Mowing ..

[DFB FGXR6]

After all the rain we have had in the past few days, I though it necessary to use a lighter mower today to prevent tracking.



The old girl is pretty weak these days, the 148cc engine likes a drop of SAE 30 oil, so I didn't put it through anything too heavy. Was quite refreshing to use something so light, requiring none of the manhandling my big Bushranger takes to operate.

[John 13]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

After all the rain we have had in the past few days, I though it necessary to use a lighter mower today to prevent tracking.

image

The old girl is pretty weak these days, the 148cc engine likes a drop of SAE 30 oil, so I didn't put it through anything too heavy. Was quite refreshing to use something so light, requiring none of the manhandling my big Bushranger takes to operate.

Seeing the red Victa chassis, thought it might be worth telling about a recent conversion project. A relatives 9 year old Sanli Lazer Cut (K Mart $199.00 special) engine still running perfectly but chassis, after numerous patch ups, totally un-repairable. Only good donor mower I could find was a Victa Power Torque (similar red chassis) and a fairly new catcher from a later model Victa. Incidentally it did not have the original two stroke engine so now chassis is on it's third motor at least. As well as the Sanli engine I transferred over the wheels and the handles. All in much better condition than the old Victa ones.
The front wheel assembly was a direct fit, however rear wheel assembly had to be widened and new saddles made up to house the nylon pivot bearings. Also had to fabricate an adaptor to raise the Sanli engine about 40 mm so the blades were under the skirt.

[danzvtil]

So my NEW HSA56 hedger died today while on a job and I haven’t yet received the first one back from being repaired under warranty.
Took it back, asked them to quote me on the AP powered HSA86 and HLA86 with battery and charger. I wanted the value of the 2 units credited against the quote, but stihl aren’t replacement warranty, so they said they will call their rep tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
If they decline, I will sell all my existing stihl battery range and buy husqvarna. Not happy jan.

[danzvtil]

Just had a look at the husqvarna battery hedgers, VERY, VERY impressed with the quality, designed for professional use, and are actually made of metal!
Quoted 520iHT4 telescopic and 520iHD60 with a 9AH battery for a little over 2 grand.
I’m yet to hear back about my broken stihl lines and whether they will credit. I’m leaning toward buying the husqvarna and putting the stihl on gumtree when they are returned to me.

[Work Horse]

I bought the 520iHE3 a couple of months back. I am still getting the hang of them, but they are a fantastic machine.

I only have the one battery at the moment but have had no trouble with it running out. I don't hedge all day but have done jobs that have taken over an hour. Only one of the four charge lights went out.

They are new and sharp but I believe they cut fine stuff like Diosma or pittosporum better than any hedger I have used.

I thought the 32mm tooth opening was a little ambitious but it will hack through branches I should not be cutting with a hedger if I force it.

I am still getting the hang of the pole hedger, it is easy to go in too hard and take off too much if you are not careful. But that is the operator not the machine.

I will replace my old Stihl HS 46 with the husqvarna 520iHD60 soon and maybe get another battery. Then there will be no stopping me

I think you would be happy with the husqvarna danzvtil!

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Just had a look at the husqvarna battery hedgers, VERY, VERY impressed with the quality, designed for professional use, and are actually made of metal!
Quoted 520iHT4 telescopic and 520iHD60 with a 9AH battery for a little over 2 grand.
I’m yet to hear back about my broken stihl lines and whether they will credit. I’m leaning toward buying the husqvarna and putting the stihl on gumtree when they are returned to me.

Used the hand held one today, what an amazing machine! The thing absolutely rips, it cuts twice as fast and is super sharp. I’m getting used to going from a 450 blade to 600 and the extra weight, but find I can reach the bottom of hedges without bending down.
With the 9AH battery, I got upto 2 hrs use with only 1 bar used up.
Extra cool fun fact- the battery charger has an inbuilt fan that draws through the battery while charging to keep it cool, it will even cool it down before charging it if it’s too hot.

[FTE217]

Sydney has had heaps of rain last 2/3wks that when looking outside I was freaking how damn long the grass was getting knowing how much more time it takes to cut down to normal height.
Rest assured yesterday was the day and couldn’t wait……
Nothing like it apart from twice the amount of times emptying the catcher.
Below was the week before as well.


And then the satisfaction - even Lucky approves



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Citroënbender]

Finished my back nine lawn just before the drizzle set in. A move that Mitchay would be proud of, ran out of 98 for the mower so ended up using half a tank of 50:1. If anything it ran better!

