FS 240 trimmer vs FS 240 vs ???

[Howard Justice]

If this is not the proper forum please forgive me and maybe someone can move it to the proper location. Need a brush cutter for briars and brambles and tall grass, and minimal trees - maybe occasionally 1 inch. Unread somewhere 240 is 2 stroke and the R model is the valved engine. I have an old FS100Rx w valves. Sluggish and a bit disappointing in heavy grass.

AND do these trimmers come with a decent harness. Will be used on rough ground (storm blowdown environment) and occ on v steep slopes.

OR can you recommend another option. Thank you!!

 

[Howard Justice]

FS 240 versus FS 240R

why do I always see errors after i post???

 

[DND 9000]

Both FS 240 have a stratified scavening 2 Stroke engine without valves with a 1 point AV System. I would recomend a Clearing saw with a better AV System for this, for example the FS 360. The clearing saws will also have a better harness.

 

[waywestdesign]

240 is fine, great tool, get the brush one with the handle bars, harness is good enough. I use mulcher blades, its not a usa stilh stock blade, but almost all dealers carry a version of it.
360 is good too but 240 is lighter and just as good for your needs,. I beat down all kinds of brush bramble etc, also us a 410u ECHO, they are simular-ish in power, 240 is lighter.

 

[Squidward]

I have an FS 85T, long before valved engines. That thing will make the fur fly, so I expect an FS 240 would even moreso. I'd avoid a valved version. The valved engine on my 800 backpack blower has been a PITA. Two years and a few days into the warranty period, it ran rough and would not make power. By contrast, the FS 85 has lasted me about 18 years, starting to get a little ragged and needs a new primer bulb, but can't complain about its service. Spark plugs, clean the screen occasionally, and either blow out air filter or swap it once in a while, and it has been good to go. After the blower experience, I will avoid the valved engines going forward.

Too steep for a bush hog, I guess? I use a John Deere 4 series with an older International bush hog, on pretty steep slopes on our Kentucky property, straight up and down. Waist high grass, some woody undergrowth, but about 95% grass to 5% undergrowth. It was an old dairy farm, gone to beef cow pasture. The bush hog goes over wild rose bushes and briars easily. If I can't turn around safely at the toe of the slope, I just go back the way I came in reverse. Max slope at my place is maybe 10%, according to my truck's "off road" computer. Cows have tromped some paths, and there are a few wash outs and dips and swales, but a lot of where I take the tractor is not terribly rough ground.