Stihl 360 brush-cutter experience?

[Howard Justice]

I was looking for an FS 240 (not 240rx) in the Atlanta area today and apparently they are extremely difficult to come by. The next step up - that is a true two-stroke engine is the 360. Therefore, wondering if anyone has experience negative, positive or otherwise regarding this Cutter. Will be used primarily to access large blowdown after storms in areas where there are thick briars and brambles and maybe small saplings. Call it blazing an acess path. I can see the string head with the largest size string available being used the majority of the time. But I don’t know as I have not yet used one. My experience is with my FS 100 RX with either poly cut blades or string. I would welcome anybody’s experience! Thank you much!

 

[pdqdl]

Put a manual-feed aluminum trimmer head on your machine, and then load it with some .155" diameter string. Cheaper and much easier than poly cutters. Oregon #55-191 is what we use. (Now discontinued, but looks like the Jet Fit 55-403"

Mount a 10" 8-tooth trimmer blade between your manual feed trimmer head and the gear drive. You will need the right clamping washers that are probably on your machine right now. If not... they can be hard to get from a dealer. Most dealers lack experience with brush cutter blades.
We like the Oregon blade #90325A. Don't play around with the more common 8" diameter blades, as they are joke by comparison.
EDIT: that part number seems to have been discontinued. It might be the #634086, but I cannot find a picture of those either.
In general: 10" blades are better than 8". Big serrated teeth are vastly better than "chainsaw" style teeth, or the tiny little saw teeth style. Don't waste your money on those. A 4-tooth cutter works surprisingly well too, and works better in the heavy weeds. The 12" triangular blade from Oregon (#41-921) is fantastic in heavy weeds, but tends to bend and crumple if you hit very much woody vegetation with it.

I have taken out 6" diameter trees with these blades! Just keep hacking at it, banging it like a hatchet into the tree until you blast off enough chips to let it fall.

Drawback to this plan: the trimmer head beneath the cutter blade will jarringly stop your swinging path through the brush. Learn to tilt the forward edge until the blade height is lower than your string head. This practice will also preserve your loaded string, which you use instead of the cutter blade when working in the heavy grass. If you have bicycle bars mounted on your trimmer, you will hate this combination. Not quite so bad with just the blade when you are on bicycle-style handles.

 

[pdqdl]

This will probably work well, although it's probably made with mild steel.

https://www.amazon.com/BlueCatELE-T...+blade+10+inch+9+tooth,lawngarden,132&sr=1-43
I've used any of these 3 types, they all seem to work equally well.

 

[pdqdl]

This looks like the discontinued Oregon blades.
https://www.amazon.com/BGTOOL-Cutte...blade+10+inch+9+tooth,lawngarden,132&sr=1-173

 

[Marine5068]

Lots of different brushcutter blades out there.
I use two main types on my Echo brushcutter, saw blade style and grass blade style.

 

[GenXer]

This looks like the discontinued Oregon blades.
https://www.amazon.com/BGTOOL-Cutte...blade+10+inch+9+tooth,lawngarden,132&sr=1-173
View attachment 1010906

I use that blade for mostly long grass

 

[Howard Justice]

Put a manual-feed aluminum trimmer head on your machine, and then load it with some .155" diameter string. Cheaper and much easier than poly cutters. Oregon #55-191 is what we use. (Now discontinued, but looks like the Jet Fit 55-403"

Mount a 10" 8-tooth trimmer blade between your manual feed trimmer head and the gear drive. You will need the right clamping washers that are probably on your machine right now. If not... they can be hard to get from a dealer. Most dealers lack experience with brush cutter blades.
We like the Oregon blade #90325A. Don't play around with the more common 8" diameter blades, as they are joke by comparison.
EDIT: that part number seems to have been discontinued. It might be the #634086, but I cannot find a picture of those either.
In general: 10" blades are better than 8". Big serrated teeth are vastly better than "chainsaw" style teeth, or the tiny little saw teeth style. Don't waste your money on those. A 4-tooth cutter works surprisingly well too, and works better in the heavy weeds. The 12" triangular blade from Oregon (#41-921) is fantastic in heavy weeds, but tends to bend and crumple if you hit very much woody vegetation with it.

I have taken out 6" diameter trees with these blades! Just keep hacking at it, banging it like a hatchet into the tree until you blast off enough chips to let it fall.

