growling coming from tanaka trimmer head at low rpm only

[clydesdale]

I recently replaced the shaft on my tbc-230 because of a stripped shaft and clutch bell. But now I noticed that when the machine is off, the shaft can slide a little and you can hear it clunk. In other words, I can shake the machine from head to engine and you can hear the shaft bang a little inside. There is a little play in the head to engine direction. Plus now at idle, the head makes a little growling sound. If I rev it up, it goes away and then returns after 10 seconds or so, when the idle comes all the way down. I put some grease in it, but I don't think it helped much. Any thoughts?

[BigFish]

Just one..... toss it and a buy an Echo!!

[MowerMedic77]

Hey BigFish, people post there issues in the repair board looking for HELP not OPINIONS, so with that in mind lets move on from your useless post.

You say you just replaced the shaft and drum, is there a chance that the engine was not reinstalled all the way back down onto the tube? Some manufactures have marks on the outer tube as a guide or you can even see wear marks on the outer tube from were it was previously locked down.

[clydesdale]

Yep, it is right up to the marks and I can't get it to go any deeper, so I think it is in all the way.

[Breezmister]

I recently replaced the shaft on my tbc-230 because of a stripped shaft and clutch bell. Any thoughts?

Well. First off, Tanaka has a life time warranty on straight drive shafts and all related parts damaged by their failure...Also, some of there drive shafts and clutch bells have been up grades and must be installed together.

Are these new parts ? How are the splines at the ends of the shaft ? Is it the right drive shaft ? How are the splines on the clutch bell ? Tanaka has a bunch of different drive shafts so you can not for the most part mix and match. From what you said, the drive shaft is "floating", sound like you have the wrong shaft in there, or the gear head is going.

Take it to a Tanaka dealer and have it fixed, this is not an out of pocket repair.

[clydesdale]

I spoke with Tanaka today and they assured me that this will get resolved. What more could I ask for. I don't see why anyone would use any other brand of trimmer. They rarely break and when they do, they stand behind it. What else could you ask for? Thanks