Still need blades, these are more “stumps”. I tried picking up a tissue en passant beside the front footpath and just created paper snow across the joint.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by FTE217

Sydney has had heaps of rain last 2/3wks that when looking outside I was freaking how damn long the grass was getting knowing how much more time it takes to cut down to normal height.
Rest assured yesterday was the day and couldn’t wait……
Nothing like it apart from twice the amount of times emptying the catcher.
Below was the week before as well.
image

And then the satisfaction - even Lucky approves
image


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice cat, show us ya cat in "show us ya pets"........

[danzvtil]

* googles en passant
Your posts never disappoint CB

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

* googles en passant
Your posts never disappoint CB

I guess you don't play Chess eh?

[DJM83]

Didnt even notice this thread.

My lawn (aside from dead bit down the back, plans for that) pic was taken a few weeks back but it still looks the same.
The battle i have is that big tree drops plums for a few weeks so it dies off a little as im always out there raking them up. They are bloody tasty though

Its always responded well with little love.
Each yeah ill try a new avenue.
This year.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/neutrog-...liser_p2990065
Put it on my veggie garden aswell.
Definitely its worked wonders thats for sure.
Ill get a pic in the coming days as it'll get a mow again. I let it get close to 6 inches high and mowed it on the mowers highest setting. Speaking of which its due for new blades so ill fit them first.

[danzvtil]

So I followed up my broken stihl hedgers, they hadn’t even ordered replacement parts yet despite me using these units to earn a living. Really not happy with stihl quality anymore.
I am now in possession and of $2k worth of husqvarna equipment, review will follow.

[Citroënbender]

I’ll be interested how Stihl respond, once you go over the repairer’s head. You’ve been treated poorly.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I’ll be interested how Stihl respond, once you go over the repairer’s head. You’ve been treated poorly.

Originally Posted by danzvtil

So I followed up my broken stihl hedgers, they hadn’t even ordered replacement parts yet despite me using these units to earn a living. Really not happy with stihl quality anymore.
I am now in possession and of $2k worth of husqvarna equipment, review will follow.

I'm really disappointed for you. When you buy into a professional level brand, you expect better. Also not good enough from the dealer, professional/commercial users should be treated like gold. And I don't mean that in a self-absorbed way, rather that commercial users are generally repeat customers who buy the top end gear with greater margins, therefore greater profits. That dealer has screwed up big time, I doubt you will be returning when all this is dealt with, a missed opportunity on their end and great frustration on yours.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

I'm really disappointed for you. When you buy into a professional level brand, you expect better. Also not good enough from the dealer, professional/commercial users should be treated like gold. And I don't mean that in a self-absorbed way, rather that commercial users are generally repeat customers who buy the top end gear with greater margins, therefore greater profits. That dealer has screwed up big time, I doubt you will be returning when all this is dealt with, a missed opportunity on their end and great frustration on yours.

I buy a lot of other stuff from this business, it just happens they sell and service stihl.
What sealed the deal was on sunday i accidentally pulled my new BG86 out of the van instead of the old one, and for an hour it coughed and spluttered despite being "adjusted" by the selling dealer. It actually was embarrassing to use, i sounded like a noob not knowing what i am doing with such a crap sounding blower.
I told the guy he wasnt getting my order for the next range up of stihl, which was quite satisfying.
So, now im balls deep in Husqvarna batteries i might explore the rest of their range including blowers,pole chainsaws etc.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

So I followed up my broken stihl hedgers, they hadn’t even ordered replacement parts yet despite me using these units to earn a living. Really not happy with stihl quality anymore.
I am now in possession and of $2k worth of husqvarna equipment, review will follow.

So after 15 weeks, I have received back ONE of the HSA56s, they have had hell with getting spare parts.
I managed to take my complaint about the poor service to the retail manager of this outlet, told him how much i loved my husqvarna, and how stihl quality has gone down hill. I used 2 separate stihl blowers owned by my customers last week, they both coughed and spluttered and ran like crap. Stihl, you are dead to me.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

So after 15 weeks, I have received back ONE of the HSA56s, they have had hell with getting spare parts.
I managed to take my complaint about the poor service to the retail manager of this outlet, told him how much i loved my husqvarna, and how stihl quality has gone down hill. I used 2 separate stihl blowers owned by my customers last week, they both coughed and spluttered and ran like crap. Stihl, you are dead to me.

