RevRico
RevRico PowerDork
4/24/20 8:14 p.m.

I broke down and bought a new weed wacker today for the new place. 25cc Craftsman 2 stroke. The price was right, it takes my preferred line replacement, hopefully it works out ok. 

but it's "attachment capable". There's a brand, Trimmerplus that makes accessories to fit the shaft of a lot of brands and make it a multi tool. Cool. 

There's a pole saw and a cultivator attachment that I'm really looking at, both $100, both locally available. There are others, like a stupidly high priced hedge clipper, an edger, blowers, and a power broom. 

I know I can get a standalone pole saw slightly cheaper, and an in need of work cultivater for slightly less, but I'm wondering how well these accessories work overall because it would be nice to have new stuff instead of buying more projects. And the idea of using one motor for several things, meaning one fuel mix, one plug, and more frequent use, sounds good to me. 

anybody using them? How do they hold up? How useless would a cultivated be on a 25cc 2 stroke?

Gary
Gary UltraDork
4/24/20 9:03 p.m.

Have you tried it in hair? wink

TJL (Forum Supporter)
TJL (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
4/24/20 9:19 p.m.

I have most of them.  edger, brush cutter, hedge trimmer, tiller, pole saw. 
the pole saw is my favorite. Ive used to to drop and cut up some decent size pines. I'll use it with no extension and use it to cut vines. Very useful. 
 

the brush cutter is pretty much junk. 
hedge trimmers are good, i keep mine oiled. 
edger is good. 
tiller is ok. You gotta run the saw pretty much wide open to get it moving. Its good for small spots or mixing looser dirt. but it does work. 

wlkelley3
wlkelley3 UltraDork
4/24/20 10:00 p.m.

I also have most of them. Pole saw, hedge trimmer, leaf blower, tiller, brush cutter, edger and 3 trimmer shafts, 1 curved and 2 straight with one set up for string and the other uses plastic blades. The first hedge trimmer I had was non-adjustable angle and didn't last long with plastic gears inside. A second with metal gears shattered the case. The one I have no is a more sturdy all metal and adjustable angle and works great, isn't as heavy as the others either. As mentioned, the pole saw is great. Tiller works well for light duty work, will beat you up as bad as a front tine tiller if you try heavy tilling. I think it's the way to go with big yards, only one motor to maintain and when the motor burns out/breaks just replace and you still have all the attachments. I've gone through 3 motors in over 20 years. 1st was a 2 stroke Ryobi and think it was the ethanol gas that fried the motor. 2nd a Toro 2-storke, the shaft seized, still a good motor. Been wondering if I could combine the 2 broke ones to make one good motor. They're 2 different brands. Kept both. I'll try it someday I'm bored. 3rd is a 4-stroke Toro that has leaked oil since new. Add oil every time add gas. Tried tightening all the bolts on the motor and still leaks. Guess one of these days I'll have to tear it apart and reseal the motor and oil tank.

RevRico
RevRico PowerDork
4/24/20 10:19 p.m.

Ok, so some good stuff to hear. I only read the negative reviews on Lowe's site, and was concerned by the lack of 1 stars, that said to watch out for plastic gears in the pole saw and the lack of weight with the tiller. 

That's good to hear, I may grab the pole saw tomorrow then. I like the small tiller shape for all the small garden beds around the property. They're already mulchedw so mixing in good new dirt should be fairly easy. 

triumph7
triumph7 Reader
4/25/20 12:04 a.m.

I too have a few of the attachments but I now use them with the Ryobi 40V electric trimmer... I won't go back to gas!  It's quiet and there's enough in the battery to edge and trim the yard and still run the hedge trimmer for a while.  Haven't tried it with the tiller though, it may meet its match there.

mikeatrpi
mikeatrpi HalfDork
4/25/20 5:28 a.m.

Another vote for the pole saw.  It works amazingly well.  Depending how much use your 2 stroke will see, consider using premixed fuel in it.  I can't get ethanol free gas here so i run the husqvarna premix.  Expensive... but no carb issues to fiddle with. And it smells great!

