Ryobi 41002 repair

[CHARLES88]

I have a RYOBI R41002 electric string trimmer that had several switch assembly failures while under warranty and has now failed again (out of warranty). I want to replace the switch/spring/trigger myself and wonder what will happen when I separate the halves of the housing. Is anything likely to go flying off or should everything stay in place provided I am careful? I've had experience over the years repairing various things so I'm not a beginner.

Any thoughts/comments/advice will certainly be appreciated.

Thank you.

[UtahAV]

Hi CHARLES88,

I don't think you will have much trouble at all. There is a spring that goes between the switch lever and the switch you will need to be a bit careful with but other than that I think it will be a pretty straight forward repair. Here is a link to the parts diagram...

Link to Ryobi RY41002 trimmer.

The spring you need to be aware of is item #8 on the parts diagram.

Good luck with your repair!

-UtahAV
-Mark

[joeblough]

Charles, Please let me know how you did. I have the same trimmer and same history. Too bad they didn't do a recall with a better switch unit to replace it with.
John

[joeblough]

Also, please let me know what parts you ordered to fix yours with. I am unsure exactly what parts fail.

[CHARLES88]

I finally ordered replacement parts for my trimmer and received them a couple of days ago. On Tuesday night I sat down, disassembled the unit and replaced the switch. It turned out to be about a 30 minute job (Went slow and "measured twice and cut once" as the saying goes). I did not consider it difficult. Although I ordered the switch, trigger and spring (Part numbers 6, 7 and 8 on the parts explosion diagram) I decided to replace only the switch. I took it outdoors next day, started it up and trimmed enough grass and weeds to allow me to declare the repair a success.

Based on my past failure rate I ordered three of each part, so I should be covered for the next three years. From a practical point of view the switch appears to be the weak point but the other two parts were inexpensive and I'll have them just in case. The new switches had a different manufacturer's part number stamped on them, hopefully denoting a 'new and improved' version. I have no idea how long these switches will be available through Ryobi channels but hopefully they are an off-the-shelf electronic item.

I would like to thank Jim and UtahAV for words of encouragement on this repair and apologize to joeblough for not doing this sooner so I could answer his questions. I'm not rude, just slow.