Life of a wead wacker

[Louie's gone fishing]

I've had an Echo for 10 years, run it hard, do a lot of trimming, use about a gallon of premix each month. How long should this Echo last? I change the a/f, f/f and plug frequently and grease the trimmer head, but do nothing else, not even adjust the carb. I use Red Line and mix it at 50:1. It starts on the first or second pull and runs great. Is there any more maintenance to do? Do you just run it until it won't go anymore and then fix/tune it?

 

[therealdeal770]

back when i did lawn maintanance ive seen some echos and stills go at least 3 years of 4-6 hr a day using only replacing the cutting head every so often.what amazed me even more were the backpack blowers that ran wide open sometimes 10 hrs a day and never missed a beat in 3 years

 

[LarryL]

My 6 year old Echo is running strong and never sees any maintenance beyond, plug, fuel filter and air filter, nothing. Just keep 'em spinning fast or they overheat.

 

[80caprice]

Might not be a echo... but its a little 18cc weedeater brand. (can't beat $25 bucks, and used once or twice by your aunt) and have had it for 5 years.... Run it wide open for about a hour each week (sometimes twice) and before I use it, I fill it up, by the time I'm done its running on fumes... I have never changed the airfilter (cleaned it once or twice) or the spark plug (cleaned it once and gapped it) and have never changed the fuel filter. Starts the first or second pull without even priming it. I'm also wondering when it'll die so I can get a much better one. I run that synthetic stuff that poulan sells at the 40:1 ratio. I have opened the muffler up and removed the spark arrestor. Bore/piston looks great! I have taken the shaft off (its a curved shaft) and poured a little gear oil down it, which keeps the end of the shaft cool now. And have hit various things that got caught on the head and stopped it immediately, take whatever it is off, and starts right back up...

 

[paulo57509]

quote:

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Originally posted by Louie's gone fishing:
I've had an Echo for 10 years, run it hard, do a lot of trimming, use about a gallon of premix each month. How long should this Echo last? I change the a/f, f/f and plug frequently and grease the trimmer head, but do nothing else, not even adjust the carb. I use Red Line and mix it at 50:1. It starts on the first or second pull and runs great. Is there any more maintenance to do? Do you just run it until it won't go anymore and then fix/tune it?

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It will last at least 10 years.

useless reply, but I couldn't resist.

 

[jcasaccio]

My 26cc Craftsman is 19 years old. I have rebuilt the carb once - gaskets, diaphragm, lines. It runs pretty good.

 

[Volvohead]

The life rating on Echos is 300 hours, which is a very long, commercial duty spec for small two cycle engines. Most consumer grade two-cycles are only rated for 50 hours. And I strongly suspect from my conversations with the distributor around here that Echo's rating is very conservative. Still, my understanding from the distributor is that after you run the rated hours and it starts to break down, you've got to fully rebuild or replace it.

This summer I bought a new Echo power head and I absolutely love it. Great little machine.

 

[DABEAR95]

Grease the trimmer head? Uh-oh, better check on that. Mine is only 2 years old though...


Jason

 

[JHZR2]

Quote:

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The life rating on Echos is 300 hours, which is a very long, commercial duty spec for small two cycle engines. Most consumer grade two-cycles are only rated for 50 hours. And I strongly suspect from my conversations with the distributor around here that Echo's rating is very conservative. Still, my understanding from the distributor is that after you run the rated hours and it starts to break down, you've got to fully rebuild or replace it.

This summer I bought a new Echo power head and I absolutely love it. Great little machine.

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IIRC, this is only for emissions compliance... kind of like the 8yr/80k emissions warranty on your car, but in not so many words.

Echos will last nearly forever for home use... theyre built to a higher standard, which, of course is why you pay a premium, and why the average joe replaces their store brand every few years...

Our best weed wacker, amazingly, was a 1983 ryan. Still runs great (~1.5 hr/week SSF), except the pull cord doesnt retract properly on its own anymore...

JMH

 

[Jim 5]

I'm considering a new weed whacker. It's between a stihl and an echo. My understanding is that the stihl's are also built to a higher standard, and should be about equivalent to the echo. Does that sound about right?

I have bought all of my lawn equipment from a local dealer who only sells Stihls, and would like to give him the business. But I can get the echo at home depot using some gift cards I received. If those echo's are about equivalent to a stihl, then I might just use up these gift cards and buy the echo.

Can anybody comment on stihl vs. echo?

 

[JHZR2]

IMO, that is like asking to comment on ford vs. chevy or something like this... not worth the effort. Both will more than serve you wonderfully...

JMH

 

[Jim 5]

OK, that's pretty much what I thought. About the same.

 

[bshockme]

I have run them both, and like them both. I would probably buy an echo due to the lighter weight and lack of vibration. They are truly the finest. I have a friend that has used his echo for about 13 years of commercial service. Still a darn good running piece of equipment.

 

[tom slick]

Jim,
if the only decision is stihl from a dealer or echo from home depot, how much service, parts, and help will home depot give you?
on that fact alone I'd buy the stihl. if the dealer sold both then either would be a good quality product.

 

[1040 WreckerMan]

I have a very high hour WeedWacker (Poulun) that has been run on Stihl oil it's entire life and still runs great. I also have a Stihl FS250 brush cutter. I've always been a Stihl guy, but now more than ever I buy nothing but Stihl. The reason, besides good equipment, is they don't sell at box stores (like the Evil Empire) and their customer service and parts support is better.

Echo makes a good product (their pro line) and I have an older Echo saw that works just fine. If it wasn't for their marketing strategy that gives the dealer network the shaft, I'd buy more Husky and Echo.

 

[Vaca]

I've been using a cheapo ($100 or so) Homelite weed whacker for about 10 years now and never had a problem with it. While I'm not a professional landscaper, I use it weekly during the growing season on my large suburban yard. Estimate for hours (10 years x 26 weeks x half hour per weekly use) is about 130 hours and still runs fine.