Darkslider

I have inherited a Kawasaki KBH43A strimmer of 2004 vintage from work. It is down on compression and running poorly when warmed up but works well enough to do a lawn or two before it starts playing up, so I saved it from the skip for home duties but don't want to spend much cash on it. Came with the strimmer head attached and the output shaft, brushcutter blade and lower cup, but no sign of the two small washer/disc holders that clamp either side of the blade, and no left hand thread nut to hold it all on either. A quick google and search of Ebay hasn't brought anything up, was wondering if anyone on here is perhaps breaking a similar machine or would know of anywhere I can find the above bits? It's numbers 3, 5 and 7 I need on this diagram if it's any help.

Stihl 261s aren't well received on here due to a few issues, most notably drive sprocket bearings failing regularly. Our 2012 MS261 has had one fail in two years but it doesn't get a lot of use so I can see how it would get frustrating on a saw you need to rely on daily.

The subject of immortal trees is an interesting one, think I read somewhere that some of the oldest trees in existence today were seeded not long after the last glacial ice age finished, some 10k years ago. I wonder if they were looked after and protected from disease and outside influences if they'd carry on until the next ice age?

That's a good point, if the saw ever kicks back I don't want to think about what could happen if the handle fails at the same time!

The drive sprocket and I think the clutch outer drum need to come off and the bearings underneath that.

I was in a similar position a month or so ago and was considering a MS181 or Husky 135. Both are reputedly good little saws for homeowners, light felling and firewood duties. I was looking for a second hand one of either but the prices are really strong so I was getting ready to fork out £250 ish for a new one of either when I found a link to the Solo 646 recommended on another thread on here. Got mine on offer at £189.99 with a load of freebies which makes it a good chunk cheaper than the smaller Stihl and Husky saws, but its spec is much better. 3 hp 46cc motor with mag crankcase and walbro carb, 18" oregon bar and chain, weighs 4.7 kg and comes with 12 months warranty. I'm really pleased with mine for the money, and if I'm honest it's comparable with the Stihl MS261 I use at work, it's only when really buried a deep chunk of hard/knotty wood you can notice the slight power deficit (stihl has 3.8 hp) which is worse because I've only ever used the 261 with a nice sharp full chisel chain and the Solo came with a semi chisel. The only things that put me off saying you should definitely get one is the price, if you can't find one on offer I wouldn't pay full whack for one as I'm not sure it's worth the £420 odd retail. With a bit more power and the 18" bar it might also be a bit more powerful than you're used to and might not be a good idea unless you plan on getting some training, but then if you've been using one for a year already you should be ok.

Well I might have a look at the muffler and see if there's a screen in it, that seems a good place to start. From a quick glance it looks like a completely sealed box though but I've not looked closely.

I'm wondering if my Solo 646 has got one in, if so I'll have to get shot of it as I'm all for easy mods for more power! It's a long shot I know, but have you done any porting/polishing on any of the newer Solo saws spudulike? I might consider it as I'm really happy with mine but with an 18" bar on it does feel like it could do with a bit more oomph when it's really buried.

The crack in the picture almost looks like glass fibre reinforced plastic. I hope I'm mistaken though as that is weak brittle stuff to make any component of a saw from and it's no wonder it's failed. As said though, after 3 months I'd be trying it on for a warranty claim. I've walloped my saw on the ground in similar circumstances, and works saw gets dumped on the ground with zero care frequently and hasn't suffered any damage like that.

So is every saw sold in the UK likely to have one? I'm assuming it's a mesh screen in the exhaust muffler? How easy are they to remove and is the increase in power worth the faffing around?

Yep, looks about right to me considering what some L200s I've seen have been finishing for. Hopefully you'll have no trouble shifting it. I got offered a drumkit as a swap for a 106 GTI I was selling once. Madness.

Yep that's something else that stresses me out, I don't need to but I always spend the weekend before it goes on ebay cleaning and valeting it, fixing those niggly little faults it's had ever since I got it and giving it a service and MOT. Quite often I've bought a car with a few little problems, and only got round to fixing them when it's time to sell it! I really should do them as soon as I've got it rather than driving round with two years with windows that don't work, leaking sunroofs, no heater etc and only fixing it in time for the new owner to benefit

Yep, I hate it. The week I've got a car/truck/van on Ebay is always a stressful one, answering stupid phone calls, filtering genuine buyers from time wasters, arranging viewings and lots of haggling. Does my nut in but I'm too skint to just punt it onto webuyanycar or similar otherwise I think I would for an easy life!

You'll probably find as your truck wasn't specced with flaps as new they haven't fitted the brackets or captive nuts required in the inner wing for them. Without looking I couldn't say how easy it would be to retrofit them but I'm sure it'd just be a case of drilling some holes and fitting rivnuts and bolts, or pop rivetting them on?

If it's a retrofitted 3.9 or larger EFI V8 then it could be worth it, will have plenty more grunt than an equivelant TDI. However if it's an originally fitted V8 it'll be a 3.5 carbed version which doesn't have much more power than a TDI and less than the TD5 so definitely not worth the extra fuel consumption, unless you really like the noise! Think they stopped fitting the V8 to them in 1989 (when they stopped being the 90/100 and started being branded 'Defender') so anything newer than that has had an engine change or is a limited edition.

