I tried out the hd line yesterday. It is slightly bigger than the dewalt stuff and is triangle shaped, so it needs a bigger hole than it measures out to. I had to drill the spool holes bigger, but thats no biggie. It is very durable and goes through bramble like a knife. Makes a lot of noise, but it works
That head needs the wear parts replaced (a season or two ago ) and honestly, it's not usually worth picking and choosing parts vs just replacing the entire head. They aren't expensive either IIRC. I don't think those will fit the FSA57. But I haven't tried.
You are correct! Visited the local dealer, bought a new OEM head assembly. Quite a difference! I have no idea how the old one ended up like that. Dragged behind a vehicle? Ran on a hard abrasive surface? Regardless, I think the new one should perform much better.
I've ran this probably an hour and the string is still together and cutting I need to make the handle taller it's made for short people I'd like to find like bicycle wheels for it.
Ironically, I was still (Stihl?) having feed issues. I pulled the head apart and removed that thin white plastic retainer ring/band that fits snuggly around the spool, rewound the line and reinstalled. Works perfectly now! What a great unit! I’m surprised what it will trim back; we have some thicker grass around our garden fence and it blasted right through. Does nice for the post mow lawn edging as well. Great unit now that it’s dialed in.
Went to pull a spare length of line and that’s all she wrote. Pretty good line, it holds up well but I sometimes hit small branches with it and it’s not made for that. A spool lasted me about a year. Im going to put some #2 rock in the drainage ditch to stop erosion and slow the flow of water. Cleaning it up so I can see what I’m working with. Echo SRM 2620.
Many years of hard use and something finally broke. Found a used gear case to replace it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Update on the Stihl FS57 trimmer. Although the site says .080 line, mine did indeed come with the .065 I originally thought it had. I ran out today finally and took the spool out. It is capable of .065 and .080. I loaded it up with this... till I run out of it. Then I'm going to get the Stihl .080 equivalent of the .065 it came with. It impressed me with it's durability and it's real quiet compared to the twisted Max power. I did cut several 1/4"-3/8" diameter picker vines with the Max power line. Its pretty impressive for a lil battery unit. Factory line. Side by side of the two.
I started running it because it was the best line from all of project farms testing two years in a row.
I’m semi retiring my FS110. Engine is still running good but it’s been parked in the shed more often this year than used. I use the brush cutter frequently and it’s been kinda a pain having to wait on parts. My wife told me to quit screwing around with it and get another one. Okey dokey. 2 is one and one is none. I bought an Echo SRM 3020U. Got a small discount because I had to put it together, not a huge endeavor. I had to do some work to the muffler to get that pesky cat out. I used a step drill bit, flat head screwdriver and a dremel and burr bit. Patience is key, a new muffler is $60. Plenty of soap and water to clean it out once I got it cleared. That’ll breath gooder. Filled it with fuel, purged and three pulls later it fired up. Barely needed any carb adjustment. Luckily I have the Walbro tool thanks to Eggshooterist. It’s going to get some getting used to. The handles are really what I miss about the stihl. I’m going to adjust the handles to the left more and see how that does. The grips are smaller on this trimmer. The 3020U is a 2 stroke as opposed to the 4 mix I am accustomed to. It sounds totally different. I’ve had the other for eight years it’s going to take some time getting used to. I was hesitant to buy a brush cutter with a drive cable but it is sheathed and warrantied for the life of the machine. The power is noticeably more than the FS110. It’s a bit heavier but it has good power. Will post more when I get some more time in on it, I’ve only run two tanks through it so far. I’m really only going to run this with a knife blade or saw blade.
Interesting - Those are a flex-cable drive unit. No idea what Echo's cable looks like next to the Stihl's (which I am more familiar with) but they do rate their cable units for all the toys. You'll put it through its paces for sure! Those two put the most load on a driveshaft. The brush knife can be particularly demanding in woody debris.
