Walk Behind String Trimmer ??

[Bird]

I used to have what, in the late 90s, was the top of the line, electric start DR string trimmer, and we loved it. It's the only mower my wife would use. And I had the Beaver blade that was great for taking down the saplings and such. But of course it was not self propelled. I definitely prefer self propelled lawnmowers if I'm going to use a walk behind mower, but with the big wheels on the DR that we had, I don't see how self propelled would have been worth anything to us. I sometimes wish we still had that DR, but I sold it to a friend when we were moving back to town. He was wanting something his wife could use.

 

[OldNick]

Just want to stick my oar in here, although itr's been a while since this was last posted to.

Rant button on:
I bought the electric start self propelled DR trimmer a couple of mnoths back and I am completely disappointed with it. From the get-go, the starter would only turn over intertmittently. I checked all the power lines and apart from the fact that the actual battery connecters are woefully small, all seemed well. So I have to assume that there is a crook connection in the motor/solenoid.

After a few hours' use, the self-propel setup started locking in drive. I would put the machine in drive, do some cutting, let go the lever to disengage, walk forward a coupe of paces as instructed, and then try to walk back. It would randomly lock one or both wheels. The longer the session, the worse it got. In the end it was more of a fight than it was worth. The only way I could get it to go backwards was, at first, to slow the motor right down, then as it got worse and worse, actually stop and restart the motor every time I needed to back. This led me to believe that the clutches for the drive were just nipping up even when ythe belt was released. I adjusted the belt release cable, both looser and tighter, and made sure it was all clean and clear. But in the end it just would not go backward at all.

After maybe 6-7 hours of use, the belt has stretched almost to the limit of the cable tensioner's setting. Definitely a "consumable" So although the belt has become looser, the clutch problem just got worse and worse.

It has been in the shop for over two weeks "to be looked at". Luckily I pretty well finished what I had to do for the year. I would hate to be using this professionally.

My other gripe is the gearing of the drive. At anything _like_ decent cutting speeds of the motor, unless you constantly feather the belt (causing it to slip all the time), you would literally have to run to keep up with the machine. It slows in heavier stuff, but given the primitive nature of the drive, I assume the belt is just slipping even without my making it.

I also reckon that if Ryobi can do a feed mechanism for a weed trimmer for $150 or whatever, then for the $1400 I paid for this in Australia, it could have one as well.

Rant over.

Nick

 

[OldNick]

So. I thought I had followed this up......I STILL do not have my trimmer, which I dropped in the shop in the first week of December 2014. They supplied the wrong gearbox and the local agent is supposedlyt getting one in from the US. That hads taken since just before Christmas., I have NEVER had a satisfactory reply from DR in the US, about this or other questions I had. I would not reccommend these in a fit. The old ones may have been good, but now the machanic trying to repair my machine has described its gearbox as a "cheap plastic thing". It would seem that, as with so many toolmakers, they have stepped over the el cheapo line.

 

[Soundguy]

Dang, sorry to hear that!

 

[OldNick]

Yeah I am pretty ticked off. The whole experience has been appalling.

 

[OldNick]

I STILL do not have my trimmer back. 2+ months and counting. Appalling

 

[Happy Gilmore]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully sooner than later

 

[MoKelly]

I guess the only consolation is its way too cold to work outside anyway.

At least here.

MoKelly

 

[Soundguy]

tell me about it. even here in florida it's still not warm enough, often enough to clip weeds yet.