DFB
Well-known member
- Aug 12, 2019
- 5,389
- 3,983
I had the shredder out the other day to process the material removed from two large Buddleja plants, which I prune heavily once a year. You have to pick your mark with this thing, try to shred material that's too wet and all you do is create a headache. That tends to rule out a lot of stuff removed from this garden. Rose pruning's are not nice to feed through it either. It's also time consuming, although you do get free mulch from it at the end.
The shredder in question is a Yardeco Recycler 2000 fitted with the 5hp Honda GX 160 engine. These are Australian designed and engineered and were available with Briggs & Stratton or Honda engines, thankfully, the owner went with the Honda engine (I hate Honda machines but like their commercial engines). It would appear the Yardeco brand no longer makes shredders, but still offers garden scratchers (tillers), powered wheelbarrows, and log splitters.
https://www.yardeco.com.au/
However, it would appear that the same machines are now branded TruYard, even the promotional video is the same. The Briggs engines have made way for crappy Krohler's, and the Honda engines upped to the GX 200.
https://www.truyard.com.au/products/1
After using it the other day, I figured the engine has never been serviced since it was bought at least a decade ago. Not that it's been run constantly over that period, even so, it's probably well overdue for an oil change.
Because of the size, weight and awkwardness of the machine, draining the old oil is not easy. To get around that, I used my small Briggs & Stratton oil extractor. A B&S tool used to service a Honda!
https://powermowers.com.au/products...VZkF0ArlhFkFGGFCeYFI7vKWNFfofv1XlVlmaN3aLfVnb
The old oil wasn't too bad, a dark gold-brown, but well worth refreshing. I refilled with Penrite Small Engine 10w30, which is semi-synthetic. From what I can see, the Honda-branded oil offered in Australia is a mineral based 10w30, although there is a synthetic 5w30 offered overseas.
I also replaced the original spark plug, an NGK BPR6ES.
Honda makes three different air filter types for these engines. The first two are conventional, either a low-profile foam sock, or an oval paper cartridge with a foam pre-filter. On this particular GX 160, it has the third type, an oil bath filter. I've never worked on an engine with a filter like this, a design I thought was confined to the early days of small engines, but clearly not.
In conjunction with a conventional oiled foam filter, the idea here is to trap debris in the oil reservoir. Over time, that oil becomes loaded with dust and debris and needs to be drained and refreshed. On this occasion, I drained the oil, then cleaned out the reservoir with Surfex and water, then left to dry in the sun while I finished elsewhere. The foam element was blown out and re-oiled. Once dry, the reservoir was refilled using the same Penrite oil that went in the engine.
I have to say, this is an unnecessarily complicated and messy filtration system. You can't just install a new filter and be done with it, as such I'd much prefer the standard dual-element paper/foam type.
Because of the infrequent use, I have no idea how old the fuel in the tank was. While the engine (eventually) started and ran fine earlier in the week, the exhaust gas smelt stale. After use, I actually shut off the fuel and let the engine run dry. So, the final step today was to drain and discard the fuel left in the tank. I also have no idea when I'll use this machine again, so leaving the fuel any longer wouldn't do the engine any good.
The shredder in question is a Yardeco Recycler 2000 fitted with the 5hp Honda GX 160 engine. These are Australian designed and engineered and were available with Briggs & Stratton or Honda engines, thankfully, the owner went with the Honda engine (I hate Honda machines but like their commercial engines). It would appear the Yardeco brand no longer makes shredders, but still offers garden scratchers (tillers), powered wheelbarrows, and log splitters.
https://www.yardeco.com.au/
However, it would appear that the same machines are now branded TruYard, even the promotional video is the same. The Briggs engines have made way for crappy Krohler's, and the Honda engines upped to the GX 200.
https://www.truyard.com.au/products/1
After using it the other day, I figured the engine has never been serviced since it was bought at least a decade ago. Not that it's been run constantly over that period, even so, it's probably well overdue for an oil change.
Because of the size, weight and awkwardness of the machine, draining the old oil is not easy. To get around that, I used my small Briggs & Stratton oil extractor. A B&S tool used to service a Honda!
https://powermowers.com.au/products...VZkF0ArlhFkFGGFCeYFI7vKWNFfofv1XlVlmaN3aLfVnb
The old oil wasn't too bad, a dark gold-brown, but well worth refreshing. I refilled with Penrite Small Engine 10w30, which is semi-synthetic. From what I can see, the Honda-branded oil offered in Australia is a mineral based 10w30, although there is a synthetic 5w30 offered overseas.
I also replaced the original spark plug, an NGK BPR6ES.
Honda makes three different air filter types for these engines. The first two are conventional, either a low-profile foam sock, or an oval paper cartridge with a foam pre-filter. On this particular GX 160, it has the third type, an oil bath filter. I've never worked on an engine with a filter like this, a design I thought was confined to the early days of small engines, but clearly not.
In conjunction with a conventional oiled foam filter, the idea here is to trap debris in the oil reservoir. Over time, that oil becomes loaded with dust and debris and needs to be drained and refreshed. On this occasion, I drained the oil, then cleaned out the reservoir with Surfex and water, then left to dry in the sun while I finished elsewhere. The foam element was blown out and re-oiled. Once dry, the reservoir was refilled using the same Penrite oil that went in the engine.
I have to say, this is an unnecessarily complicated and messy filtration system. You can't just install a new filter and be done with it, as such I'd much prefer the standard dual-element paper/foam type.
Because of the infrequent use, I have no idea how old the fuel in the tank was. While the engine (eventually) started and ran fine earlier in the week, the exhaust gas smelt stale. After use, I actually shut off the fuel and let the engine run dry. So, the final step today was to drain and discard the fuel left in the tank. I also have no idea when I'll use this machine again, so leaving the fuel any longer wouldn't do the engine any good.
poor bugger infront of me look about 20 minutes to squirt. 
