General Trimmer Head Maintenance Information

General Trimmer Head Maintenance Information

The most common cause of trimmer head malfunction is poor mainte- nance, especially true for tap-for-line, bump-feed, and fully automatic heads. Customers buy these heads for convenience so they don’t have to reach down and advance the line–yet that added convenience often means the head is not properly maintained.

A Few Tips

■Clean the head thoroughly each time line is refilled. Wipe all grass and debris from internal parts. Water will dissolve accumulated buildup, but a cleaner such as 409™ will aid in the task.

■Replace worn eyelets. Never run a trimmer head without eyelets in- stalled. Running with an eyelet missing will cause the trimmer line to wear into the body of the head as well as create excessive vibration.

■Replace any noticeably worn parts. A knob at the bottom of a head is a wear part if it contacts the ground, especially in abrasive soil conditions and when the head is run against sidewalks and curbs.

■When winding line, keep both strings separate. Try to wind as evenly as possible to prevent snarling and reduce vibration.

■Trim line ends to equal length from the eyelet. Operation with uneven length trimmer line will cause excessive vibration.

■Always replace worn or damaged parts promptly.

■Make sure line is wound in the correct direction for the rotation of the head–

For heads with a LH arbor bolt, wind line counterclockwise as viewed from the knob at the end of the trimmer head.

For heads with a RH arbor bolt, wind line clockwise as viewed from the knob.

“Clockwise for RH, Counterclockwise for LH”

Any plastic material can dry out, especially when stored at high tem- perature and when exposed to direct sunlight. To prevent this, Shindaiwa packages much of their trimmer line in all-plastic holders so the line can be soaked in water to restore moisture.

Trimmer line with very low moisture content is brittle and inflexible. Wind- ing dry line on a trimmer head can be very difficult. After soaking in water, the same line will become very flexible and far tougher, and service life will be significantly extended. NOTE: This also applies to flail blades.

CAUTION: Remove the bearing or bushing from from Super Flail blades before soaking in water.

The Shindaiwa Warranty Shindaiwa warrants trimmer heads to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for 90 days. The war- ranty is for replacement parts only – not the entire trimmer head. Damage caused by wear, running with missing parts, etc. is not covered.

Question: Why does Shindaiwa carry so many trimmer heads?

Answer: There are different heads for different applications. Some heads feature manual adjustment of line length while others are tap-for-line models. In addition, some trimmer heads are intended for consumer use and others are intended primarily for commercial applications.

CONSUMER HEADS

Manual

Midget Head An inexpensive manual head for small-displace- ment trimmers.

Tap-for-Line

Bump & Cut An inexpensive tap- for-line head for small-displace- ment trimmers.

3-Blade Flail

Economical flail head for weeds, light brush and grass.

COMMERCIAL HEADS

Manual

Low Profile Reasonably priced medium-duty manual head.

High Profile Proven “old reliable” manual head. Best choice for abrasive soil conditions where head is in contact with the ground.

Tap-for-Line

Pro-MaticGeneral purpose tap- for-line head.

EZ-LoadSimple to load, easy to reassemble.

EZ-ProSimilar to EZ-Load with larger line capacity.

SemiMatic Tough tap-for-line head. Stays clean by design. Reel in cover for fast reloading.

Pro-HeadProfessional tap-for-line head.

Fixed-Line Head

One-piece die cast metal head. No moving parts to lose. First choice for many commercial users. Contains grooves in sides to prevent line shearing when head contacts solid objects. Permits cutting lower to the ground than any other line cutting attachment.

Super Flail Head

Heavy-duty head for thick, tough grass and brush.

NOTE: Flail-type heads are not a good choice for stemmy material such as mature blackberry vines and tree seedlings.