Drawback to this plan: the trimmer head beneath the cutter blade will jarringly stop your swinging path through the brush. Learn to tilt the forward edge until the blade height is lower than your string head. This practice will also preserve your loaded string, which you use instead of the cutter blade when working in the heavy grass. If you have bicycle bars mounted on your trimmer, you will hate this combination. Not quite so bad with just the blade when you are on bicycle-style handles.

Thank you. Most informative!!!

 

[Howard Justice]

Put a manual-feed aluminum trimmer head on your machine, and then load it with some .155" diameter string. Cheaper and much easier than poly cutters. Oregon #55-191 is what we use. (Now discontinued, but looks like the Jet Fit 55-403"

Mount a 10" 8-tooth trimmer blade between your manual feed trimmer head and the gear drive. You will need the right clamping washers that are probably on your machine right now. If not... they can be hard to get from a dealer. Most dealers lack experience with brush cutter blades.
We like the Oregon blade #90325A. Don't play around with the more common 8" diameter blades, as they are joke by comparison.
EDIT: that part number seems to have been discontinued. It might be the #634086, but I cannot find a picture of those either.
In general: 10" blades are better than 8". Big serrated teeth are vastly better than "chainsaw" style teeth, or the tiny little saw teeth style. Don't waste your money on those. A 4-tooth cutter works surprisingly well too, and works better in the heavy weeds. The 12" triangular blade from Oregon (#41-921) is fantastic in heavy weeds, but tends to bend and crumple if you hit very much woody vegetation with it.

I have taken out 6" diameter trees with these blades! Just keep hacking at it, banging it like a hatchet into the tree until you blast off enough chips to let it fall.

Drawback to this plan: the trimmer head beneath the cutter blade will jarringly stop your swinging path through the brush. Learn to tilt the forward edge until the blade height is lower than your string head. This practice will also preserve your loaded string, which you use instead of the cutter blade when working in the heavy grass. If you have bicycle bars mounted on your trimmer, you will hate this combination. Not quite so bad with just the blade when you are on bicycle-style handles.

Not familiar with aluminum trimmer head… is this a Stihl or Oregon product? Aluminum because more durable and less weight for rotating mass?

 

[pdqdl]

If you are just cutting tall thick weeds, nothing beats the 12" diameter triangle.

I found some of the "mulching" blades last night. I think there might be some potential there. We often get asked to cut the weeds in a neglected area, and they remain standing almost as tall as before they were cut. Then we must do a lot of mulching with up & down motions.

I'm going to try one out.

 

[Howard Justice]

Put a manual-feed aluminum trimmer head on your machine, and then load it with some .155" diameter string. Cheaper and much easier than poly cutters. Oregon #55-191 is what we use. (Now discontinued, but looks like the Jet Fit 55-403"

Mount a 10" 8-tooth trimmer blade between your manual feed trimmer head and the gear drive. You will need the right clamping washers that are probably on your machine right now. If not... they can be hard to get from a dealer. Most dealers lack experience with brush cutter blades.
We like the Oregon blade #90325A. Don't play around with the more common 8" diameter blades, as they are joke by comparison.
EDIT: that part number seems to have been discontinued. It might be the #634086, but I cannot find a picture of those either.
In general: 10" blades are better than 8". Big serrated teeth are vastly better than "chainsaw" style teeth, or the tiny little saw teeth style. Don't waste your money on those. A 4-tooth cutter works surprisingly well too, and works better in the heavy weeds. The 12" triangular blade from Oregon (#41-921) is fantastic in heavy weeds, but tends to bend and crumple if you hit very much woody vegetation with it.

I have taken out 6" diameter trees with these blades! Just keep hacking at it, banging it like a hatchet into the tree until you blast off enough chips to let it fall.

Drawback to this plan: the trimmer head beneath the cutter blade will jarringly stop your swinging path through the brush. Learn to tilt the forward edge until the blade height is lower than your string head. This practice will also preserve your loaded string, which you use instead of the cutter blade when working in the heavy grass. If you have bicycle bars mounted on your trimmer, you will hate this combination. Not quite so bad with just the blade when you are on bicycle-style handles.

Put a manual-feed aluminum trimmer head on your machine, and then load it with some .155" diameter string. Cheaper and much easier than poly cutters. Oregon #55-191 is what we use. (Now discontinued, but looks like the Jet Fit 55-403"

Mount a 10" 8-tooth trimmer blade between your manual feed trimmer head and the gear drive. You will need the right clamping washers that are probably on your machine right now. If not... they can be hard to get from a dealer. Most dealers lack experience with brush cutter blades.
We like the Oregon blade #90325A. Don't play around with the more common 8" diameter blades, as they are joke by comparison.
EDIT: that part number seems to have been discontinued. It might be the #634086, but I cannot find a picture of those either.
In general: 10" blades are better than 8". Big serrated teeth are vastly better than "chainsaw" style teeth, or the tiny little saw teeth style. Don't waste your money on those. A 4-tooth cutter works surprisingly well too, and works better in the heavy weeds. The 12" triangular blade from Oregon (#41-921) is fantastic in heavy weeds, but tends to bend and crumple if you hit very much woody vegetation with it.

