String trimmer modification idea

Me and my mom moved to Missouri, from the desert, and are getting our tails kicked by the fast growing grass. The rental is being the most issue, I'm modifying our property as fast as I can to make it maintainable. I don't have our house built yet, so no grazing animals yet, and none at the rental house. I have back and strength issues, and time issues, so mom does the trimming. She's 81, and doesn't have a lot of strength for string trimmers, she bought a battery one because it is light. It's pissing us off to no end, just doesn't have enough power, eats the line all the time, snarls up, etc. So I'm thinking....

The battery powered one doesn't have enough power to get mean. I put a set of the plastic bar things (look like zip ties) on an electric one to test it, it kicked ass till it burned the motor, those things need a gas engine to drive them. Gas engine ones are too heavy. The neighbor has a walk behind trimmer but it's unwieldy.
 

Snow Wolf type shovels are made to hold the weight,and just let you pivot it (I want one for mulch etc!) The handlebars they put on trimmers would give it good maneuverability, I think.


I'm wondering if anyone has ever put a gas weedeater on a single wheel to hold the weight, added handlebars, and put a serious cutter head on it. Did it work? Is this something worth trying? I'll be VERY glad when we are out of here, but could probably use a usable trimmer in the future too.

I also still want to put a hedge trimmer on a handle that makes it so I can use it at ground level. All the trimmers I have are electric though....  I WANT MY GOATS!!! Been buying these type of things too, they don't edge the sidewalk etc, they hurt when you hit something hard...




Be careful what you wish for, we wanted to be where things grow easily! And we have gotten it.... :D

I think that would work (wheel on a string trimmer).  The only issue could be that you'd have to go in a straightish line.  No waving it back and forth.  Unless the wheel was a caster.  But it may be hard to find a big enough caster that is light enough.

Pearl, I would suggest you look into the new higher-powered trimmers. I had a 24V and it was so bad I gave it away and went back to the noisy hellhound of plant doom or scythe/ditch blade.

I recently converted over to electric (the batteries are 60% or more of the price), so once you have a battery, the tools are reasonable. I have a 60V setup now and it goes through some serious weeds. Might see if you can trial someone's equipment and see if it would work. It is light enough my 10YO uses it.

I "lucked" into a deal from a neighbor that was cleaning out a storage shed.  I had no idea how useful the thing would be.  Many people sell something like it.  DR happens to have a good video.  I would look for one of these on craigslist.

It uses a heavy diameter string (.1" if I recall.)  It makes a large cutting radius and is easy to control around obstacles and buildings.  Because it is a two wheel, the balance is light and maneuverable.  I have mowed overgrown fields, walkways, edge maintenance, fence rows, etc...

With an internal combustion 4 cycle engine you have plenty of power.  The string is heavy so lasts a long time without changing line.  It can hit questionable areas without fear of benign a drive shaft or throwing a blade at you.

TJ Jefferson: mom asks if you can run a blade of some sort on that machine. She's tired of string (and so am I, if all string trimmers work like this, I have no idea why anyone would have ever bought a second one, they should have gone out of business due to sucking.) I really liked the blades that I burned a trimmer with. Those were very effective.

Pearl Sutton wrote:I'm wondering if anyone has ever put a gas weedeater on a single wheel to hold the weight, added handlebars, and put a serious cutter head on it. Did it work? Is this something worth trying? I'll be VERY glad when we are out of here, but could probably use a usable trimmer in the future too.

Not sure if you know that they make one of these: weedeater harness

or one of these heads: trimmer head
This has been one of the best things that ever has happened to me as a tool upgrade in my life!

Pearl,

So the first time your picture did not load.  I see you have already tried that option.  Sorry it was unwieldy for you.  However, I don't think a one wheel option is going to improve performance.  

Pearl Sutton wrote:TJ Jefferson: mom asks if you can run a blade of some sort on that machine. She's tired of string (and so am I, if all string trimmers work like this, I have no idea why anyone would have ever bought a second one, they should have gone out of business due to sucking.) I really liked the blades that I burned a trimmer with. Those were very effective.

I haven’t tried but the machine is much more powerful than the old one. The replacement tool is generally $40, the battery won’t crap out trying. I use mine with string on reasonably big weeds.

Pearl, I think chances are the uniwheel version is going to give you even more trouble, simply due to balance/tipping. I'm with you, on string trimmers, in general, and am looking for a blade version, myself.

Pearl Sutton wrote:...they should have gone out of business due to sucking.)