Spudulike, you're a winner! One of the flywheel housing bolts had unscrewed enough to jam the flywheel just as you and the others said. Removed them all and threadlocked them back in and it's running fine now. We were quite lucky it was only running on idle when it jammed, so cut out and wouldn't turn over when attempted to re start. If the bolt had jammed at full revs it might've been a different story! I've still got the old one that suffered a shattered big end bearing and broken piston rings so had a look at that, but no signs of any impact damage/scoring on the flywheel of that one so must've been something else that caused it.

Have done a search but not found any solid answers. I'm likely to only use my saw occasionally, and am worried about mixing up a 5l can of fuel and then having to bin most of it if it's not used after a couple of months. Due to cost and the distance to my nearest dealer Aspen is out of the question, so have been looking into adding a fuel stabilizer. I see Briggs and Stratton have a product that is guaranteed to keep petrol stable for 24 months which sounds ideal, even if they are purported to use Aspen themselves! However my query is I've read in a few places that select Stihl 2T oils have stabilizers in them as well, so if I could find out which brand I needed it would be an all in one solution. The Stihl USA site says their oils contain stabilizing agents, but I can't find any mention on the UK site. Do we get different oils to the States? If not, which one do I want to be buying for the best protection, HP, Super or Ultra?

I can imagine the 16 year old logic! 'Crap, it's filling up just as fast as we can bail it out! Keep going as fast as you can and hope someone comes round soon so we can warn them!'

It does feel like it's hitting something definitely solid in both directions, your theory would make sense. I would have thought if there was cylinder damage then a) the piston wouldn't move up and down so freely in the first place and b) when it did reach the damaged part of the cylinder it would feel rough or sticky, or I'd get a grating feeling or something. Not just the knock against something solid. I will give the rest of the crankcase externals a good once over in the morning and let you know what I find thanks again for your help hopefully that's all it is and it'll be a five minute fix

That was my first thought Stubby, but a bit confused as to what would be going on in the crankcase to restrict the crank rotating? I'll check all the externals for loose screws as per Gardenkits suggestion next though I think.

Though I've done a bit of car mechanics I haven't much experience with 2T engines, so had a few questions about our Stihl BG86 blower that seized (?) while running at work today. First things first, fuel mix was spot on, no issues there. Multiple other machines (Stihl chainsaw, second blower and strimmers) were all running from the same stuff with no issues so this isn't a lubrication related failure I don't think. As you can hopefully see in the low quality phone video the crankshaft is only completing half a rotation, the piston is locking up against something solid at the top of the stroke and at the bottom as well. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of scoring to the piston that I can see and the rings look intact, however the skirt has turned a lovely brown colour. Is this normal or a symptom of overheating? I'd always thought a motor seized due to lack of lubrication the piston would expand with the heat and weld itself to the cylinder, however that doesn't seem to have happened here as the range in which it can move it feels completely free. Can anyone else suggest what might have gone wrong? Something else which might not be related, but we've had two of these blowers from new and they've both failed around the same time. The first was a short while before this one and it shat itself catastrophically, piston rings broke up and the crankshaft main bearing shattered. Any thoughts would be appreciated, don't want to waste any more time on it if it turns out to be irrepairable. But if it does look like a straightforward pot and piston job to get it 100% again then it could be worth fixing.

Well got my 646 yesterday. Came with everything in the box, good quality bag and gloves, Oregon bar and chain, 1ltr Solo chain oil and 100ml Solo 2T oil, spray cleaner, tool kit, mixing bottle and manuals/certificates etc. Basically everything you need for your first day's use minus the fuel. Haven't assembled it yet but had a quick look at everything and it all looks like solid, well put together kit. The saw feels sturdy and chunky without being too heavy, even the freebies feel good quality so that's a result. Have got a lot of cross cutting and a windblown tree to sort out this weekend so will be able to give a better idea of what it's really like then. All in all it looks to be ok, a couple of things disappointed me a bit though. First is the switching system, I was hoping for a single multi switch like Stihl use, but this has a separate on/off switch, choke and half throttle button. The on off switch is fine but the choke knob and half throttle button feel a bit flimsy and they're both quite exposed, so we'll see how long they last. The chain brake lever also doesn't feel has solid as the Stihl saws I've used. It looks a bit cheaply made compared to the rest of the saw, everything else is really nicely finished but this has a cheap look about it, like it's a lesser quality moulding. It's also not quite as positive as a Stihl, I would've preferred a definite 'clunk' on and off of the brake but it the engagement on this one feels a bit softer and a tiny bit vague. It could be the handle pivot is binding slightly as it's brand new maybe and it'll bed in a bit with use, but we'll see how I'm getting on. Maybe I'm not being fair comparing apples to apples as all the Stihl saws I've used have been £4-500 jobs and this was a fraction of that price, but those are the only two things I'd change about this saw if I could so on balance I'm really happy with it. Just thought I'd be completely fair in case anyone else is thinking of picking one up.

I was going to recommend the Dewalt Recip boots if you only want some cheap ones that you might trash quickly. Mine have done a couple of years now which is good going for me, and they're not leaking yet! Only £40 as well.

Yeah I thought as much but as it was 18" or nothing I didn't really have a choice. I'll see how I get on with it, if it does feel like it's really lacking in power then I'll just make sure to give the bar and chain a hard time and replace them with a smaller combo when they're worn out. Good to know I won't struggle for spares, hopefully drive sprockets etc will be easy to come by as well.

That sounds really promising! Where did you manage to find it for £169, I'm jealous as I'm not sure the 18" bar and a few freebies are worth the extra £20 I've paid for the ebay one. I would imagine yours cuts pretty handy with the smaller bar on. How does the rest of the saw feel, does it seem decent quality like it'll last well? Keep us updated on how you get on with it