How To Replace The String On An Echo String Trimmer

An Echo string trimmer, or a weed whacker as it is also called, will give anyone top-quality performance. Eventually however, you will be faced with having to replace the cutting string on the spool. All string trimmers are made to shed their string bit by bit as they cut grass and weeds, so this is a normal procedure. But an Echo string trimmer has a spool design feature which allows virtually anyone to replace the string with no special tools.

Echo supplies one of two types of trimmer heads. A self-feeding head automatically unravels the string as you work so you always have enough string to do the job. A bump-feed head, on the other hand, doesn't advance the string until you bump the head on the ground, which is a feature that helps make the string last longer. When it comes to string replacement, there isn't much difference between these two options.

1. Prepare Your Trimmer

Place your Echo trimmer on the floor with the string spool side up.

2. Remove the Spool

Remove the spool from the housing. On bump-feed trimmers, grasp and turn the spool-retaining nut in a clockwise rotation until it clicks, then pull it off the retaining nut shaft. On a self-feeding head trimmer, push the retaining nut in and turn it in a counterclockwise rotation until it clicks, then pull it off.

3. Prepare the String

Cut off two 10-foot pieces of .095 string trimmer line from the supply spool with a pair of scissors. Use your tape measure as a guide. Put a 1/2-inch sharp bend on the ends of both pieces of trimmer line. There will be two holes inside the trimmer spool where these lines will be inserted.

4. Wind the String on the Spool

Follow the line winding arrow that will be printed on the outside of the spool. Each line will have an individual track to be wound in, so position them inside each of their tracks, and wind them together.

Wind the string until there is approximately 6 inches of line left, then locate the line holding notches on the spool. They will be on opposite sides of the spool proper, and each line must be inserted into one of the notches. Once inserted, the line will be held in place.

5. Replace the Spool

Thread the ends of the lines through holes in the spool housing. The holes will correspond with the placement of the string holding notches and will be on opposite sides of the housing. Press the spool back into the housing while keeping the lines threaded through the holes. Once inside, pull the strings through each side of the housing to seat the spool within. Replace the spool-retaining nut onto the retaining nut shaft in the exact opposite way that it came off.