GardenKit

There is no electric start version of the Honda GCV engine, so even a retro fit is not an option.

Ah ha, the old 'wet tongue' test. Commonly used by garden shed mechanics:001_tongue: But are you sure there is no spark? I often get customers coming in saying there is no spark and they are often wrong. Sparks seldom fail. How are you testing for a spark?

I get a lot of this Ray, its quite difficult to be diplomatic and not offend them too much. They always want to blame the mower or the repairer and not accept that they themselves are falling apart!

I use an ancient Atterton&Ellis, cost me £70 10 years ago!

They even want their cylinder mowers back now so I have had to crack on with them. I tend to save them up for a week or so at this time of year as its more efficient to do several at once by the time I have found the paint and cleared a path to the grinder. Not my favourite job as I find it hard to make money on them. I charge £95 for a cassette type full service but have just been told that another local dealer, much larger than me, is quoting £160 for the same job. I shall have to check this out, its quite easy to get out of touch with competitors pricing.

Another pallet ordered today, the fourth this year. Two years ago I had to work hard to sell Aspen. Now it virtually sells itself.

Haha, this must be the biggest derail of recent months!!

Nice one Eddie, a couple more 'gaps on the maps' filled!

John Deere parts are very reasonably priced

Weird, it went 1st class on Thursday. Keep me informed.

Just another Manic Monday.... The sun has been shining and suddenly everyone who has there mower in with us for service wants them back.. Done... NOW. And everyone who forgot to get them serviced wants to bring them in and have them done..NOW. I wish it was Sunday.

Do not be fooled, John Deere mowers are cheaper than you may think. You will not better them for price in a mower of the same quality. But the Stiga is good too, the Pro 53 is brilliant. Works very well and very well built.

Hell Steve, thats going to hurt tomorrow!

There are mulching mowers, then there are good mulching mowers. Stiga make the best mulching mowers, that is to say they are best at making the clippings disappear as if by magic. And I have tried many makes over the last 25 years. The John Deere JS63 is the only machine I have found to match the Stiga. But even Stiga's are not actually magic, and are only as good as the operator. If you want to see no clippings at all, then you must cut regularly, and on fast growing grass once a week may not be enough. My lawn is mostly ryegrass and in a good growing season will need cutting every 3-4 days to get a perfect finish. Leave it a week and I sometimes see an unsightly residue on the top. The golden rule of any mowing, but especially mulching is to onle cut 1/3 of the total length. This leaves 2/3 'stubble' into which the cut clippings will get lost. If you increase to say 50-50 then there will be insufficient stubble to lose the clippings and they will lie on the top. Also, to get the most out of a mulching machine in adverse conditions you need to present the minimum grass possible to the blade to give it time to process the grass. This is achieved by a slow forward speed, or a high cut, or a combination of both. Understand the machine and work with it, and you will achieve a great finish. Be impatient and you will make a mess. Use it correctly and the grass will grow thicker and greener and moss will disappear. Its best to keep a collector on standby for when conditions get out of hand.

Many mowers now have an auto choke system and no throttle control. There is, after all, no need to control the revs on a mower. If they are not flat out they are not working properly.

I have to admit that it does worry me. I have my doubts that we will be able to keep these things going for as long as we do the 'old school' saws. Only time will tell.

Indeed...

I love servicing all John Deere machines, but the X540 is just incredible. The engineering is superb and they are an absolute joy to work on. They clean up nice too! Just finished this one.

Glad you are pleased with it.

Looking on Husqvarna.com the largest on the UK market is 4litres.

Sold my first 550XP a couple of weeks ago to a diehard Stihl user who decided to dabble on the dark side. He is chuffed to bits with it. Go for it Rich.

I have never done one on a 338, but I guess it is no different to any others where the hose is a sealing fit in a hole through the tank wall. I cut the hose on an acute angle, which leaves a long, thin 'tail' tp push through the hole. This will poke through far enough to grab hold with some long nose pliers from inside. Ease the passage by lubricating with vaseline, or in the absence of vaseline try some KY. Pull it gently, but firmly through, then cut the end square and fit the filter.

Well said difflock. And its also worth noting that each manufacturer make many different models, of different qualities and sizes, to be sold at different prices for different machines. Some of the smaller cheaper models are not as good as their more expensive ones, but often a persons experience with one model will then tar the whole range with the same brush.

Arthur, did your dealer say he had lots of Huskies suffering from using petrol, or did he say he had lots of saws suffering from stale or contaminated fuel?

Hi Tetatate Sadly there are indeed some dealers out their who may lift your leg, but on the whole we are a professional and honest bunch who treat both out customers, and our manufacturers, fairly and impartially. Most problems we see during a warranty period are unfortunately caused by operator error and not by a manufacturing defect. Resolving these issues can sometimes cause a bit of friction with the customer. Stale, or contaminated fuel is the most common fault we see on small engines. Pump petrol is chemically unstable and is generally considered to only have a operating life of 30 days before quality and performance have dropped to an unacceptable level. The high ethanol content is also responsible for absorbtion of water from the atmosphere which settles at the bottom of the tank, becoming the first thing that the fuel filter picks up. Its always best to give the can and machine a shake before use. Aspen fuel is an Alkylate fuel which is chemicaly stable, giving it a life of 3-5 years. It has no ethanol or other solvents and does not absorb water. Aspen is pre-mixed with high quality 2 stroke oil at 50:1. Aspen is the fuel recommended by Husqvarna for use in their 2 stroke equipment, and will entirely alleviate any fuel related issues. Had your saw been on Aspen there would be no question of fuel related damage (assuming clean filling) and had a fault still occurred it would certainly have been covered by warranty. For more information visit the Aspen website via the link on the left of this page, or read my "One reason I use Aspen" thread. Barrie