I actually laughed out loud at this.  Sums up my feelings perfectly.

Pearl Sutton wrote: I have back and strength issues, and time issues, so mom does the trimming. She's 81, and doesn't have a lot of strength for string trimmers, she bought a battery one because it is light. It's pissing us off to no end, just doesn't have enough power, eats the line all the time, snarls up, etc. So I'm thinking....

I think the wheel and handlebar idea has some merit, but I am more and more in favor of a well fitted European Style scythe. I bought one this spring and have yet to start my string trimmer this year and won't unless it's to use the cultivator head somewhere. I have a relatively small trimmer that I can switch the head section out with other tools like a cultivator or sickle bar for hedges. With string trimmers I can tell you that investing in good quality string that is the correct diameter is worth every penny. When I mowed lawns for cash back in highschool and college, I tried the cheap stuff once. I burnt through that entire roll faster than I thought possible.

As for the scythe, the European Pattern has the benefit of being lighter weight. I have been using a 26" blade all summer and just got the 20" Gardener's Blade to try out and use for tighter work around fence posts and such. Even with the heavier blade on my scythe it's still lighter than my string trimmer and easier to swing.

Caleb Mayfield wrote: I am more and more in favor of a well fitted European Style scythe.

I  bought a couple of old ones, that are big for me, and I hope to learn to use them at some point. I modified one down to fit me, and sharpened it's blade. Right now I'm just going under from excess grass, I'm running the brushcutter, riding mower, push type electric mower and the string trimmer and not keeping up. (And I have other things to do, this isn't my idea of fun.) It's been a hard year for this, all the flooding in this area in the spring made the grass go totally amok. And mom being annoyed by the trimmer and not being able to help me is not making it easier...

Bought 2 scythes! and I have bought at least one or two more since then. When I see them cheap second hand, I pick them up. Good for Permie barter if I can't handle them. :)
I'll look at those blades, mine are in sad shape. Might be easier to learn to use a sharp one :) They cut weeds well, but not mileage of grass, at least not yet, with me doing it.

I regularly use a large string trimmer on my homestead and I would NEVER buy anything other than Stihl. I have the first model in their commercial line of trimmers. I stopped buying consumer-grade equipment a while back.

Three points to consider when dealing with string that breaks:

1 - The reason that a lot of trimmer string breaks is because it breaks down from UV rays and other conditions, such as heat. The issue is the string become brittle and breaks too easily. So, the trick I was taught was to keep my spool of string (think mowing crew spool) in a small bucket of water. The water helps keep the string from becoming too brittle and it doesn't break nearly as often.
2 - Trimmer string can also break when we don't let the end of the string do the cutting and we push the cutting head too deeply into the grass/brush. Be conscious of only using the ends of the string and not the middle portion. It takes just a bit of practice and at first, you'll be a bit slower. But, when you factor in the time you save in not having to fix your trimmer head and get string back out after it breaks, you'll be faster. After a time or two out on your property being careful about what portion of the string you use to cut with, you'll find you're reducing your trimming time way down.
3 - As with most things that are manufactured these days, there are good products and there are bad products. Trimmer string is no different. Don't by cheap string. And if you are doing a lot of trimming, buy it in a large spool. The spool that I buy lasts me about two years and it is a lot cheaper when buying the larger quantity.

Jack Edmondson wrote:I "lucked" into a deal from a neighbor that was cleaning out a storage shed.  I had no idea how useful the thing would be.  Many people sell something like it.  DR happens to have a good video.  I would look for one of these on craigslist.

It uses a heavy diameter string (.1" if I recall.)  It makes a large cutting radius and is easy to control around obstacles and buildings.  Because it is a two wheel, the balance is light and maneuverable.  I have mowed overgrown fields, walkways, edge maintenance, fence rows, etc...

With an internal combustion 4 cycle engine you have plenty of power.  The string is heavy so lasts a long time without changing line.  It can hit questionable areas without fear of benign a drive shaft or throwing a blade at you.

Insert incredibly jealous guy here!

That was a bit of "luck" I would say. I really like these machines though I have yet to pony up and buy one. I borrow my fathers, but I really need my own. With my fathers I half the time it takes to string trim.

As for my hand held string trimmer, I have had everything. From expensive name brands, to dealership bought ones, to massive sized ones, to tiny battery powered ones, and they were all junk, and never lasted. Then I bought a cheap Troybilt one at Lowe's for very little money and that thing is incredible. It always starts, is light weight, and kills everything, even stuff it was never designed to handle. I just took on 200 feet of raspberries, about 10 feet wide yesterday, and it took one tankful of gas, 30 minutes, and only needed string replacement twice.