I find this situation perplexing.

A trade customer is more than likely going to be a multiple times repeat customer. To not support the trade with a high level of service is a bad move by this Stihl dealer.

On the manufacturing front, why Stihl is factoring the lower end of the market with cut price models with lower durability and quality just does not make sense. To be blunt, there are countless other brands sold in the likes of the Big Box stores that can cater to this end of the market. Stihl lowers themselves and compromises the quality of the brand overall by entertaining this idea. Stihl should be designed, engineering and building high quality products that can withstand the rigors of ever day use............and charge accordingly for it.

[danzvtil]

I did 60m of single sided 2m tall murraya hedge today with the 520iHT4 telescopic, it didnt even go thru 1 bar of battery! The BLi300 9ah just might be the first battery that will last me all day.
The unit also has a soft start trigger, so is all class!

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

I did 60m of single sided 2m tall murraya hedge today with the 520iHT4 telescopic, it didnt even go thru 1 bar of battery! The BLi300 9ah just might be the first battery that will last me all day.
The unit also has a soft start trigger, so is all class!

I'm not into gardening at all, but your battery powered tools intrigue me, I only have a cheap Hitachi drill, and seldom used, it was cheap and nasty, but the batteries when new would last an hour of soft drilling but ended up getting 15 minutes from a recharge!
Do your batteries degrade too?..and at how many usage hours do you need to replace or chuck em out!

Regards Billy.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by slowsnake

I'm not into gardening at all, but your battery powered tools intrigue me, I only have a cheap Hitachi drill, and seldom used, it was cheap and nasty, but the batteries when new would last an hour of soft drilling but ended up getting 15 minutes from a recharge!
Do your batteries degrade too?..and at how many usage hours do you need to replace or chuck em out!

Regards Billy.

What you’ll find with consumer battery tools, is the standard kit contains the smallest battery available to hit a price point, and the charger supplied might not be the fast charge version for the same reason. This is why I have 8 x 1.5ah ozito PXC batteries, but only use 5.2ah with fast chargers.
My ozito batteries are up to 5 years old, and my stihl ones are 18mos old with no noticeable degradation, I do use them frequently, rotate their use, and store them fully charged. Storing them flat with infrequent use would do them no good.

[DFB FGXR6]

Working the Bush Ranger hard today!





This thing is like a tank! And I'm very surprised with how fuel efficient that Honda is.

[John 13]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Working the Bush Ranger hard today!

image

image

This thing is like a tank! And I'm very surprised with how fuel efficient that Honda is.

First attempt to attach images ! It may not have succeeded.
Unremarkable similarity between Sanli and Honda engine bits, muffler, carburettor pieces and etc.
Current project, Kubota engine on unknown WA made frame. Plan to remodel chassis to include a side delivery chute and new narrower front wheel assembly. Incidentally LH thread on blade shaft consequently set up to rotate blades anti-clockwise (looking from above). So far have built up and re-machined blade shaft and fitted better bearings and made up new blade bar to take off the shelf slasher blades.

[danzvtil]

Got an update on my broken stihl hedgers today, was told they ordered and installed the "electric module", but no dice, so have now ordered motors. Its been 7 weeks since the first one broke. I took great pride in telling him that i dont care what he does with them, im into huski now and wont go backwards
Now a report since they have had some solid use, both using the same Bli300 9AH battery.
520iHT4 telescopic-
This unit seems to NOT use as much battery as the hand held.
Super sharp and fine cut.
Metal gear box gets hot with use.

520iHD60 hand held
Goes through the battery bars quicker than the telescopic.
Cuts very fast to a high standard, even the fine stuff. I have to be careful not to gouge tight hedges where the stihl would just ride over.
I might be imagining it, but the gearbox on this must be filled with lanolin grease, it smells sheepy when it gets hot.

I have a job which is tight jap box/lilly pilly and abelia hedges, took me a solid 3.5 hrs on both machines and used 3 of the 4 bars, when the stihl gear takes 5 hrs. As long as i can keep the billable hours up, it will be great.
Had another 40 meter cypress hedge, and the cut was first class, so highly recommend these units to anyone, i am now looking at huski blowers and whippers that i might add to the collection.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Got an update on my broken stihl hedgers today, was told they ordered and installed the "electric module", but no dice, so have now ordered motors. Its been 7 weeks since the first one broke. I took great pride in telling him that i dont care what he does with them, im into huski now and wont go backwards
Now a report since they have had some solid use, both using the same Bli300 9AH battery.
520iHT4 telescopic-
This unit seems to NOT use as much battery as the hand held.
Super sharp and fine cut.
Metal gear box gets hot with use.

