STIHL FS 90R Extension Question

Shawn R.

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Shawn R.

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Boobala

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His FIRST major obstacle to overcome is, using more than one key of his keyboard !!
 

Shawn R.

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That's weird. I'm pretty sure I asked a question. No idea why it looks like that. Anyways, I have a new question. What's the toughest trimmer line that can be purchased? I'm getting sick and tired of stopping every 10 minutes just to readjust popped trimmer line. Right now I'm using the 2.4mm / .095" trimmer line but this is the cheap stuff. I want something that I can use for at least half an hour before readjusting.
 

bertsmobile1

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Most pros use precut line in a dragon fly type of head.
Firstly they go a lot lower to the ground and secondly you just use them till they get too short then stop & replace.
Or the Tanaka ( ash tray ) style head where again you have to stop and manually unwind the next length.
And these are the people who spend several hours a day trimming.

The ability of the line to cut is determined by the speed it is travelling.
The speed it is travelling is proportional to the diameter of the line.
The thicker the line the slower it spins
The slower it spins the worse it cuts and the more drag on the line.
The more drag on the line the more it frets in the spool and it is the fretting that causes the line to weld together.

As for quality, the two compound lines are a lot lot lot lot better than the single compound ones.
They are also much much more expensive as it is another process to extrude the hard outer cover over the high tensile core.

Square cuts better but because of the edges welds together more.

There is a limit to how thick a line a trimmer can run and usually you are better off going down a size or two and feed it through more regularly than going up a size and slowing down the line speed

On top of that, running line that is too heavy for the machine loads up the engine, causes hard carbon build up on the piston and around the exhaust port which eventually breaks off and wrecks the bore.


I sell around 200 lbs of Oregon round Magnum GatorLine to my pros, sit down before you check the price, but for a pro, time is money and the extra line cost is cheaper than sending an hour a day fixing up line jambs and rewinding heads.

Trimmer line is also bio degradable and ages quite rapidly.
Home owners tend to buy big spools cause it is cheaper per foot then it goes off sitting in their shed.
Line should always be stored under water to prolong it's life.

Be careful when you see shops selling line at big discounts, it is generally too old and snaps at the slightest provocation
 

primerbulb120

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Most pros use precut line in a dragon fly type of head.
Firstly they go a lot lower to the ground and secondly you just use them till they get too short then stop & replace.
Or the Tanaka ( ash tray ) style head where again you have to stop and manually unwind the next length.
And these are the people who spend several hours a day trimming.

Maybe that's true where you are, but it's the exact opposite here. ALL the pros, including myself, use bump feed heads (usually Stihl Autocut, Echo SpeedFeed, or Husqvarna T35.) The only people who don't use bump feed heads are the homeowners who can't figure out how to reload them.

I am running the T35 on my Husqvarna with Oregon Magnum Gatorline, square, .095. Takes me 60 seconds to reload 10-12 feet of line into the head, following which I can trim for several days without reloading. The head has never tangled or jammed in the 2 years I've been using it. Can't imagine reloading manually, I have to bump the head at least 10-12 times on every property (none of the properties are over 0.6 acres, but they all have a lot of trimming around things that will break your line.)

Amount of pros in FL who use manual heads is under 10%. Most of those are people who just started their business and haven't found out how much time they can save with a bump head.

The Oregon Magnum Gatorline is a great line, by the way.
 

Boobala

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Shindaiwa/Echo SPEED-FEED head, .095 Husqvarna Titanium line = NO PROBLEMS !!!
 

bertsmobile1

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Maybe that's true where you are, but it's the exact opposite here. ALL the pros, including myself, use bump feed heads (usually Stihl Autocut, Echo SpeedFeed, or Husqvarna T35.) The only people who don't use bump feed heads are the homeowners who can't figure out how to reload them.

I am running the T35 on my Husqvarna with Oregon Magnum Gatorline, square, .095. Takes me 60 seconds to reload 10-12 feet of line into the head, following which I can trim for several days without reloading. The head has never tangled or jammed in the 2 years I've been using it. Can't imagine reloading manually, I have to bump the head at least 10-12 times on every property (none of the properties are over 0.6 acres, but they all have a lot of trimming around things that will break your line.)

Amount of pros in FL who use manual heads is under 10%. Most of those are people who just started their business and haven't found out how much time they can save with a bump head.

The Oregon Magnum Gatorline is a great line, by the way.

I find these subtle differences quite interesting.
Shawn is obviously using a cheap line and probably not feeding the line often enough .
I assume his problem is the line breaking off at the eyelet.

I bought an FS 42 back in 80 with a Stihl bump feed and it was always a problem with the line jambing inside the head.
Eventually then the bump cover wore through we found Stihl no longer made replacements and a tradie in the shop at the time, gave me his old dragonfly which was worn beyond the replace line to try out.
We ran that head for the next 15 years.
It was less than 1/3 the weight of the Stihl head so we could run longer runs of heavier line ( 2,5mm) and I found it much easier to use and a lot more economical that the wound line bump head.
He also told me about storing the line under water and down here it makes a massive difference ( we get more UV than anywhere else on the planet )
We had a bent shaft so the reduction in weight was really good for SWMBO
 

Shawn R.

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Great! Thanks for the tips, bertsmobile1, primerbulb120, and Boobala. Much appreciated. Before today I didn't know anything about bump heads, Stihl Autocut, Echo SpeedFeed, or Husqvarna T35. I'm still a total newb when it comes to trimmer heads and line but man these heads are amazing. I need to conduct extensive research into these heads and see which one I'd much rather prefer. And I'll be looking into Oregon Magnum Gatorline and Titanium line as well. Thanks for the info, guys!
 
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Darryl G

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Bump heads are what the pros use here too. I'm currently running the T35X head on my Husqvarna trimmer. It's basically the same as the T35 but has a ball bearing on the bump knob to reduce wear on it. I run the Echo Crossfire line in 0.095 size. I usually only have to reload once/week or so except during Crabgrass season when I'm having to scour or edge it off of pavement a lot. It's not the most durable, especially when edging, but I like the way it cuts at low throttle when around tree trunks and other "sensitive" objects. I tried the Shindaiwa SilentTwist line last season and it was OK but I went back to the Crossfire. If I'm doing heavier duty trimming with my Stihl bike handlebar trimmer I step up to 0.105 line or go to a steel blade.

Edit - correction, it's Shindaiwa not Echo SilentTwist
 
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