Stihl pole pruner question

[whatsnext]

One of the guys I do little sub grass jobs for is having his spring buying orgy and I caught him before he had sold everything off. I ended up with a nice Echo hedge trimmer and the big Stihl extendable pole saw. He said it was Stihl's biggest two stroke pole pruner so I think it's an model 85 and he's buying the new 4-mix one. Does anyone know if you can buy a hedge trimmer attachment to fit on this? It would make the machine a lot more useful.
Thanks, John

 

[THALL10326]

One of the guys I do little sub grass jobs for is having his spring buying orgy and I caught him before he had sold everything off. I ended up with a nice Echo hedge trimmer and the big Stihl extendable pole saw. He said it was Stihl's biggest two stroke pole pruner so I think it's an model 85 and he's buying the new 4-mix one. Does anyone know if you can buy a hedge trimmer attachment to fit on this? It would make the machine a lot more useful.
Thanks, John

You can put a standard Stihl hedge attachment on their pole prunner but I don't think it would be to easy to use due to the weight at the end of it with that thing on there. Also not sure the drive shaft would hold up running a hedge attachment either. Guess ya could really reach up with it to use but reaching out with that much weight on the end of it would make it hard to use. Being's its a HT85 I'm not sure it would have much power to run all that shaft and the gears and blades of a hedge attachment, HT101 4-mix might but the HT85, thats asking a lot of that little engine..

 

[whatsnext]

Well, I would only use it on stuff I couldn't reach with my other hedge trimmer which wouldn't be often. I don't think I would ever extend the pole as I could probably reach to eight or nine feet without doing it. I'm suprised you would think that it would be down on power, I thought the 85 series was suposed to be pretty hot stuff.

 

[Stihldoc]

Early on in the HT 75 model days, Stihl approved the HT units for use with a hedge trimmer attachment. This recommendation continued for about 2 years before they changed their Germanic minds. They later said the hedge trimmer had too much resistance for the extendable shaft units and the shafts could wear out prematurely. This is still the company line. I have used a HT75 with the adjustable hedge trimmer and it is a handful.

 

[THALL10326]

Well, I would only use it on stuff I couldn't reach with my other hedge trimmer which wouldn't be often. I don't think I would ever extend the pole as I could probably reach to eight or nine feet without doing it. I'm suprised you would think that it would be down on power, I thought the 85 series was suposed to be pretty hot stuff.

Not knocking the 85 motor at all, good little enigine but remember its only a 25cc engine which is great for weed trimmers. They had it on the HL85 which is nothing but a trimmer with a hedge attachment and trust me the engine was working alot harder to run that hedge attachment than the trimmer head. Takes more power to run the gears in the gear box of a hedge attachmant along with the blades. I'm not saying it won't run a hedge attachment, it will indeed, but it really has to work. The new pole prunner, the HT101 has a 31cc 4-mix engine with alot more torque. The pole prunner was one of the first ideas to put the new engine on due to the extra power and torque. Try em both and you'll see what I mean when I talk about power of the 85..

 

[THALL10326]

Not knocking the 85 motor at all, good little enigine but remember its only a 25cc engine which is great for weed trimmers. They had it on the HL85 which is nothing but a trimmer with a hedge attachment and trust me the engine was working alot harder to run that hedge attachment than the trimmer head. Takes more power to run the gears in the gear box of a hedge attachmant along with the blades. I'm not saying it won't run a hedge attachment, it will indeed, but it really has to work. The new pole prunner, the HT101 has a 31cc 4-mix engine with alot more torque. The pole prunner was one of the first ideas to put the new engine on due to the extra power and torque. Try em both and you'll see what I mean when I talk about power of the 85..

ooooooooooops, got my numbers mixed up, it was the HT75, memeory goes with aging,

 

[whatsnext]

OK, so how is it as a pole saw?

 

[THALL10326]

OK, so how is it as a pole saw?

Used as a pole saw its great. It doesn't take nearly as much power to run that saw head as it does a hedge head. It will zip right through a 6-8 inch limb with ease. As a pole saw its a great machine. Just remember never to undercut a limb, always cut from the top down through it. With that thing extended the last thing you want to do is get it pinched. That shaft assembly isn't cheap so never ever bend it..

 

[whatsnext]

I had a chance to use the pole pruner today and it was amazingly quick going through 4 or 5 inch diameter stuff. It didn't seem anywhere near as smooth with the shaft extended but with it collapsed it was really nice. It turns out that it's a HT75 not an 85 but it's pretty peppy for what it is. I think this will be a pretty useful piece of equipment.
Thanks, John..

 

[THALL10326]

I had a chance to use the pole pruner today and it was amazingly quick going through 4 or 5 inch diameter stuff. It didn't seem anywhere near as smooth with the shaft extended but with it collapsed it was really nice. It turns out that it's a HT75 not an 85 but it's pretty peppy for what it is. I think this will be a pretty useful piece of equipment.
Thanks, John..

Gald ya like that pole prunner, its a handy tool indeed. While I gotcha here theres one thing ya need to remember when using that baby. Never extend it all the way out in a hurry, utter words never just slam it all the way out. The shaft on it has a clip that acts as a stop for full extension. If you really slam that thing all the way out hard the clip will slip off its groove and then ya got a problem. You'll know if it ever happens because fully extended past the clip stop leaves you with a saw head that won't run. So when ya extend it do it gently and when she stops thats far as she goes. I got one and it paid for itself in one day so I'm like you, I like that machine alot.....

 

[stihltech]

Ht75

As one of the few techs that has a bench long enough to work on one of these extended, DO NOT put on any other attachment. The drive shaft will flex, and then you won't be able to collapse it. You then replace the driveshaft.
The other attachments work nicely on the FS 85 and up trimmers.
(I use them on my 55 and 80, but don't tell them that.)

 

[THALL10326]

As one of the few techs that has a bench long enough to work on one of these extended, DO NOT put on any other attachment. The drive shaft will flex, and then you won't be able to collapse it. You then replace the driveshaft.
The other attachments work nicely on the FS 85 and up trimmers.
(I use them on my 55 and 80, but don't tell them that.)

How long is ya bench,lol, just messing with ya. You are 100% correct about the drive shaft flexing. Really they more less twist instead of flex and thats when ya go to bring her back in that she says oh no sucker, I'm out here till ya get my twist out................

 

[stihltech]

bench

Goes along with my Formica Stihl training.

 

[musher]

As one of the few techs that has a bench long enough to work on one of these extended, DO NOT put on any other attachment. The drive shaft will flex, and then you won't be able to collapse it. You then replace the driveshaft.
The other attachments work nicely on the FS 85 and up trimmers.
(I use them on my 55 and 80, but don't tell them that.)

I'm just wondering if you could elaborate which attachments those are? I have the FS85 with the bike handles, and from what I can tell, they only consider the Power Scythe, Cultivator and Edger to be "acceptable".

Would others be workable if I add the "D" handle? Of course, then there's the whole issue of where the throttle is.

Also, does the pole pruner attachment come with an extended shaft?

 

[stihltech]

attachments

The bike handles are the limiting factor. The attachments are designed for the D handle setup.
Almost any attachment then.

There is some kind of extension, but it may be the detachable wand unit. Need to check that out.