520iHD60 hand held
Goes through the battery bars quicker than the telescopic.
Cuts very fast to a high standard, even the fine stuff. I have to be careful not to gouge tight hedges where the stihl would just ride over.
I might be imagining it, but the gearbox on this must be filled with lanolin grease, it smells sheepy when it gets hot.

I have a job which is tight jap box/lilly pilly and abelia hedges, took me a solid 3.5 hrs on both machines and used 3 of the 4 bars, when the stihl gear takes 5 hrs. As long as i can keep the billable hours up, it will be great.
Had another 40 meter cypress hedge, and the cut was first class, so highly recommend these units to anyone, i am now looking at huski blowers and whippers that i might add to the collection.

A 2 year update on these commercial huski battery hedgers, these have been used daily for that time, absolutely thrashed, and used to keep some gardens up to a very high standard.
I have not had any degradation on the life of the BLI300 battery, the battery case is starting to get loose from being bumped and dropped, but works as intended.
Each unit has had at least one warranty repair of an electronic “module” turned around quickly by the selling dealer.
The handheld has just received a new blade set worth $250 as i had worn the old one out.
The pole unit is in currently getting the switch button replaced.
I am now completely sold on battery being appropriate for commercial use. The BLI range of batteries are unobtainium as councils have standing orders for dozens at a time for their crews to use.
All I can say, is if you are looking, as with petrol/2stroke units, make sure you are looking at commercial rated units.
My next battery powered purchase will likely be a blower.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

The BLI range of batteries are unobtainium as councils have standing orders for dozens at a time for their crews to use.

And this will forever be the downfall of anything electric.

Onto other topics, over the weekend I picked up another Honda mower, this one a HRU19K1, and to my surprise, for a 19" deck, it has a plastic blanking plate similar o what you'd expect to find if it was optionable with a self propelled drive axle.... well whaddya know, it has a half width discharge chute, and from multiple reports, issues discharging wet grass!

Person who dumped it says "it wont *******start".....

got it home, gave it some fuel, nope, no start..... check the plug (which wiggled when i tried removing the plug lead) and its got a BR9ES plug half screwed in..... wonder why it wont start? gave it a new plug and it started straight up.....

Some people simply dont deserve anything nicer than yardforce.

[Tonz]

Have an older JD ride on mower thats used in a blue moon, I need to replace the battery (over 5 years old) but was thinking of using one of these....

Automatic Smart Battery Charger Trickle 5A 6V/12V SLA AGM Car Motorcycle Caravan will it work?
There is lying in the shed a Honda brand 240v - 9v 100 mA charger but I prefer sitting on the fire pump.

[.:4:.]

My mate next door stuck his head over the fence because he had lost the bump knob for his whipper snipper. His is a battery ryobi. So i lent him my 2 stroke homelite. That part is whatever.
So my mate also has an old 2 stroke whipper snipper that he claimed didnt work and asked if id take a look at it. He isnt mechanically minded but i said yeah bring it over and id show him what i was looking at. So primer bulb and fuel lines were intact, air filter wasnt filthy, pulled the spark plug and grounded it to the block and when i gave it a rip and it had spark. So the 3 things a 2 stroke needs to work. So put fuel in it and i explained the starting procedure ie priming and choke etc, but got him to do it. Sure enough the thing started quite easily. Put some line on the spool and got him to breifly hit a test patch of longer grass to make sure it didnt bog down and need a carb adjustment. The thing ran strong.
Granted small single cylinder 2 stroke engines are pretty basic, and if you arent interested in how things operate, i can understand not bothering. I could have just winged it but if it was leaking or had no spark i didnt want to waste fuel. But a few checks and 7 or 8 minites of time spent teaching someone something, my mates response was its been sitting for years and it was that simple? My response was you should have asked years ago...

[mad2]

i got tired of our fuel version whipper snipper & bought a corded electric version, which i now prefer over ICE versions [less headaches..... for me lol].

[.:4:.]

Neither my neighbor or i can go corded, only because both places are battle axes with long driveways. My 2 stroke always starts easy, so provided it remains like that I'll stick with it. When it either craps out or becomes a pain I'll probably go battery powered makita. Main reason for makita is purely because my other battery tools are makita so i have batteries and they stay maintained as the get used and charged.