How to Load Line in an Echo Trimmer

Before you buy a spool of line, work out which head you are loading. The reload procedure is completely different between the two, and the wrong instructions will have you fighting a head that was designed to be easy.

If you are not sure which you have, the tell is the reload: a Speed-Feed head has a single eyelet each side and a large knob you turn, and it never needs opening. A conventional head has a bump knob on the bottom and a cap that twists off to reach the spool. The trimmer heads page covers what each design changes and how to tell a worn head from one that just needs reloading.

The Speed-Feed is the reason people switch heads: line feeds straight through and winds by turning the knob, without taking the spool out or opening anything. That is exactly why it is easy to reload in the field, and it is worth learning the routine so you can do it without thinking.

• Cut a single length of fresh line. One straight piece, not two - the Speed-Feed loads as one length pulled through the head. Match the diameter your head is rated for; on an SRM-225 that is .095 in.
• Line up the arrows. Rotate the knob until the arrow on it lines up with the eyelets in the housing. When they line up, the two holes run straight through the head.
• Feed the line through. Push one end in through an eyelet and out the other side. Pull it through until the two ends are even - that is what balances the head so it does not vibrate.
• Twist the knob to wind. Turn the knob in the direction marked on it. Both ends draw in evenly and coil inside. Stop when only a short tail of line is left out each side.

That is the whole job. Because the spool never comes out, there is nothing to wind backwards and no cap to cross-thread - most of the mistakes below simply cannot happen on this head, which is why it is the one to fit if reloading is the part you dislike. One caveat from buying the head itself: the genuine Speed-Feed 400 ships without adapters, so confirm your shaft before ordering a replacement.

The factory bump head takes more steps and is where the classic mistakes live. Work in order:

• Open the head. Press the tabs or twist the cap and lift out the spool. Clear any welded stubs of old line from the eyelets.
• Read the arrow on the spool. There is a moulded arrow showing the winding direction. This is the single detail that decides whether the reload works - wind against it and the line will not feed.
• Wind tight and even. On a dual-line spool each half has its own channel; keep them separate and do not let coils cross, or they weld together under heat. Wind snugly, not loosely.
• Seat the ends and reassemble. Park each end in the notch that holds it, thread both through the eyelets, then click the spool and cap back in. Leave several inches poking out of each eyelet so the head has something to feed.

If the machine cuts fine but you are here because it will not run at all, loading line is not your problem - start with why an Echo will not start instead.

Four errors cause nearly every failed reload, and all four are avoidable:

• Winding the wrong direction. Line wound against the spool arrow unwinds all at once on the first pull, or never feeds. When a freshly loaded head dumps its line immediately, this is almost always why.
• Too much line. Overpacking the spool jams the feed and bogs the engine at full length. Fill to the level marks, no more.
• The wrong diameter. A head rated for .095 in binds on .105 in even though the thicker line physically fits. Match the line to the head, not the other way round - the diameter question is covered on the trimmer line page.
• Brittle line. Nylon dried out in storage snaps the moment it is loaded, and every snap gets blamed on the head. Store spools sealed, and soak a clearly dried-out spool in water for a day before winding it.

Get the head type, the winding direction and the diameter right and the string stops being the part of the machine you dread. Everything past that - a worn eyelet, a cracked spool - is a head replacement, not a loading problem.