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  Graham Taylor November 29, 2016 at 8:32am

  True, the gear system in the heads will be different but that's no reason to think the shaft will break..............mine's been in action for 10 years with no problem. If the shaft did break.....  I can't see that being expensive.
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    Harry@VWGS > Graham Taylor November 29, 2016 at 11:16am

    Cheers for the feedback mate, just what I was hoping to hear...:-)
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  Ben Jakes November 29, 2016 at 5:12pm

  This is not what you're hoping to hear, but here goes.

  The Stihl hedgecutter head has no clutch in. So if you hit a branch and it jams the blades, the shock has to travel all the way down the shaft to the clutch at the machine end, risking snapping the driveshaft (£100+) This is why Stihl do not recommend it.

  Echo hedgecutter heads apparently have a clutch, and Echo are happy for them to be used on their pole pruner.

  Up to you if you want to risk it- I got my guys a couple of carbon fibre extension poles for the Kombi system instead of letting them swap the heads. The Echo pole pruner I used many moons ago as a subbie was great with a hedgecutter head though- really solid.
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    Harry@VWGS > Ben Jakes November 29, 2016 at 5:33pm

    Hi Ben, I've not purchased the Stihl yet so will take a look at the Echo equivalent, I had one of their strimmers a few years back and was a good little machine, will take a look at them, thanks mate...
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    Graham Taylor > Ben Jakes November 30, 2016 at 8:44am

    The drive shafts really aren't that pricey..... £32 + vat       http://www.lsengineers.co.uk/drive-shaft-stihl-part-no-4137-711-320... I've an FS130 strimmer that I swap the 2 heads between............ the heads are designed to be swapped over and really can't see why there should be any problem.
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      Seth Burgess > Graham Taylor November 30, 2016 at 8:59am

      We're talking about the telescopic pole saw not the long reach hedge trimmer. Your link doesn't work also.
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      Harry@VWGS > Graham Taylor November 30, 2016 at 5:27pm

      Sorry, should have added the "telescopic" to the pole saw in the heading, my bad....
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  Tony @SM November 29, 2016 at 6:11pm

  Hi Harry, I can't help you with the technicalities of swapping heads, although Ben seems to have covered that. I use the carbon fibre Kombi extension bar myself. It does the trick although it does put a strain on the arms and back, but if you're not using it for long then it's useful and let's face it, any working up over your head is strenuous.
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    Harry@VWGS > Tony @SM November 29, 2016 at 6:23pm

    Hi Tony, yes I use that setup ATM, but I saw a tree surgeon trimming up a massive Yew ball the other day and he was using a Stihl pole pruner with a hedge trimmer attached, and it looked a very useful beast... haha
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      Tony @SM > Harry@VWGS November 29, 2016 at 6:42pm

      Well I'm out. If  I can't  reach it with the extension or the Henchman it's  not for me. I'm just not strong enough any more!!!!