AVB, do you ever repair leaf blowers much?
I get the impression you are nearly always better off getting new as they are constructed in such a way as to make repairs difficult and labour intensive.
What has been your experience?
Yes as I done anything from the consumer handhelds to the commercial backpacks. Actually restore a Redmax EBZ8000 over the Winter months here. Purchase two of them that were used to maintain a golf course. One was repairable and other is part donor as I was unwilling to repair the cylinder damage along with the replacement of all the makeshift parts. I also redid a Stihl BR600 and also got part donor with it too. I paid 80 usd for all four units. Now I have the BR600 for sell at 250 usd and the Redmax for 300 usd. Once sold there will be a nice profit.
As for repairs it depends on make and model. Some are fairly easy to access the works and others can take a half day just to disassemble and reassemble if it require repairs other than the carb. Luckily most repairs are carburetor related.
Repairing these are much like repairing today's Auto, ATV and UTV where they are so compacted. They are a little challenging for the beginner but once you get into them it not really that bad; just need to know how to go about it and only experience can teach you that.
Just remove to carburetor on some of the ATVs that I have work on requires half disassembling the unit. A beginning tech's nightmare. I did a Cam Am ATV last year that needed the rear driveshaft u-joints replaced. I had to remove the whole drive axle assembly just to get the driveshaft out. It took 8 hrs plus the actual u-joints replacement first time around but only took 2 hrs the second time as I knew what needed to come loose.
I work ATV that the front drive assembly would only come out of the frame only and go back the same way I had only a few thousandths of inch to get it in. It took 30 minutes just to get the center section back in without damaging the seals. Not a job for an inpatient person.
