GardenKit

Sorry, I should have answered you when you asked earlier. My bad. I have them in stock, not sure of the exact price here at home, but I will pm you in the morning and can post one to you. That is if I have not offended you too much by inferring you 'bodged' your repair. I did not mean it like that.

We almost agree, except that the old 020t carb had larger jetting as it was built before these new emission regs hit, and did not suffer from the lag. The newer carbs are leaned down so much that accelerator pumps were introduced to overcome the 'flat spot', so remove the pump by all means, but richen the idle up to compensate, and then it's not quite as smooth as the old carb. Good enough though in practice.

Its a good job we are here to moderate each others advice Steve, but strangely we normally concur. But never ask me to sing with you again:scared1:

I don't want to be too critical, or damning of others methods, but, in my opinion blanking off the accelerator pump is not so much a 'mod', as a 'bodge'. (I must admit I too have done this bodge in the past) The pump is there for a reason, and that is too overcome the 'flat spot' which occurs in the transition from running on the idle jet, to running on the main jet as the butterfly is opened. At idle the flow through the carburetor is low. Some of the fuel is evaporated and some remains liquid at the bottom of the intake pipe. Suddenly opening the throttle will give an immediate air flow increase to the cylinder. The evaporated fuel follows the air flow, but the liquid fuel takes longer to increase its speed. This means that the first second after opening the throttle, the engine will get a lot of air but very little fuel and the response is bad. This is compensated for by the acceleration pump in the carburettor. Remove this pump and you need to compensate to some degree by richening up the idle L screw, which sort of works but cannot be done in production because of emission regs. Why not simply repair the accelerator pump?

The check valve sits between the metering chamber and the main jet. Its function is to allow fuel out, but not allow air in. Can be tested with a pice of fuel hose pushed over it and blowing/sucking through it. The pump diaphragm is under the cover with one central screw. The one under the 4 screw plate is the metering diaphragm. Its function is to depress the metering arm and open the needle to allow more fuel in from the fuel pump as fuel in in the metering chamber is depleted by being drawn into the carb body via the one way valve. It is commonly believed that the diaphragm is drawn down by vacuum, but in reality it is pushed down by atmospheric pressure entering via the little hole in the 4 screw plate which is why this hole must be clean. The diaphragm must be in good flat order to function. If it is too soft and stretched it will go down too easily and cause flooding. Too flat and hard and it will not respond quickly causing a lack of fuel and weak running.

I did say "try these for starters" Steve:big grin: I did not want to overload the poor guy, besides, I had to leave something for you to chip in:001_smile:

As an engine runs out of fuel the mixture leans out, so if leaning out improves your saw I would guess it is running too rich. This could be:- Carb H screw adjustment. Contamination in metering needle valve (sticking open) Metering arm set too high (not shutting off) Clogged air filter. Try these for starters, Good luck.

This sort of attitude was what brought around the concept of the Aspen Service Centres in the first place. It was found that it was all very well setting up dealers to sell cans of Aspen, but it is a product which really needs a great deal of commitment and understanding from all of the staff in the dealership to really work well for both the dealer and the customer. There will still be dealers who do not meet the criteria to be a Service Centre and will be quite happy to be just an outlet for the product.

I spoke to the parts director at Rochfords today about the Solo spares problems that have been mentioned on this thread. He informed me that although the actual release date for the new products is not yet known, they are able to supply spares at present for existing saws. They have direct contact with the German factory which can identify and supply them with most parts. So for those wanting Solo spares contact Rochfords Garden Machinery, preferably by their 'info' email on their website Contact Us Make sure you quote all the details from the machines information plate, along with a clear description of the spares required. I hope this helps.

If you have not already tried it then make sure the chain brake lever is in the engaged position whilst assembling, as the spring has less pressure then, and the link should remain in place with just a little help from a thin screwdriver while fitting the inner cover. Then put finger pressure on the cover whilst the screws are inserted.

We are proud to be one of the first 'Aspen Service Centres' and have just today received the new signage. Keep an eye out for these signs at any Aspen dealers you visit, they will be rolling out at qualifying dealers throughout the country in the next few weeks. Appointment to Aspen Service Centre status signifies that the dealer has a very full understanding of the product and is totally committed to using Aspen in the workshop where appropriate, and supplying new machines with a fill of Aspen. Expert help and advice on Aspen will be available from these Service Centres.

