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Walk Behind trimmer - anyone use one?

2K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  old lawnboy 
#1 ·
I have one of these Ariens walk behind trimmers. The thing does what it was desinged to do, but I have a tough time with it. I end up spending more time replacing line and cutting. I am trying to clear brush and once that line hits anything over 1/2" it breaks. I have upgraded the line - but it still doesn't last very long.
Has anyone tried any other materials besides trimmer string in one of these? I don't want to create a huge safety problem, but for the purposes of ground clearing I need something that works better.
 

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#3 ·
I agree with Roger. I can cut some pretty good weeds and grass with .105 line in my string trimmer but 1/2" sounds more like the start of a scrub tree and would require a blade of some type. Maybe someone makes a replacement head with an upgrade blade. Bill
 
#5 ·
I end up spending more time replacing line and cutting.
Yup, I gave up using mine because of that.
Sometimes I wouldn't make it a minute before the line broke. I tried soaking the line in water as a few people said it might be dry, no luck. Tried numerous ways of securing it to the disk, nothing. Even made a new disk with the holes for the string to go thru further in, away from the edge thinking it was breaking because it was too close to the edge, nada.
I was always going to try 3/16 cable but never got around to it.
As for the brush blade, it worked great....on brush, but if you had tall grass mixed in with the brush it would wind up around the blade and shaft.
Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have bought it.........Mike
 
#6 ·
I was running .170 line in this thing and it still breaks really often.
I do have a Stihl with a brush blade on it, but thought this might be a little quicker.

This thing may get reserved for just grass once I get the area cleaned up. I was just out there this afternoon and it seems the Sthil cleared pretty quickly with just line.
 
#7 ·
So I put some chain on the bottom of the trimmer and it did do a much better job than the string, although as you can see it did eventually break. This was the most use I had gotten out of it at one time. I may consider one more final attempt at putting the next size chain on it and seeing how it does.
 

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#9 ·
I never liked the saw chain idea for fear it would break and fly out and hit me or someone else. Oregon makes a Heavy duty Professional Dual Polymer cutting line that is available in .170 and either in Square or round. I have found the square line cuts better. I comes in a donut package of 1/2 pound (36 feet), 1 pound, 3 pound or 5 pound packages. The dual polymer has a center that is stronger and will not break as easy as common trimmer line. Also keep your line in a cool place, Oregon recommends soaking it in water 24 hours before use in most cases. I keep my line in old refrigerator, moist and cool. As line dries out it gets more brittle. If you can find a dealer that has Oregon products buy a 1/2 pound and see how it works. I use .095 in hand held trimmer and it will eat up a lot of big stuff and does not break easily. The square line is a little noisier then the round but it does cut better.
 
#10 ·
The problem I run into is debris on the ground. If the life hits a piece of tree or a section of stump sticking up it breaks. There are also some sapplings that if to big around will take out the line.
I was surprised that when the chain did let go, it didn't go very far. I think these bigger wheeled trimmers run a lower spindle rpm than the hand held trimmers.
I have used that thick oregon line but never soaked it. I will give it a shot and see if it works better.
If not I see this thing going up on craigslist before to long...
 
#11 · (Edited)
I bought one of these walk-behind trimmers from a local farm-hardware store only to take it back for a refund the very same day because it lacked enough power to do anything except lawn grass around the house. Actually, it was sold as for use as a residential mower. It did wet my teeth for a powerful one that would cut the big stuff. About that time I learned of an old Murry riding mower a neighbor had pushed into the weeds behind his barn because the tranny quit. I traded him some hay for it and built the Mother Of All Trimmers, MOAT for short.

I first built the frame that supports the engine out of wood pieces to get a visual idea of how big, tall, wide and such. Then I welded up the frame using 1" square tubing. No plans other than the wood thing. Just did what looked OK. I told my neighbor I used "everything but the oink" from his old rider: Engine (14.5hp Briggs), battery, fuel tank, pulleys, spindles, ignition switch and throttle, wing nuts to hold down the cover which I fabricated by using both top corners of the original hood with a few other pieces of the floor boards, etc. Originally, I used narrow, 16" wire wheels but although they looked good, they sank into the ground too easily since the MOAT weighs 180lbs. So, now it is fitted with 16" air filled wheel barrow wheels/tires.

I made the string trimmer head. Everyone has probably seen the common, white kitchen cutting boards. About 1/2" thick and really very durable. I think there are 3 round pieces of the same size stacked up. They all are drilled for short lengths of 3/4" PEX plumbing tubing that carry the 155 twine. I cut the twine 24" long, tie a knot in the middle and feed it down into the tubing and out two holes. So, about 12" of twine times two exits each of three points around the head. The PEX tubing is free to pivot and lets the twine move out of the way so it will last longer. I recently went around our 8 acre fence line using only one load of twine. It wears off on the ends but never breaks. Once I was cutting tall grass from a neighbor's wire fence not being able to see what was in that mess and all of a sudden, out came a tomato cage swirling around with the trimmer's head. It shook the whole machine (which kept running) as well as me but didn't hurt anything. It took a few minutes to un-ravel it from the head.

Since it is heavy I built a special draw bar for the receiver hitch on our utility vehicle. I attach the MOAT to the draw bar at the metal tab I welded to the very front of the trimmer. Then I can tow it across the field or down the road.

Ray
 

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#13 ·
I think you're right Bob E. Most I've seen are pretty light duty. The big company who sells them makes one or two that have big engines (8-10hp) and are self-propelled but they are pretty expensive. I don't remember the name of the one I bought and took back but it had the Honda engine, around 5-6hp and it stalled several times as well as broke the trimmer line. Plus, there was no way to brace your foot against it to pull the start rope without almost turning it over in the process.

To the credit for the store, they gave me a full refund without any bother.

There are some more pics of the one I made at: http://www.mytractorforum.com/108-w...520610-home-brew-walk-behind-weed-wacker.html if anyone is interested.

Ray
 
#14 ·
D.R. trimmers might be the name you were thinking of. They make some larger self propelled models that are made to cut brush. I think that is the company that I saw had an attachment to ATV that has several stationary blades that you drive straight into a small tree or brush and it slices the tree off near the ground. Check out their web site of YouTube. If you have an ATV it might be the way to go, if not an expensive brush cutter. The video I saw, it worked good, but what would happen if the tree or brush was to tough or large. They showed driving it into the brush a pretty good speed. If for some reason it did not cut it, it would be a quick stop.
 
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