Stihl leaf blower reached the end of the road

[Oregonhunter5]

No argument there. When I can no longer do my own work of that kind here, I've got to find another place to live. Because our property is big enough that there is a lot to do. And a lot of it is stuff that needs doing over and over again all the time. I don't think Mrs. Merkt quite realizes how much work it really is. She looks out a window and sees trees. I can go out there and work the entire day long, and next day she looks out and sees the same thing, it doesn't look any different to her.

If your blowing wet leaves I get a much larger blower. Works way better

 

[cigars]

No more Stihl for me. I had their Sh-86 shredder vac. It worked ok for a couple of seasons but then I had to replace the coil. The design was not well thought out for attaching the vac bag and the vac tube as it was a pain to work with. Last year it started up with the no-start crap again so I chucked it. Replaced it with the Echo equivalent. The Echo just works and you don't have to spend all of your time fumbling with the vac tube.
For lighter jobs, I have Rigid 18v blower. Works great on sidewalks and driveway and moves wet leaves with little effort.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

No more Stihl for me. I had their Sh-86 shredder vac. It worked ok for a couple of seasons but then I had to replace the coil. The design was not well thought out for attaching the vac bag and the vac tube as it was a pain to work with. Last year it started up with the no-start crap again so I chucked it. Replaced it with the Echo equivalent. The Echo just works and you don't have to spend all of your time fumbling with the vac tube.
For lighter jobs, I have Rigid 18v blower. Works great on sidewalks and driveway.

What's a shredder vac?
That sounds like a hard product for anyone to make.

 

[cigars]

What's a shredder vac?
That sounds like a hard product for anyone to make.

They're great. They suck up a ton of leaves and shred them into a bag. Then you dump the bag into the yard waste bin. I can shred it my whole front yard into one bin where it would take four or five bins for the same amount of unshred leaves. Makes quick work out of it. They are decent blowers as well. If I had more land I wouldn't worry about it but I am in suburbia.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

They're great. They suck up a ton of leaves and shred them into a bag. Then you dump the bag into the yard waste bin. I can shred it my whole front yard into one bin where it would take four or five bins for the same amount of unshred leaves. Makes quick work out of it. They are decent blowers as well. If I had more land I wouldn't worry about it but I am in suburbia.

We've got a giant sickamor tree. I might burn that machine up. Like you said, I let them blow around till they dry up and I do something about it

 

[cigars]

We've got a giant sickamor tree. I might burn that machine up. Like you said, I let them blow around till they dry up and I do something about it

I have around six huge Doug Firs on my property. They constantly crap branches all over the place. Some days I need the chainsaw, somedays I can get away with the Sawzall. The shredder vac is powerless against the Doug Firs.

 

[Pete F]

For a blower, I use an Echo backpack blower. It is the one most landscape and government landscapers use. I have had it for 8 years with no problems. We have to blow a 200 foot driveway often from fir needles. We are surrounded by 100+ foot fir trees.

I had two recent primer bulb cracks and one of them also had a missing seal between the screw assembly on primer bulb and the chainsaw. Replace both and they run perfectly - again. One was a chainsaw and the other was a small rototiller.

Ace hardware has repair kits that will work on most.

 

[CoastRange57]

I have owned probably hundreds of the smaller engines. I finally ended up with Stihl about 15 years ago and stayed there. Running non ethanol is pretty key. I also liked using a synthetic 2 cycle oil at 50: 1. I bought a new Stihl chain saw, blower, trimmer with brush head about 2 years ago.

I no longer use them for paying work, and these are my last units. Since I built out my place in Central Oregon, I used the saw hard all summer, the blower blowing snow a couple times. I tried mixing my own gas with ethanol in it. Miserable failure, ended up dumping it all. Tried non ethanol, but could not get above 87 octane. I started buying that real expensive sh*t in the can branded Stihl, and have not had a problem since. Everything starts on second or third pull and it runs strong, and I get a lot of cuts out of a tank on the saw.

I think I bought 3 of those one gallon cans ( $ 30 eah) over the summer, and limbed up and condensed 47 juniper trees as well as cut down and buck to 4 foot logs about 13 other juniper trees, some pretty good size 35 foot plus. The ease of starting every time was worth every dollar.