Not £2000 anymore though, now £3000 and called the X165 John Deere X165

Can't argue with that, but many used machines such as the Kubota G18 will be quite well used to be as cheap as that, and many will require a considerable amount spent on them to bring them up to standard. I may have misunderstood the OP, but I rather thought he was talking about new machines, sorry if I got it wrong. In the sub £2000 bracket you will have a job to get better value than a Stiga or Mountfield machine IMO, and I work on most makes so know them pretty well.

Well, for your sake we had better hope they are not too good, might give you some opposition Andrew:biggrin:

Surely a 'directors loan' is when the director leaves his due dividends in the business to meet the bills, rather than have the business take an overdraft? At least thats how I understand it, but maybe its just different terminology.

Haha, well certainly not MTD! Basically anything on my website,Ride On Mowers and Lawn Tractors plus Mountfield which I have not written the content for yet. Basically the Stiga mid deck machines are slightly upgraded from the Mountfield variants, but Mountfield are slightly cheaper. John Deere are excellent too. Decide whether to collect or mulch first. Ride On Mowers and Lawn Tractors

Solo was due to be relaunched on the UK market in Dec 2015 but there were hitches. Then it was meant to be Feb 2016, but it still did not happen. When I spoke to them earlier this week they still did not have a date, nor were they offering any reasons. Lets hope its a case of "a good thing is worth waiting for"

Stevie, you could have had just as much money out of the business and paid the very minimum NI by taking a very low salary, I earn £675 a month and pay only a couple of pence NI. But then the company profits are voted as dividends. No Ni on these and the company has paid the tax. We always wait until there is sufficient surplus in the bank before taking our dividends, so the first few years were a little tight, but a lot of business owners use a company overdraft to pay their own dividends. This ensures that they line their own pockets but put the company at risk.

There are no new, good quality ride on mowers for £1000, end of. Increase your budget to £1500 and you may have a little luck, but £2000 will get you a very good small machine. Buy cheap, buy twice.

By the look of the sticker its been a while since I saw that machine. I'll send you a new sticker Steve. Got me guessing who's saw...........???? P.F by any chance?

There certainly health benefits from using Aspen, but in broad terms the number of small engine operators in the UK are really so small that I doubt the NHS would notice the difference. Likewise, the sales of Alkylate fuel are really so low in the UK that they fall well below the governments radar, so requests for removal of the tax fall on deaf ears.

I could not agree more. £0.58 of every litre in fuel duty as well as 20% of the total in VAT, so around £6.00 (1/3) of every 5 litre can is paid to the government. Of course a VAT registered user gets the VAT back but the fuel duty is gone forever.

To set the record straight. The RRP of Aspen2 FRT in 5litre cans is £18.98 in 5litre cans. Most dealers will be similar in price, but there are always some who like to be a little different. Some 'mark up' the price, whist some feel the need to discount it. The 'norm' is to sell small quantity at full RRP, but many dealers will give a little discount on a volume purchase. We give 5% discount on 6 or more cans over the counter if asked nicely, whilst giving 10% on a full pallet or 200 litre barrel. If the £15 that Geoff pays includes VAT then the dealer is either a very good friend or a very poor businessman as there is no margin left at that price. If the £15 is plus vat then the price is £18.00 which is pretty well spot on with the 5% discount. We are happy to supply any Arbtalker with Aspen by carrier at the above discounts, and remember that a full pallet of 54 cans will be delivered free to mainland UK (exc highlands and islands)

Browns Log Chop have been around for years. I sold quite few in the late 90's and the worked well enough, and as said, were great in demolition timber. If you had some long hoses and hole in the barn wall you could leave the tractor outside and work indoors in the quiet without exhaust fumes. The input chute, which looks flimsy, is in fact just clipped on and does move around a bit but was no problem.

The Atco brand (name only) was bought by GGP and the range consists of similar models to those found in Stiga and Mountfield with just minor spec tweaks to make the product a little different from the others.