Pearl,

I pulled up some reviews on the new battery powered trimmers and it doesn't look good. I have the Greenworks 60V and the reviews were good for string, but if the manufacturer is limiting the string diameter to the smaller string, it generally means they don't think it will handle large string or a brush blade.

They do make a dedicated 80V machine which comes factory with a brush blade and bicycle handles which might be appealing ergonomically but I can't speak to it. The annoying thing is that you are buying an ecosystem because the batteries are $100-$150 or more depending on amp-hours, and you want to limit the number you have to buy. The tools as mentioned are reasonably cheap without a battery. So because I am converting over (wth the exception of chainsaws at this point) I had to see if they had good trimmers but crappy mower for instance. I think the electric machines are getting pretty good, but it is a pretty expensive up-front cost.

On the scythe front, you probably aren't supposed to, but when my ditch blade gets beat up, I run it on either a fine grinder or file and then peen it. If you are starting with an old blade you need to know if it is stamped or forged, and if it is stamped, you just treat it like a knife- in my experience the steel won't peen. I use an round file instead of the stone on that blade and carry it like I would a stone. When the weeds get really high, the scythe and ditch blade are great but you will hit rocks and need to work the blade and (for me) reset the handles with some annoying regularity. The wood helps not transmit the shock but I just use my old aluminum snath and a beater blade- and my hands pay for it.

Pearl, due to the fact that I'm losing all my fencelines here and completely not where I want to be with trail development for personal/animal exercise, I've been looking into mechanized brush cutting options.  Of course I utterly cannot afford the multiple thousands for a heavy duty walk-behind brush cutter, and in fact it would be cheaper to buy an ancient used tractor with brushhog attachment.  (I will probably do this, but the guy I rely on to help me with tricky mechanical rehabilitations is elsewhere for the indefinite pandemic-deranged future, so it's not a this-year ambition.)  

While wistfully window-shopping online for brush cutters I can't afford, I stumbled over the "unwieldy" walk-behind string trimmers like the one in your OP.  I have one on order because I think I can wrestle it around with reasonable dispatch and it was within my budget.  

However, my reason for posting is that while shopping for my walk-behind string trimmer, I discovered that there's a sort of hybrid category between hand-held kind and the kind with two wheels and a heavy steel deck that you posted and I am buying.  It's also a bit cheaper than the heavy-steel-deck kind.  It sorta looks like a short handheld string trimmer mounted on two wheels:



https://www.amazon.com/Southland-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-SWSTM4317/dp/B06XC9GZ3B/

I don't know if that's enough lighter and easier to control to interest you, but I thought I'd post it here just in case, and anyway it might solve somebody else's problem.

I was also amused to discover this 80-year-old man who took the cutter-bar type electric hedge trimmer and mounted it parallel to the ground on a frame made with steel tubing and bicycle wheels.  He did it to solve a very specfic problem (a dangerous-to-him ivy-covered slope) but it may suggest innovative solutions to other problems:



I'm going to see how I like my heavy walk-behind string trimmer with string, before worrying about modifications, but I am very interested in some of the alternative cutting heads that people use on the handheld string trimmers.  However, I don't think I'm crazy enough to just mount a lawnmower blade on it (spinning out there without any housing around it to protect the user from flying rocks or broken blade fragments) like this kamikaze gentleman on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr0nl2VEYwI

I'm with dan, got a stihl pro model 130km , about 15 years now still going strong, always use non ethanol gas and stihl oil.
sarlos are very good solid American made machines, ive a sarlo's for probably at least 30 years now I just have 2 a 6.5hp and a 9hp. I had at one time one that I converted with one of their string heads and it was a beast. wish I still had it

Dan Boone: Oooh, tell me how it works for you!  Especially how much it eats line. My mom vs the line is never a pretty fight. She says bad words!!

I've seen some available commercially, but don't know where. It was basically a set of bicycle training wheels with a bracket that clamped onto the shaft behind the head. I bet you could build one pretty quick if you can find some used training wheels.

Pearl Sutton wrote:Dan Boone: Oooh, tell me how it works for you!  Especially how much it eats line. My mom vs the line is never a pretty fight. She says bad words!!

