SRM-225SB U-Turn head problems

GMX

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Hi, I've had a 225SB with a U-Turn head on it for several years. But frankly, I hardly ever use it because it is such a pain. Loading the head is a piece of cake, however, during use it gets repeatedly tangled inside the head and stops releasing line.

What happens is the line gets crossed over itself and bound up inside the head so I end up having to take the head apart and untangling it. This will literally happen every few minutes if I have a good amount of line loaded.

Am I trying to wind too much line into this thing or is the U-Turn head just garbage? Or could there be something else wrong?

Thanks!
 

bertsmobile1

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Several things cause this to happen.
1) using cheap trimmer line
2) using the wrong size or shape of trimmer line
3) excessive acceleration & deceleration
4) not feeding the line through regularly enough

Don't know the actual head, but it happens with most trimmer heads which is why so many professionals use precut line in draganfly style heads or Tanakka manual feed heads.
 

GMX

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Hi, thank you for following up!

I'm actually using Echo-brand "Cross-Fire" trimmer line of the right size, so in theory, I should be OK there -- although I could see where the Cross-Fire line might have a greater propensity to get snagged on itself due to the sharp shoulders it has.

I don't think I've been too zany with the acceleration and deceleration, but perhaps frequency of feeding the line through could be related.

I guess I can also try some other line types with the traditional "rounded" profile and see if that makes any difference. Unfortunately I bought a gigantic spool of this more-expensive line and if it just won't work well in this head, I'll be even more unhappy. :( The U-turn head is really easy to load but after that it's a nightmare....
 

bertsmobile1

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Unless you use a lot of line, keep it in water as trimmer line is designed to dry up and break into little pieces ( EPA regs ) then decompose.
Keeping it under water slows this down dramatically.
Square line will frett & weld against itself much more readily than round line.
None of my professionals use anything other than Oregon round line and/ or Vortex low noise line.
And most use a Dragon Fly precut line head.

I still have a tap feed head, but rarely use it as the Tanakka head ( ashtray type ) are a lot faster on trimmers that have clutches
There is also homelite that SWMBO uses because it is light, but being a discount brand it has no clutch so she has a bump head on that and she trims 1/3 the time I do and uses twice the line or it will do the same as yours and jamb in the head.
 
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