Fueled by Caffeine
Fueled by Caffeine MegaDork
4/25/20 8:35 a.m.

I have a blower and a pole saw.  Yup they work. Are they pro grade? No. 

preach
preach Reader
4/25/20 1:57 p.m.

I have the whacker (x2 one wire, one sawblade), the edger, the bush trimmer, and the rototiller. I'd like more, and I really don't do much yard work. If I did, though, I'd have the berkeleying tools!

EDIT: I also have a gas motor to run them and a 40v cordless electric.

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
4/25/20 2:29 p.m.

While don't have a lot of expertise with trimmerplus as a label, I can tell you this. Most lightweight trimmer engines aren't necessarily the best for running things that aren't a trimmer. A pole saw as example, takes a lot more torque to run than a roll of string. Same with hedge clippers and the like. Whenever I sell a kl- I almost immediately run into the kl91. The 56 will do it, but you're wringing the nuts off the thing to get it to go, and the last 3 I've sold came back for more power. 

Woody
Woody MegaDork
4/25/20 3:05 p.m.

I have the pole saw and hedge trimmer. Bonus is that you can mount the hedge trimmer down low like a hockey stick to cut poison ivy and pricker bushes.

RevRico
RevRico PowerDork
4/25/20 7:09 p.m.

I picked up the pole saw today at Lowe's. It worked well enough to start with even on the 25cc head, except I don't think the oiler is providing oil. 

Then I managed to get a chunk of wire jammed between the chain and the case and called it a day. I'll tear it down tomorrow and try adjusting the oiler, but it seems promising. 

fasted58
fasted58 MegaDork
4/25/20 9:28 p.m.

Put this blade on a TrimmerPlus adapter bought last fall, first real workout today. 10+ y/o 32cc Craftsman weed whacker. 

The tri-blade cutter in the original kit was just ok w/  trimming and light green shoots, rating it above weed whacker strings. Anything heavier and it struggled. 

This saw blade cutter got bound up w/ light cutting and greener material... but it absolutely ripped through 1/2 to 3/4" shoots like berkeleying butter. Larger diameters to come yet but it got rained out tonight.

Bought these blades after a comparison test on YouTube Project Farm iirc. There apparently is no one blade does it all, compromises and all that. 

edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYOlZb2bmmU

TJL (Forum Supporter)
TJL (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
4/25/20 9:35 p.m.

In reply to fasted58 :

Did you have to do anything special to get the saw blade on? Id like to try that with mine. 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
4/25/20 9:38 p.m.

In reply to fasted58 :

That's seriously scary looking.

 

fasted58
fasted58 MegaDork
4/25/20 9:47 p.m.

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

Adapters included w/ the blade kit, follow instructions and torque. Tool included for locking the spindle during torquing. 

 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
4/25/20 9:49 p.m.

I have been using a variety of attachments for years. I have an edger, line trimmer, pole saw, and a pole saw with a reciprocating blade. They've all been pretty effective. 

I've used most of them on a worn out, second hand 2 stroke head, and a 4 stroke head that I bought new and wore out. Then I bought a Kobalt 80V line trimmer. That thing's got some guts, and when I bought the chain saw pole saw I got a good demonstration of the torque of an electric motor.

I'll never go back to a gas motor for this.

fasted58
fasted58 MegaDork
4/25/20 9:51 p.m.
TJL (Forum Supporter)
TJL (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
4/26/20 8:38 p.m.

In reply to fasted58 :

Berk, Ok i was ready to order those blades before the video was over. Just grabbed a 2 pack on amazon. 
 

thanks!

TJL (Forum Supporter)
TJL (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
4/30/20 3:41 p.m.

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

I got my blades in today. I had to trim the guard just a hair but HOLY BERKIN E36 m3 these blades rock! I just cleared out a spot in like 15 minutes that would have taken hours. 
 

buy some! Totally worth it

didnt take a before pic, but you couldnt see the palm trees. It was all choked with vines. It does prescision well too. I used it to trim up the palms of their dead parts. 

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