Will do!  Sadly my review will be delayed another week; when the unit arrived yesterday, it showed evidence of having been dropped on its top.  The gas tank fill was smooshed into the tank and the plastic rewind housing was dented, cracked, and pushed in sufficiently so as to not work.  Return/replacement process underway.  UPS has been extremely rough on all the larger packages they've delivered here since the pandemic began so there's no guarantee the next one won't be bashed up, either.  But I'm not going inside a store to buy one in person.

The "line" on these is considerably heavier (.155" versus .065 to .085 for the handheld units) and you just loop precut pieces around little bollard-thingies on the cutting head, no fussing with reels or spools.  But how often it needs replacing is indeed the several hundred dollar question.

Pearl, as for "hedge trimmer on a handle" for ground level use... We recently got the Milwaukee M18 string trimmer and hedge trimmer tool. There is also a pole saw available.
The hedge trimmer pivots to many angles for overhead and ground level use. We used it last week to cut down our (~150) peonies for the season and it was the BEST THING EVER! We've used long handled grass shears, clippers, scissors, knives, chainsaw... hands down this this thing wins!

Pearl Sutton wrote:Dan Boone: Oooh, tell me how it works for you!  Especially how much it eats line. My mom vs the line is never a pretty fight. She says bad words!!

So I got the TAZZ (a Chinese brand) 35258 walk-behind string trimmer, 22" cutting swath, 150cc Viper (another Chinese brand) engine, 14" wheels, and the feature that when you let go of the safety grab bar that operates on a kill switch on most lawnmowers, it just disengages the cutting head on the TAZZ, so the engine idles while you move an obstacle without you having to pull-start it again.

It came in a box, shipping weight about 75 pounds.  First one was damaged on arrival, but Amazon got me a replacement like four days later.  By then we were into some wet unpleasant weather so it sat in the box until this past weekend.

This thing doesn't have a string reel like a hand trimmer; it has cleats on the spinny head where you just sort loop in a pair of 24" (roughly) pre-cut strings.  The unit is designed to use .155" cutting line and it came with three pairs of pre-cut lines.

My first impressions of the unit were very positive.  I messed around for about twenty minutes maneuvering it and cutting the problematic thicket that always grows up around our propane tank in the back yard, clearing a path through another weedy area, and generally learning it.  The only problem is that if you drop a wheel into a collapsed gopher tunnel or any other low spot on rough ground, it's heavy enough that maneuvering it out of the hole takes work -- you've got to use some combination of leverage and brute force.  It's not a problem for me, but if I do it a hundred times I'll have had my workout.  It's a different feel on this two-wheeled unit from a four-wheeled lawnmower, which is a lot more likely to glide over depressions on the other three wheels.  

After my careful initial testing period I dove into the real weeds.  Disaster! Lost the first pair of strings on the stalk of a Maximillian Sunflower (seriously?) and the second about ten minutes later on a Chinese Privet sapling smaller than my little finger.  The strings didn't degrade, they just went "poof" and were gone, presumably broken at the root and flung into the weeds.  

I didn't expect the unit to clear either of those things but if it can't bounce off tough weeds, it's no good to me.  Not when each refill set of two lines (four feet of line) costs somewhere between fifty cents and two bucks depending on weight, quality, and how much bulk you are buying in.  But it did appear that my unit has lots of engine power, and I felt like maybe I had too much zoom and zip for the line I was using.

So I did some research.  And it turns out that not all cutting line is created equal.  There's plain nylon in round, square, twisted, and proprietary shapes; plus fancy mixed polymers (stronger) and stuff with a stronger central core surrounded by lesser plastics, all of these also available in round or fancy shapes.  Plus, most units sold for use with .155" line can also take .170" line (more expensive but stronger).

There are a lot of lies and marketing puffery out there, so it was hard to get good information.  But I ultimately concluded that the starter string samples shipped with my unit were likely cheap nylon, with a fancy twisted shape that cuts better but is less durable than standard round.

As an experiment I ordered two small reels (30' and 50') of a .170" copolymer with a central core of tougher stuff (the strongest-looking stuff I could find, without trusting bogus-looking claims by self-described premium brands) and of a good grade of .155 round (so perhaps less-break-prone) co-polymer, no special core.  

The round stuff isn't here yet, but I got the fancy fat tough stuff yesterday and tested it today.  The .170" line is very stiff and requires some good finger strength to loop securely around the little bollard/cleats on the TAZZ.  But it fits, and it felt *much* more plausible for going up against my weeds.

