trimmer shaft setup

[38racing]

I bought a Weedeater xt30 at a yard sale. Guy said it needed fuel lines. I got the lines fixed and it fired up and ran great. Then I noticed the spool head was not moving. Pulled the shaft and flex shaft is broke. It's about 1/2-3/4 inches shorter than what the replacement is (if the ipl for a xt30D is correct, as nowhere can I find xt30 info). I'm guessing it broke right where it enters the lower drive unit and maybe the square end piece is still in there. I have banged it a bit but nothing came out. I put the old shaft back in ,in reverse, but the square end does not seem to catch and turn the spool end. The spool end has the bolt that the spool threads onto with a nut up at the outer shaft. It does not appear that anything separates here to allow me to get broken piece of shaft out. So the whole shaft unit would need replaced? at the cost of a replacement trimmer at Walmart. I have an none running mcculloch that I think I can adapt the shaft to fit this Weedeater.

[bgsengine]

So the whole shaft unit would need replaced? .

Yup!

You're finding why these are built and sold so cheaply - they are designed for a couple years use and then toss em and buy new ones... They don't offer service parts for the shaft assembly because there's very little , if anything at all, that *can* be serviced.

By the time you get through 5 years, you'll probably have spent $250+ on disposable weedeaters , compared to one time $159 for an Echo GT-225 (comparable model with curved shaft) as Echo, (and I assume Stihl, Dolmar) have a 300 hours emissions certification (Husqvarna/poulan/weedeater are only 50 hours)

[KE4AVB]

I had a couple customers this so far that brought items at yard sales to only that they were too costly to repair. One was a Troy-bilt Junior II with missing idler arms and drive pulley. He got a fair good repainted scrap metal as the control arms are no longer available nor were any listed on Fleabay. The other was a JD Rider That couldn't engage the deck without dying. I has a worn out Kawasaki engine that OS piston and rings are no longer available. He 150 for mower plus has a bill for 60 here but he paid the pay the estimate fee as it has been over three months since I gave the bad news so I have put in the donor yard for parts.

These curve shaft models are considered disposable because such a lower priced unit. Customer here don't even try to have them outside of new fuel lines.

You want to fix it you would need to find donor unit for that shaft assembly. The lower bearing bushing is insert tightly and then crimped in place. No to remove it unless you figure a way to uncrimp it but most way does more damage then is repairable. If it was a straight shaft you could unscrew the retainer from the center drive bolt but being in a curve shaft it wont slide out due its length and the cable spacers in the shaft. This was verified this morning here in my shop.