I have taken out 6" diameter trees with these blades! Just keep hacking at it, banging it like a hatchet into the tree until you blast off enough chips to let it fall.

Drawback to this plan: the trimmer head beneath the cutter blade will jarringly stop your swinging path through the brush. Learn to tilt the forward edge until the blade height is lower than your string head. This practice will also preserve your loaded string, which you use instead of the cutter blade when working in the heavy grass. If you have bicycle bars mounted on your trimmer, you will hate this combination. Not quite so bad with just the blade when you are on bicycle-style handles.

This one….

 

[Howard Justice]

This will probably work well, although it's probably made with mild steel.

https://www.amazon.com/BlueCatELE-T...+blade+10+inch+9+tooth,lawngarden,132&sr=1-43
I've used any of these 3 types, they all seem to work equally wel

 

[Howard Justice]

Found the jet…. I get it now…. Thx!!

 

[pdqdl]

No string.t familiar with aluminum trimmer head… is this a Stihl or Oregon product? Aluminum because more durable and less weight for rotating mass?

The plastic heads simply are not sturdy enough to carry the heavy string and withstand the horsepower that gets put into the plastic when that burly string wraps around a big horse-weed and yanks backwards against the engine. That heavy string will literally tear up a plastic head made made to carry .095 string.

This is the kind of stuff those bigger string trimmers are made to do, but it can be difficult to get a setup that will handle the extra horsepower.

 

[pdqdl]

Lots of different brushcutter blades out there.
I use two main types on my Echo brushcutter, saw blade style and grass blade style.
View attachment 1010918
View attachment 1010919 View attachment 1010920

Eh. The saw blade style quickly get dull and become useless. They won't last 5 minutes swinging through underbrush and hitting rocks and fence posts. It's like handing a newbie a chainsaw and asking them to cut all those saplings coming up through the rocks on that slope... You know that saw is going to be dull in short order.

The 9-tooth style are great. They work fine until they are literally destroyed, and they are easy to sharpen.

 

[Howard Justice]

Thank you!

 

[Howard Justice]

The plastic heads simply are not sturdy enough to carry the heavy string and withstand the horsepower that gets put into the plastic when that burly string wraps around a big horse-weed and yanks backwards against the engine. That heavy string will literally tear up a plastic head made made to carry .095 string.

This is the kind of stuff those bigger string trimmers are made to do, but it can be difficult to get a setup that will handle the extra horsepower.

ThAnks for explanation

 

[JTM]

Ditto for the 12” tri-blade. It’s mostly what I use. I avoid using string because the machine I run pulverizes and covers you in plant matter. And if you are in poison oak…

 

[ericm979]

I have an FS240. I have various metal blades for it but don't use them often. They're a fire danger in fire season which is half the year or more here. While the blades can cut woody stems, a chainsaw works better for anything over an inch or so. The biggest problem for cutting brush is that my brush is so thick that I have to pull it out of the way and pile it after I cut some. I can just set a saw down but taking the FS240 off the harness, starting it and putting it back on is a little more involved. I could see it working well if you have small < 1/2" brush spaced far enough apart that you can just keep cutting and come back to pile it later.

I run .105 line in the stock Stihl plastic head. It works ok. One of my heads died after a decade or more on a couple trimmers but I consider that acceptable. Thicker line would be even more durable but would not cut finer material as well. Even the .105 stuff doesnt do well on fine grass. It just blows it around instead of cutting. I don't have much of that so it's ok.

 

[Howard Justice]

Ha ha…. Yep I’m battling that now from white pine saw work last week in Smoky Mountains. They must grow a wicked P Ivey species there!!

ANYONE HAVE HARNESS COMMENTS.

Never used one even w our pole saws…. Prolly need to…

 

[ericm979]

Harness and bicycle handles on the cutter is the way to go with a larger cutter. With the harness you don't have to hold the machine up, just aim it. And the wide handles allow better control of the machine. Stihl sells some nice harnesses. With the harness I can go for hours before I'm tired.