 

[6Corsa6]

I am surprised no one mentioned taking the carb apart to see if it's bad. I have acquired a lawnmower and weedwacker that didn't run. All they needed were new fuel lines and a carb. $15-20 later they are up and running. Not sure on the price for a sthil carb but my lawnmower carb was about $10 on amazon. Definitely use ethanol free fuel if you can find it. Saves the fuel lines and diaphragm in the carb, also the fuel is stable for longer time

 

[JohnnyMac]

At $150 bucks for 10 years' use, I'd say you got your money's worth. I'd put it on Craigslist for $50 and buy myself a new one. I have the little Husqvarna unit from Lowes and it has served me well for the last few years anyway. I had a Poulan before that and it didn't quite make it a year before it just quit... This little Husky, I pull it out of the garage, prime it, set the choke, 1st pull it sputters & dies, turn off choke, second pull she's screaming and blowing like a....well....a...uh.....umm....yeah, it starts.

 

[Mikej]

I am surprised no one mentioned taking the carb apart to see if it's bad. I have acquired a lawnmower and weedwacker that didn't run. All they needed were new fuel lines and a carb. $15-20 later they are up and running. Not sure on the price for a sthil carb but my lawnmower carb was about $10 on amazon. Definitely use ethanol free fuel if you can find it. Saves the fuel lines and diaphragm in the carb, also the fuel is stable for longer time

I do all that. Though, the little diaphragm carbs on equipment that needs to run in all positions are a real pain in the butt. Tiny passages can get plugged to the point you do need to replace the carb. I've been very lucky with those. The mower, edger, pressure washer etc with float bowls a pretty easy to just take apart and clean.

 

[WAYNO]

I've owned many two-stroke lawn and garden tools over many years. Two stroke lawn tools are very simple and relatively easy to repair. That said, it becomes an accepted challenge to just see how long we can keep them running. Fuel supply and carburetion are almost always the culprits. But when finally, it requires a repair every time we use them, and they cannot be counted on to be picked up for a quick 5-minute job, then finally my time is worth something too, and it's time to retire the tool.

So, a new tool, lasting 6, 8, 10 or more years, is really an inexpensive time saver.

And I have switched to Stihl, nearly exclusively. I do not believe they are any better than the cheaper big-box brands, but parts and service are always available, nearly everywhere.




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[teflon6string]

No argument there. When I can no longer do my own work of that kind here, I've got to find another place to live. Because our property is big enough that there is a lot to do. And a lot of it is stuff that needs doing over and over again all the time. I don't think Mrs. Merkt quite realizes how much work it really is. She looks out a window and sees trees. I can go out there and work the entire day long, and next day she looks out and sees the same thing, it doesn't look any different to her.

I recently re-examined my desire to buy a secluded piece of property with big trees. At a barn/estate sale the owner said he was selling everything - house, shop and acreage.

I asked him how much he wanted and his response was, "Let me ask you something first. Just how much time and energy do you have for cleaning, trimming, cutting, gathering and burning? I spend ALL my time just maintaining this property, and then I start over, all year every year. I'm done with it!"

Anyhow, back on topic... Be it motorcycles or lawn/garden equipment (especially 2-strokers), I've often found that a fresh $5 sparkplug works wonders. If that doesn't make it right, then I have to decide if I want to go through something piece by piece - which may or may not fix it...

 

[The Heretic]

I recently re-examined my desire to buy a secluded piece of property with big trees. At a barn/estate sale the owner said he was selling everything - house, shop and acreage.

I asked him how much he wanted and his response was, "Let me ask you something first. Just how much time and energy do you have for cleaning, trimming, cutting, gathering and burning? I spend ALL my time just maintaining this property, and then I start over, all year every year. I'm done with it!"

This is true. I have 20 acres. Ten of it was logged in 2018 - cleaning up after that is still ongoing. I had 3-4 acres around the house thinned and it took several years to clean that up (burn piles, rent a dozer to remove brush and level out ground after logging left huge ruts and holes, and remove some stumps) - I still have logs left over from that.





Every year I have trees fall that need to be cleaned up or trees that need to be cut down because they may fall on a building or car:



Every year I need to clean the driveway (paved it with asphalt). Much of the driveway has moss growing on it. If you leave the litter on it, then grass and most grows on much of the litter. If the litter is in the sun where the moss won't grow, then the needles/leaves/etc. stick to the asphalt and it needs to be pressure washed (as I mentioned before, a power sweeper would be a lot faster but is expensive). The worst parts grass grows in the litter. Around the edges grass/weeds/etc grows onto the asphalt and then dirt collects there and nature just tries to take over.

