General fix it topics.

[worth1]

First one is the dreaded line trimmer recoil spring catastrophe.
Echo for me
Wasn't hard to replace by going to an echo dealer down the street and getting the spring.
You can buy the whole assembly but they didn't have one but had the coil spring.
It comes captured in a retaining wire so don't mess with it and take it off.
If you do it's game over.
Then look up a YouTube video and it'll show you how it's done.
In the old days I would have figured it out because I've had to do this stuff before.
Then there was the great drill press spring fiasco a few years ago.
Curiosity killed the cat.
But I'm lazy and saw someone else do it.
Mine isn't the same one in the video but it's close enough and the exact same spring.

[zeuspaul]

Or do as I do and get an electric trimmer with a manual feed. No more issues with starting or bump heads that don't work well.

[worth1]

Or do as I do and get an electric trimmer with a manual feed. No more issues with starting or bump heads that don't work well.

I've considered it.
This is a large professional line trimmer I bought many many years ago from the dealership ((not)) Home Depot and it still works.

[Cole_Robbie]

Or do as I do and get an electric trimmer with a manual feed. No more issues with starting or bump heads that don't work well.

I've considered it.
This is a large professional line trimmer I bought many many years ago from the dealership ((not)) Home Depot and it still works.

I recently had to replace the gear box on my husqvarna trimmer head. It took me forever to figure out that the trimmer head is reverse threaded. I have had that trimmer 7 years and it has never had pump gas or been left outside. Everyone's gas is a little different depending on where you live, but in Illinois we max out the ethanol content. Any small engine that has pump gas sit inside it over a winter will likely never run well again. It dissolves the insides of the carburetor.

[zeuspaul]

I've considered it.
This is a large professional line trimmer I bought many many years ago from the dealership ((not)) Home Depot and it still works.

I still have a couple of gas powered, a Stihl two stroke and a Honda four stroke that likely work but haven't been started in years. I have a Makita 18 volt but it doesn't get used because I have four 36 volt Makitas and a dozen batteries. I have a bunch of bump heads that don't get used. The Makitas have manual heads pre loaded with various strings. One is fitted with a blade. I can load a Makita fixed manual head with about four feet of string/2 depending on the size of the string. I have a bunch of string that doesn't get used. I have settled on Rotary Vortex 0.13. Rotary Vortex 0.15 is a bit too large as the trimmer struggles with that size. I still use it on the most difficult tasks but I have to feed out a shorter length for less wind resistance.

My gas powered trimmers handle the 0.15 string better but I prefer electric because I don't have to deal with gas and the electric ones always start instantly. I use them to *mow* several acres of brush and weeds.

[JRinPA]

How bout when the echo comes to a stop while in use and the pull cord won't pull? LOL asking for a friend.

They may have run it without oil and after freeing up the piston, it looks like the ring is gone. All I saw through the exhaust port was the different color on the piston where the ring WAS.

Worth fixing? Or will the cylinder be scored beyond worth?

[worth1]

How bout when the echo comes to a stop while in use and the pull cord won't pull? LOL asking for a friend.

They may have run it without oil and after freeing up the piston, it looks like the ring is gone. All I saw through the exhaust port was the different color on the piston where the ring WAS.

Worth fixing? Or will the cylinder be scored beyond worth?

Sounds like toast to me.

[karstopography]

I took apart my Stihl lithium ion battery hedge trimmer. It wasn’t working. One, a deposit from plant resins had built up over time and spread the cutting blades apart so they wouldn’t cut. Second, there was a terrible noise coming from inside the housing. I used a lithium ion drill operated gently abrasive bit and a file to remove the deposits and sharpen the cutting edges. I lubricated everything inside the housing that looked like grease was supposed to be there.

Put it back together and lo and behold it worked like a champ. The previous owners of the lot had shaped the native yaupon holly and other understory vegetation into fanciful hedges. We like the look, but it takes approximately 2 hours a session to maintain these hedges into form. This time of year, it’s every two weeks kind of deal. I’m getting some serious shoulders on my old body. Usually, I can do the hedges on one battery, but sometimes it takes two. A quality hedge trimmer is essential equipment.

[worth1]

Problems with stuck garage disposal.
It continued to get worse and worse.
To the point I had to turn it on morning and evening to keep it from freezing up.
First I was using a spread out pair of pliers to turn it.
Then I discovered that there was a place on the bottom that a hex wrench fit.
Looked at all sorts of pictures of what it looked like on the inside.
I put ice in the thing and ran it over and over.
Let it sit all day and night with vinegar in it.
Sprayed CRC 226 on the place where to put the hex wrench.
Ran it for some time like 30 minutes putting yet more water and ice in it.
Poured mineral oil in it.
Now the darn thing is as happy as a clam and doesn't freeze up.
Last thing in the world I wanted to do was change out a darn garbage disposal.

[karstopography]

Capacitor went out on the Central Air Conditioner unit. I talked to one contractor I know and at first thought it might be the condensate drain plugged up, but that wasn’t it. Capacitors aren’t liking the heat either.