At 10:11 19/03/03 -0600, you wrote:
>I need a really heavy duty weed eater to trim/keep weeds off of an
>electric wire surrounding 20 acres as well as cross fencing inside the
>20 acres. Tractor mowing will not complete the job well enough to get
>up under the fence. The "weeds" are really thick and often growing in
>an area that stays wet/muddy. The weed eater I have now (Ryobi 775i (?)
>is a 4 cycle gas engine and OK for the one acre yard but not the pasture
>trimming and other maintence around other buildings. Any
>recommendations? I really get tired of changing the plastic string and
>the trimming I do really eats it up fast. Have any of you used the
>metal blades that can be attached to a weed eater? Consumer reports
>recommends a John Deere weed eater, but I don't think it is much more
>powerful than the Ryobi I have now.
>Thankyou,
>Jan
Jan,
We have had good results with eight tooth blades when cutting long grass
alone. You can make good cost savings, particularly if you're a contractor
who needs to factor in downtime making refills. If there is scrubby growth
also it is usually better to use an 84 tooth blade but long grass can wrap
around the blade. In both cases it's essential to use goggles because those
things really make the chips fly. Bear in mind that the cutter will hop if
you hit something solid. If you stick with nylon then 3mm cord gives better
life with cost savings by the 55m reel. There are some cutter heads fitted
with three replaceable swinging plastic blades available. We tried one last
year but the pivot points seemed to wear out pretty fast. Maybe a metal
wear plate on the bottom might help.
If you're looking at other machines our experience has been that the Echo
range made by Kioritz gives a good combination of ruggedness, acceptable
weight and good starting. The last point is essential if you're paying
someone to drive the tool. We use the SRM4600, a 46cc machine, here in the
UK, could be a different model range in the US. Only downside is that being
a twostroke you're working in a bath of exhaust fumes, that's why I use a
B+D 12v rechargeable for my own garden.
Good luck.
Nick Brearley
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