Moss/etc. gets on the roof/butters and decks and patios. I have a slate patio that is a PITA to keep clean. Again, moss, weeds, grass/etc. grow in the cracks - I even have a small fir tree growing in one crack. I am going to try to get the time to clean it this year and then use perma-sand so things don't so easily grow in the cracks. But it is a dirty messy job. This took 4 days and it just comes back every year:





I use a 2 wheel "tractor" (looks like a tiller, but has a PTO to drive different attachments) to mow the immediate acreage around my house. That takes about a week. I also have to spray thistles, scotch broom and invasive Himalayan blackberry brambles, or they will take over (they had when I moved here). A weedeater won't cut it - too much work and way too slow - you will fall behind in no time.

Flatter more level ground would allow a tractor with a flail or brush cutter behind it to keep a lot of it under control, but I would still need the small two wheel tractor to get into the spots a 4 wheel tractor could not. The large tractors are expensive - $20K or so used so I don't have one. I rented the dozer.

Yes, it is a lot of work and I fell behind the last 3 years due to my health and job. I hope to catch back up this year while unemployed. I should be out there right now.

I like living here, but I won't be able to do this forever and it is too much work. I could cut that in half with the right equipment, but that is expensive and it is still a lot of work - especially for a single guy in poor health/condition.

 

[WAYNO]

I am at the time of my life that I could finally move to a rural property of my dreams. It's also the time of my life that it would be a struggle for me to maintain such a place.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I recently re-examined my desire to buy a secluded piece of property with big trees. At a barn/estate sale the owner said he was selling everything - house, shop and acreage.

I asked him how much he wanted and his response was, "Let me ask you something first. Just how much time and energy do you have for cleaning, trimming, cutting, gathering and burning? I spend ALL my time just maintaining this property, and then I start over, all year every year. I'm done with it!"

Anyhow, back on topic... Be it motorcycles or lawn/garden equipment (especially 2-strokers), I've often found that a fresh $5 sparkplug works wonders. If that doesn't make it right, then I have to decide if I want to go through something piece by piece - which may or may not fix it...

Sounds like he's a great salesman!!!
at least he's honest

 

[The Heretic]

Don't even get me going on the mice

 

[Doomtown]

We run Redmax EBZ7500's and Stihl BR600's at my shop. A-Plus in Vancouver does our repair work beyond cord and starters and anything my mechs can't do. General policy is repair approvals at about 50-60% of cost (which turns out to be 2-3 light repairs or 1-2 heavy repairs) at which time we buy new and keep the old one for parts. Typical lifespan for us is about 2 years.

On the topic of property, I've been on the market for 15-20 acres for a while. Biggest issue is being young and not a lot of expendable income but wanted property with legal access, timber/mineral rights, and access to water. Plenty of cheap property out there, property you can actually get to is another story. I have a buddy who bought close to 80 acres in NW Washington for like 25 grand. It's dreamy, only problem is it's flanked on all four sides by privately owned land - even larger properties (all 200+ acre plots). He has to illegally hike just to get to his land and camp, and one of those properties happens to have a private gun club on it, lol.

 

[The Heretic]

My Stihl Kombi is still running after about 7 years. I don't use it a lot, mostly with the chainsaw attachment on it to trim branches and small trees. I got a Stihl chainsaw at the same time, and a Toro lawnmower before moving here. I have a pressure washer too and a 2 wheel tractor - both of these I use a lot. All run on pump gas that is left in the tank. No problems yet.

 

[Mikej]

All run on pump gas that is left in the tank. No problems yet.

Sometimes I wonder if people like you and me are blessed? I have a Little Wonder 30" single side cut hedge trimmer. close to 30 years old. That's an Echo motor on that. Original hoses too It just sits up on a shelf with a 1/4 tank of gas for most of it's life. Takes a lot of pulls to get started after sitting for several months, but runs like new when it gets going. Back then there were low/high mixture screws on them. If it runs funky just snug the screw down to clear the orifice and back it out to fine tune low/high mixture.

Same luck with the mower, chainsaw, edger....knocking on wood.