HusqvarnaHusqvarna 128LD 17

It’s a little early in my ownership to be commenting on the Husqvvarna 128LD, but it’s got a few minor issues. The biggy is it’s ergonomics. It’s a little short in length for a straightshaft for someone that’s 6.0′ tall. I find I’m having to crouch a bit with it. Secondly and this gets mentioned a lot in this weedeater’s reviews: It needs to have it’s carburetor mixture screws adjusted richer. The low speed one was almost too lean and the engine would stall out after idling for a few seconds. Piston port two strokes should stumble and shudder a tiny bit when idling, they will burble and chortle which is typical of a proper fuel to air ratio at idle. Mine was almost 4 stroke engine idle smooth, a sign that it was far too lean. It also would bog with a “wa-a-a-a-aah! intake noise which means the high speed jet needed opening also. About a 1/4 turn counter clockwise on both brought it back to running normally. You will need the 21 tooth, inner spline carb tool to make these adjustments. I’ve got 2.4 acres of tall grass to finish with this machine and I noticed that the bevel gear drive was starting to whine a bit. which is a sign the grease was starting to thin on the trimmerhead’s gears. You can fix this by adding a few cc’s of 90# gear oil for car differentials into the gear head, After carefully cleaning the head of dead grass, loosen the 13mm plug on the right side of the gear head and pour a few cc’s into the opening. You may have to work some of the grease out of the way of the opening. Bevel gears like this need a thick oil as the grease tends to get flung off and not work it’s way back to lubing the gears.OK, the good things I liked: The 1.4:1 ratio bevel-gear in the head is brilliant, it lets this little engine spin up while under load. This 28 cc is fairly short stoke to bore and loves to rev, thrives on being spun fast, it does drink fuel like a slightly bigger engine, but it’s light and smooth. I’ll take the slight fuel consumption penalty. Nothing was said in this product’s description of the exhaust system, so I will say this, this has a catalytic muffler which runs fairly smoke free when up to temperature, just like the Tanaka Pure-Fire. This is great because I have a problem with too smoky a 2 cycle exhaust causing migraines. This engine is less stinky than the Ryobi 4 cycle it replaces. Did I say it’s buttery smooth? It’s really well balanced for a small single, you will not have your hands falling asleep from the constant buzzing from the engine. Also it’s quieter than my old Ryobi 4 stroke which is saying a lot, most small two cycles whine at certain frequencies, yeah it whines a little but it’s not annoying at high speed. It’s a fair deal that needs a little preventative attention before use, especially good for someone who doesn’t mind tinkering.