Weed eater help.

I have a troy bilt weed eater that I cant get the bumper cap off to replace line. Its happen before, so I bought a new bumper cap. Apparently its something else that's causing it to lock up. Anyone have this problem before? It seems so simple, so I'm stumped.... I'm pretty good with this stuff, but this one has got me.

On my older Echo, the cap has two 'posts' that snap into place when you twist it. There are alleys the posts insert into before snapping into place (think cul-de-sac where the street is the alley and the round end is the snap). The alleys can get clogged with dirt and debris and essentially jam the posts in place. I have had to either blow them out or rinse them out before the cap would unsnap.

I've also seen the twine jam under the edge of the cap inside, making it hard to pull it off. I would blow it out as best as possible with an air compressor, or rinse it out good with a hose and see if that helps in any way.

I've gotten to the point where I "YouTube" just about every mechanical or electrical problem I run into and not sure how to fix. Other videos showing the same problem on other models also available.

Sometimes it's just a simple matter of lifting the cap as you unscrew it so that inner nut is held tight in the cap housing.

Its locking in place, but I still cant turn the bumper cap. Last time I had to peel off the cap and use a wrench to loosen it. I'll try and clean it out the best I can and try again.

Thinking about going battery powered weed eater. This one has always given me crap.

The one in the above video screws off. Mine has the clips like yours. There has been a lot of improvement it that area over the years.

Is it right-handed or left handed threads? Mine is left-handed and I always forget when taking it off.

When my Troy bilt started acting up a couple years ago I went to Home Depot and bought a generic head and replaced the whole thing, now I don’t have to take the cap and collar off to reload, just cut a 6’ piece slide it half way through and turn the cap until I’ve got it where I want it.

Yeppers, with RickyM here

Love mine. Its great to see a few grass sprigs and simply pick it up and clip the.

I was w little anxious about going from my old .095 string to the .080. No problems. I trim more than most and I have had to restring only once. It was really easy. Just run your string in one hole and out the other, then crank it on.

Yep. I'm running this one now, it works like that.

Appreciate it I'll give it a try.

Mine has little arrows on there.

The should be a law that anything with reverse threads be marked as such. Only once can I say I found markings that identified reverse threads. The lug bolts on an old 60's vintage trailer were cast with an "R" on top.

It was through a YouTube video that I learned the bolt on my second-hand Ryobi miter saw was reverse threaded.

Okay, I'm done trying to take this damn thing apart, going to go battery powered. I'll fix this one later and give it to my sister. I waste to much time fighting it weekly.

Maybe she won't have any problems with it

I ditched the bump head on my echo a long time ago. You can get a head that has 2 holes. You buy a roll of 095 string and cut a bunch of pieces. Load in the 2 holes and go. When they get short or break off, just reload and go. Not much science to it.

Maybe, maybe not, or I could just throw it away........

The Echo bump head is one I don’t much like. I prefer the one on the Stihl. I just finished 2 days on weed whacking fence lines. Day 1 with the Echo and Day 2 with the Stihl. They both worked great. I lean toward liking the Stihl just a bit better, but the diff is minor.

I really don’t think a battery driven unit would handle what I’ve done the last two days. The work load was due to thick and heavy grass and weeds along a net wire fence about 1500 feet long. And both sides of it.

AA is for quitters, do you attend?

That's what I did with my previous one.

Lol, I almost pull the trigger on a ego but then I saw it had an electrical winder for the line....... more moving parts! So I looked at the head replacements and just got one of those.

I just ordered one of these -

Badger Head

My only problem with the weed eater is the weight of the battery. I just finished trimming a couple hundred yards and I'm beat. I don't have the same problem with the edger. It has a little bitty wheel that catches most of the weight.

Shoulder harness works pretty good.

Yard boy

The Kobalt 80 volt cordless trimmer is light with a lot of horsepower and has plenty of positive reviews on youtube. I've been pleased with it.