4 cycle trimmer and grass gator ?

[cooleddie]

hello,
i recently purchased a troybilt curved shaft 4 cycle string trimmer from Lowe's. i also bought the grass gator 4 line load n cut trim attachment. i installed the grass gator attachment and cut for about 10 minutes before the machine broke. it seemed to sputter and shake w/ the gator attachment whenever the trim hit thicker grass or against the fence. it was like it was struggling to get back up to speed. once it caught up, then it would spin fine. well, after 10 minutes, the spool quit spinning. when i took the boom attachment apart, the shaft inside was broken off so that's why the spool quit spinning. we took it back to Lowe's and they gave us a new boom for the cutting end. well, it still seems to have the same type of problem w/ the grass gator attachment. i'm afraid to keep running it in fear that it will do the same thing. should i go to a 2 cycle engine, maybe a straight shaft, or get rid of the grass gator?? any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[chuckers]

straight shaft you lose to much power with curve shaft
and stihl tanaka shin echo is the way to go on trimmers if you try a stihl or something along those lines you will never want to go back

[cooleddie]

thanks for the advice, chuckers. i will check into those brands.

[mowhigh]

The only curved shaft that I'd consider is the Robin N-252-1, about $179. All their trimmers (including 4-cycle) are real workhorses (do a search here or see www.robinoutdoorpower.com) and a couple of pounds lighter than any comparable units.

[chuckers]

i am also not to fond of the 4 cycle due to the fact the trimmer is used on its side etc not always straight

[dvmcmrhp52]

A grass gator will kill a troy trimmer every time,they are not built for heavy trimming.
Use a standard head on it and it will work fine.

[fleetus]

The exact same thing happened to me. I bought a 4-cycle from Lowes. Ran it for a month or so until I got tired of fighting with the spool, changing line all the time. I bought a Load-n-cut and was ecstatic with how well it cut and how easy it was to change line. By the second time I used it to cut, the EZ-LINK attachment system on the Troy Bilt broke. The drive shaft would not engage the attachments at all. I took it back and Lowes replaced the whole trimmer. But I don't trust that Load-n-cut any more. It vibrates and shakes until it is up to high RPM's. I believe it is the reason my trimmer broke in the first place. Oh, also, a friend of mine has the straight shaft version of the Troy Bilt 4-cycle and he uses the Load-n-cut head. His has not died yet after a few months but he does have the same vibrating/shaking problem. I suspect the straight shaft version has more power to move the load-n-cut head but it is probably going to break at some point anyway.