OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Trimmers and Brushcutters Two Stroke Trimmers & Brushcutters Cube repair kits

Does anyone know if the DC Spares (out of Hong Kong) carburetor parts are any good? Stihl here has barred Zama from distributing the repair kits via Zama distributors that fit only Stihl carburetors. I can't even view an exploded view of the carbs or parts list. The problem is that the local Stihl dealer is 3x the prices I paid last year for the same kits.

What worst is the local dealers can't even convert the Zama kit numbers to Stihl parts. I having to spend up to 30 minutes on the phone just to get a price quote.

AVB I guess this is what Trump meant by "Making America great again" Sorry I can't help and couldn't resist LOL

That must be coincidental eh? Jacking up the price after crafting a monopoly for themselves.
I have never been too impressed with Stihl since a near new domestic grade bent shaft weed slapper of theirs refused to fire after having nothing but good experiences with my cheaper Ryobi model.

Yes everything we fought hard to achieve seems to be going out the window. Several manufactures are going into distributors and demanding they no longer sell aftermarket parts if they want to sell their parts. Then since they are the only game in town charge what ever they want to without competition. Yes my gross sales figures are higher but my bottom line is lower too as there is less of a profit margin with all the additional charges. And tRump is wanting our postal system to charge higher fees for packages which will drive costs even higher.

Since I have been working on these Walbro and Zama cube carbs for over 9 yrs now I seldom need a full kit and I have that several duplicates in Zama kit line. Many times all I need after cleaning when I am careful is just the metering diaphragm and mating gasket plus the needle valve at times. I do prefer to do a whole repair kit at times though I can get by with less and a lot times I do especially on the elCheapo trimmers. I am however seeing a rash of the small Zama metering needles giving problems lately having a wear ring on the tips.

The DC Spares seems to have all the parts that I need except for the Zama C1T fuel pump side diaphragm and gasket. This particular C1T here uses the RB-186 kit.

I did order a couple RB-155 clone kits thru Amazon but I have no idea from whom they came from although they did come out of China. I both of them installed now and in use by the customers. So I did order 10 of the RB-164 which is basically the same as the RB-155 kit thru Amazon.

If order these DC Spare kits I can actually make more per kit and still be less than the local Stihl dealer prices. I would say that would be a win for the customer, a win for my shop, and a lose for the Stihl group.

Mowerfreak, I must be lucky as I haven't seen a bent shaft Stihl in the shop except for one that was wrap around a tree trunk. As for not starting many times the spark arrester clogs on these to a point where they can't breathe. Other than that most of the Stihl units have been fairly good ones. The only trimmers giving my problems is those MTD and Ryobi 4 cycles using separate oil tanks that burn themselves from lack of proper oiling.

AVB sooner or later Australia will have to put tariffs back on imported items so that our manufacturers can have some chance otherwise we just become a tourist country that exports raw materials, we are pretty much there now. We all know what happened to Naru

I buy OEM most times but I prefer to bypass the dealers as I am a repair shop myself. What happening is the manufactures are still buying out China, Mexico, Philippines, etc but are now holding up the buyers as they now trying force us to buy only from the dealers instead of distributors. By buying from a distributor gives us a little more profit margin to work with. Some the very aftermarket companies they are trying to force out of the market are American manufacturing companies here.

One thing I have notice lately is a lot less of the John Deere mowers are coming into the shop as users and owners are dumping the brand as they now starting to do to the Stihl brand too.

What crazy is that I took me 9 yrs to get into a couple distributors and they can't even provide all the parts I need. I kinda glad I am planning on retiring in 2025. I am a small shop as I only done 20K gross this year but apparently I am worrying the local dealers as I am growing in volume of work.

20K gross here you wouldn't last more than a few months here, cost of living in America must be a lot lower there. I personally have had no dealings with John Deere stuff they look the part, but all reports I have heard is avoid at all costs. I bought my Stihl chainsaw about 35 years ago, was about 3 weeks wages back then and it has never caused me any problems, sure it hasn't done major timber cutting work, just kept my open fire fed for all that time. I am aware that the newer stuff is no where near as good, but I guess they could not survive on reputation alone so they had to cheapen to compete with all the other cheap Chinese stuff that has come onto the market in the last 20 years

It not that the cost is lower it is that I have my place paid for and I know how live on bare minimums.

That is your good fortune from hard work over a lifetime, no good for young people trying to start out, exactly the same here, paying a min of $400 a week in rent 60ks out of the city makes it hard for most people and then they spend up to 4 hours a day trying to get too and from work. Australia was once a great country too, but going down the gurgler fast now