OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Whipper snippers

I was up at the local mower shop today picking up some parts and while I was there 2 blokes walked in with whipper snippers in their hands and both were told very politely to take them away, not interested in even looking at them, cheaper to just go and buy another one. Neither of the blokes looked too happy about the situation but that is the way it is, they are fiddly to fix and people think it won't cost much because they are a small item but you can spend a lot of time on them

What make were they? If they were the $100 chain store whippys then they can be troublesome and time consuming to repair, and sometimes hard to get parts. And sometimes the mechanic is just a modern day remove and replace person and not a genuine repairer/fixer mechanic. I had a stihl blower that the dealer couldn't repair. Cost me $130 to have it serviced and it still wouldn't run properly. Some months later I just happened to start going to a mower mechanic in an industrial area and he seemed to know his stuff, so I gave him the stihl blower. He pulled the starter , no fuel but he was able to say that the muffler was carboned up. He fixed it and I'm still using it. I think we are losing mechanics who can repair.

I have known this bloke at the shop for some years now and he knows his stuff, I know one was a Ryobi, not sure of the second one but it was red, not a stihl. Problem is most mechanics can't afford to spend the time it takes to repair a lot of stuff these days as well as chase the parts for them

Yes Norm, agreed, mower shops cant work for $30/hr so the feasibility of repairing store brand Chinese made trimmers is not worth the trouble. Neither of those blokes looked too happy when they were told to go away but imagine how happy they would have been if they got them repaired and were given a bill for $100.
This type of rejection from the mower shops is actually a good thing for us "home" repairers who can in turn repair the same machine for half the price and everyone is happy.
I had the same scenario 2 weekends ago were i fixed an Ozito mower with a B&S 450e series engine on it. The customers 5 year old son had filled the fuel and oil with water (in an attempt to mimic his father getting the mower ready to mow his lawn). Anyway, he took it to a reputable mower shop who told him point blank they don't repair Bunnings garbage.
Well the rest is history and $75 later everybody was happy.

Years ago my dad damaged someone's petrol blower and offered to get it repaired and so I found out he took it to a mower shop and they quoted him $300 and he agreed. When he told me this I said nooooo those are not the sort of machines you bother to repair. You just get a new one as they cost about the same or less and repairs of those things are notoriously fiddly. I was so mad that this mower shop had not discussed this with him that I just told him not to bother collecting it and he didn't.

What we have now is a generation of so-called mechanics who don't have any diagnostic skills [or ability to 'nut out' a problem], but just keep replacing parts, in the hope of finding a solution that way!

In the US, they're known as 'parts replacers'.

US member AVB has posted on ODK about 'storebrand' bent-shaft brushcutters, and refusing to even look at them...

It not that I won't look at them as much as it normally cost more than replacement cost to repair them. My current labor is $40 / Hr which is about half of many local brick and mortar shops. Even then cost to much to charge one hour for two to three work plus parts. Most the cheap bent shafts are selling at Wal-mart for $75; just not economical to repair. I will talk to the customer and explain things. There are few times that they are will to repair the trimmer anyway. I had customer it was the only trimmer his wife could operate for he already tried another trimmer her to used. That one I did at parts cost only and it still ran close to $45.00 on a $75 trimmer.

And Gadge you're right about most guys not even near being a repairman anymore. I love it when they spend a lot money and can't fix the problem then it shows up in my shop and I repair a faulty .50 electrical connection or something just as simple.

I had a woman bring a Briggs mower here, she had been quoted $130 to repair it, all I replaced was the plug cap

I bet none have a clutch. Those clutch less ones are nasty .

And you would win that bet. One the ways they reduce costs. Not very safe around the wife's Petunias as I like lighten the trimmer head speed around these. Being hit over the head with the wife's iron skillets wouldn't being good either. My hard head still haven't bent one yet.

Just has a customer bring in one that only needed a carb adjustment. At least he also has a 60cc chainsaw for me to work on; although, its a McCulloch 610 and parts are not easily found here due to manufacture being out business that made it. I be making the needed intake gaskets in the morning. This particular spends over 1000 usd with me every year so I give a little.

I had a McCulloch 484 and it was made in Italy by another company. The 610 wouldn't happen to be the same deal would it?

The cheapest Ryoby bent shaft whipper snappers sold in the late 1980s were as consumer grade as they come and even they had a clutch as standard! They had the torquey, relatively low revving 31cc reed valve motor made by U.S company Ryan with your usual Walbro or Tillotson carby. I still have one that I use today as so many were sold in their heyday that you can't give them away now.