timed blades driven by tooth belts. They were never a problem unless used for tasks other than a normal lawn. If you used yours, as I use mine, to tackle slightly rougher land, and pushed the deck into areas where no mid mounted deck had ever been and found stones, stumps etc, you will have suffered timing belt failure at times. The new 110cm decks are now V belt driven, so no more problems.

Ditto, I've a box full of weird shaped homemade tools. Some look quite professional, some were made in hurry and look very amateur, but they work OK:thumbup1:

As I said before, I have a lot of contact with ride on mowers and hydrostats are realy not a problem. I think that the bad press comes from those models/brands that use too small (cheap!) a unit for the size of mower. Westwood and countax (same) seem to be cuprits of this. If these machines are then used (abused) beyond their design limits, problems can occur due to overheating Quality brands who match the size of transaxle to the mower correctly do not generally suffer problems. Two of the units that have failed for me have failed in the differential, not the hydro pack. This has been due to heavy towing on slippery surfaces with loads of wheelspin, for which they are not designed. Please do not be afraid of buying a hydrostatic, but, as with anything used, dont buy anything which appears to have been abused. I would keep away from Lawnflite due to the high cost of spares, and although controversial, I would also avoid Countax due to poor build quality IMO. John Deere and Stiga get my vote every time.

A fuel pick up hose in the early stages of failure will cause eratic running at low revs, so its worth checking. check it under both pressure and vac if possible, whilst giving it a good stretch to open up any pinprick holes. Very simple to do. The Ms200t carb with the accelerater pump is very finicky, so its quite possible that you have 2 duff carbs Get hold of an 020t carb if possible as you can be more sure of it when testing.

I look after 100's of garden tractors, mostly hydrostatic, as most companies no longer supply manual versions except in the very cheapest models. In 10 years I have only had to replace 3 hydrostatic gearboxes. but have repaired/replaced many more manual. I personally would not hesitate to buy hydrostatic, much easier to drive, with a faster work rate, and they do not wear out drive belts like manuals.

If you ever get the chance to try a JD let us know what you think.

I think the OP probably meant the impulse line, as there is no tube which attaches from air filter to carb as we know. There is however an impulse tube which attaches from the crankcase to the handle casing and is sealed by the flange of the boot to the carb.

I agree that Etesia make good ride-ons, I dont get many in for service but have been impressed with them. They are however a bit expensive when bought new and tend to be sold to commercial users. I do get a fair few Etesia walk behind mowers in for service and I really can't see why people think they are so special. The handlebars are unstable, the levers are poor, the wheels go all wobbly. In my opinion the John Deere (Sabo) mowers are far stronger. The John Deere garden tractors are also excellent.

from Spuds IPL, part number 5032831-14, I checked the Huskie price at £77.01 plus vat, but my supplier has no stock. I will check price for Zama C1Q EL19 tomorrow and PM you.