DFB's Gardening Thread

[DFB5.0]

I bought this Stihl HSA56 back in November 2018.

Up until that point, I had been running petrol-powered tools across the board. With how you handle a hedge trimmer, it puts a lot of strain through your shoulders, upper back and neck. Compared to my old HS45, this battery machine is lighter and less fatiguing to use. And that's before you consider the noise banging away at ear level, and the smokey exhaust fumes.

I have to say, it's been nice not having to maintain an engine, feeding it a charged battery is all it needs. Maintenance wise, I have sharpened the blades a number of times, and made sure the gearbox has been greased. However, after the last sharpening I found it just wasn't cutting nicely, so I ordered a set of OEM blades from my Stihl dealer.

Part Number - 4521-710-6000

Fitment is relatively easy as long as you keep track of what goes where at the business end (the gearbox and camshaft), and making sure you don't lose the spacers that help keep everything together but still allowing the blades to oscillate. The aluminium backbone, tip protector, and hardware all carry over. It's also quite a messy job with all of the grease inside the gearbox, which I clean out and repack with Stihl Multi-Lube.

Stihl - 0781-120-1109

After it was all back together, I applied some Gel-Lube to the new blades and gave it a quick test on the front hedge. Apart from being sharper, it's now running much smoother and quieter. Gel-Lube isn't what I'd normally recommend but I'm out of the natural Lanolin, which does a great job and much better than WD-40.

Ready for work again.

Sponsored

 

[DFB5.0]

At the moment, we are deep into winter with frosty mornings and a cold chill setting in mid-afternoons. But, it's predicted to be an early spring this year, which means grass will be growing again soon. I don't do a lot of mowing in winter, so the machinery gets a little rest from the hard slog through the warm season.

I generally do a comprehensive refresh on my main mower before the grass takes off, ensuring its up for the work ahead of it. At the moment, the blades will last a little longer, so I'll probably delay that major service until late September. But in the meantime, I decided to inspect the valve clearance on the engine.

I bought this mower on the very first day of my long-service-leave in October 2024. The mower was bought brand new by the seller's father, and despite being 10 years old, it had done very little work. I can easily say that I've put more work under its wheels in two years than the original buyer did in 10.

When I opened up the valve cover of the Mulchmaster and Intek-powered Supercut last year, both were in need of valve lash adjustments after power of work behind them. Considering its lack of use up until me, I knew the valves would never have been inspected. With the recoil and trim cover removed to provide better access, I removed the valve cover and measured the lash. Both were still well within spec, so I left them alone.

The longest part of the job was removing the old gasket, of which had baked onto the valve cover and had to be removed in chunks with a razor blade and gasket scraper. I had replacements in stock, so no biggie. I much prefer using a gasket than RTV, especially on valve covers that are thin and easily warped when attempting to remove from the engine. Honda, are you reading this?

Briggs & Stratton: 796480
Lisle 81810 Carbide Scraper

When I was removing the recoil, I noticed one of the three nuts was missing, and one was loose. After rummaging through my bin of NOS hardware, I ended up finding a suitable replacement in my Stihl hardware assortment, which comes in handy for moments like this...............as they say, "fail to prepare, prepare to fail".

In the next month or so, I do the full tune up; blades, oil change, air filter, fuel filter and spark plug.