Then I took off down the easement, clearing dog walk trails.  The whole area visited today was brushhogged a year ago, and grew chest high weeds and grass since then.  I went the distance of seven or eight widely spaced power poles, and then back (doubling my trail width).  About half the distance of the trail got a light mowing with a borrowed riding mower in July, the other half (too rough to take a borrowed mower on) hasn't been touched.  

My Tazz performed beautifully.  It required a deft touch to avoid bogging down in clumped prairie grasses, but it just kept cutting if I didn't feed it too much.  Small tree seedlings (this year's growth) and dead stems up to finger size were no problem.  The unit did bounce right off a clump of osage orange saplings (finger size) but didn't bind or break.  Similar with other stuff (fallen tree limbs hidden in the grass, for instance) that I ran into.  It would chew it or not chew it, but it didn't lose the strings either way.  That's better!

At the end of the run, back at my porch, I examined the lines closely.  They were frayed and fragmented at the ends like you'd expect, but if they'd lost any length, it was no more than an inch.  I fully expect to use those same lines for another similar run further around the trail loop tomorrow (or soon).

Bottom line: this morning I ran out of physical ambition before I figured out how to destroy the first set of the skookum strings.  At $1.25 per refill (my cost from Amazon for this grade of line) that's acceptable, and it becomes negligible (for me) if I can get two or three work sessions out of a set of strings.  

Permies note: This is a tool where the working edge is bits of plastic string.  In operation it will inevitably leave small bits/fragments of plastic embedded in your landscape.  Including, perhaps, chunks up to a foot in length if the doubled line breaks at the cleat.  This may be philosophically troublesome for some.  How much of a practical problem it poses will depend on your circumstances.  But I do think it needs acknowledging.  

I have always hated using a string trimmer. Hated with a passion. Rather be on a mower 3x as long than touch one.

We always had curved shaft  growing up and I used a hand-me-down curved shaft for many years. It gave up the ghost, and I figured part of my dislike was using junky equipment. Thus I broke down and went to the local big box store (because the local small business power equipment dealer doesn't want to sell me equipment... not kidding literally wouldn't give me prices on chainsaws...no I wasn't rude or anything...) and bought a several hundred dollar husqvarna four stroke straight shaft unit. What a hunk of garbage, utterly no torque. I took the dremel tool to the throttle stop to free up some extra oomph... and it was still basically worthless for anything more than a dandelion or two. Clumps of grass or non-woody small vines would bog it down. It started acting up, turns out the fuel line was too long stock and would kink, had to trim that shorter to get it to run at all. Gave that string trimmer away, that was an expensive learning experience.

Broke down and went to another equipment dealer (who wanted my money) in another town and bought the largest husqvarna trimmer that took string. I LOVE that machine, I think it was a model 525. It is heavier, but has the shoulder strap and is actually way easier to use due to not having to support the weight with your arms. Power wise it is a beast, will not bog down. Like fling the power head into tall dense brush in a sweeping motion and it doesn't skip a beat. Might shred the .105 commercial string, but won't bog down. Watch out around rocks, this is the first unit I have had that HURTS when it sends a rock into your jeans/boot. I actually don't mind string trimming now, every time I crank up that unit it puts a smile on my face. I end up coated from head to toe with a layer of shredded green plant debris.

Using a tractor and rotary cutter is much faster, but on hills and in tight spaces it's hard to beat a good string trimmer.

I've had a 56 volt Ego string trimmer for a couple of years now and I've never found it lacking in power. My only complaint was that string doesn't do a very good job of cutting stiff stemmed weeds and forget cutting small trees or branches.
I modified it for a bush blade and am quite happy with it after a year of use and testing.
https://permies.com/t/100046/Brush-blade-Ego-string-trimmer

Further to Pearl’s question about how my Tazz is on eating line, I’ve been pretty happy this spring. Ran through three tanks of gas on a single line change.

And then this morning, I got aggressive. There’s a sunny barbed wire fenceline at the edge of my garden space that I’d like to plant extensively, but moonflower vines and feral blackberries were there first. I cut the big stuff out with my electric pruners weeks ago, but today I tackled it with the Tazz, on both sides of the fence.

Friends, I lost three sets of line in ten minutes. I’m sure the neighbors heard my obscenities by the third time.

Once I calmed down, I realized the blackberry vines were dying hard and jerking the cutting head into the barbed wire, which is fatal. By going VERY slow and careful, staying perpendicular to the fence instead of running along it, I finished the job with no more losses. Some of the blackberry thicket I cleared was chest high.

Still love my Tazz. But I was fixin’ to SHOOT IT for a minute there.