Winding the spool of a Ryobi trimmer?

[Sundog]

I have the 780 series trimmer, unfortunately, and persuading the string to feed is a real problem. The trimmer has had no more than 50 hours of use so far.

I wind the spool carefully keeping both lines parallel and flat on the spool or over the previous layer. I leave about 6" sticking out of the spool housing on both sides and it works great for about 5 mins. In that time I bounce the knob a few times when it's rotating at high speed. When the cutting gets very slow, I have a look and one of the strings has disappeared.

The winding information in Ryobi's manual is pathetic and the sketches are as useful and as a 5 year old's. The information on their website is not much better but different from the manual.

" Next, when winding the line, keep your finger between the two lines, keeping one line at the top of the reel, and the other at the bottom. If the two lines are allowed to cross each other when winding, then it will feed until it reaches the point where they cross. You should be able to bump out the entire length of the line if they do not cross. "

Can anyone understand "keeping one line at the top of the reel, and the other at the bottom"? Possibly this means one string on the spool and the other on top of it? Can anyone confirm that this works? My trimmer is some distance away and I can't check this at present.

A search unearthed some scathing comments about Ryobi's trimmers so I might have a lemon here.

Comments much appreciated.

Sd

[RoyDMercer]

What they are saying is pretty simple actually. They are advising you to keep your finger between the two lines when you load the spool because if the lines cross each other, you will have problems once the line feeds to the crossover point.

One thing that is fairly critical is how tightly you wind the spool. If you wind too loosely, the line will get jammed up inside from coming loose and tangling. If you wind too tightly the lines will imbed between each other and you'll get a jam. It takes a little practice to get it just right.

[Yaofeng]

First of all I never read the manual. Secondly, I think I have much more patience than you do. I have been living with this darn Rioby reel for more than 10 years. There must be a better way, I told myself every time. Let me know if you find it.

[Sporkman]

Buy a replacement spool of the "fixed-line" variety. Examples are the Grass Gator "Load & Cut" and the Echo "Rapid-Loader". Both types have spring-loaded cams or wedges which retract as a short (but thick) piece of trimmer line is inserted and then grab the line (with tiny teeth) so that it won't fly out. Both have a number of different threaded nuts which match about 99% of the trimmer arbors out there. Just make sure that you CAN take the trimmer head off of your Ryobi. I've got one electric trimmer (Black and Decker, I think) that had a head that can't be disassembled from the arbor.

There ARE trimmer head designs that enable >

[Sporkman]

[mudpiemaker42]

[Chuck B.]

I took mine to a local lawn mower repair joint They rewound it and charged me $5.00. Well worth it.

[Sundog]

Many thanks to all for the great replies. They give me enough leads to have another go at it. My fall back position will be what mudpiemaker42 suggests - make it one string.

Will report on my progress.

Sd