How to Replace the Rope in a Bolens Weedeater

There is more to maintaining a lawn than just pushing a lawnmower across the grass. To keep your lawn healthy and yard-of-the-month worthy, fertilizing, edging and weed trimming ensure it is properly trimmed and clipped. A string trimmer uses a rotating length of line to trim grass and weeds from the edge of your house or fence or other places your mower cannot reach. The Bolens weed trimmer’s nylon or plastic line circulates at a very fast rate, cutting grass and weeds with each rotation. Once the string is spent, you’ll need to restring the weed trimmer’s inner wheel with new line.

.080 in. or 2.03 mm replacement line
Old towel
Measuring tape
Heavy-duty scissors or wire cutters

Instructions

- 1
  Place one hand firmly on the outer spool as you unwind the bump knob counter-clockwise from the mechanism.
- 2
  Pull the inner wheel away from the outer spool when the bump knob is loosened. The two pieces should disassemble easily. Once they are apart, remove the inner spring from the inner reel. Often the spring will easily fall out if you simply pour it into your free hand.
- 3
  Clean the spool, bump knob, inner wheel and spring gently with a clean, old towel. Grass clippings, dirt, sand and other sediment fly into the mechanism and can eventually inhibit the machine’s effectiveness.
- 4
  Unwind about 20 feet of replacement line and cut that length with scissors. Find the center of the line, loop it around your index finger and adjust the length until the two ends meet, creating an open-ended loop.
- 5
  Insert each end through one of two holes on the flat end of the inner reel. Depending on your model number, the words “rewind” and “line” may flank the two holes. Pull the two ends through the holes until all of the line is pulled through.
- 6
  Place your index finger on the circular core of the inner reel and begin to wind the line tightly around the spool, guiding it with your finger and ensuring the lines don’t overlap.
- 7
  Slide the remaining end of each line into the notched slots on either side of the reel.
- 8
  Replace the inner spring.
- 9
  Thread the ends of each line through the eyelets in the outer spool so that they point in opposite directions.
- 10
  Fit the reel and spool back together, ensuring the spring stays in place. While holding the two pieces in place, pull both lines taut. Continue to hold the pieces together as you replace the bump knob, screwing it in clockwise and tightening it.

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