Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

For the second time this year, the plastic left turn trigger has broken on my 3090XP. While it is an easy and cheap part to replace, I am wondering what would cause this. It seems to happen after the heated handle grips are turned on and left on for more than half an hour. Is the heat weakening the plastic? Is the tension in the cable too tight? Is there something I could adjust or replace?

Here is a picture of the broken trigger. You can see the broken plastic and the loose cable:



Here is a picture of the right trigger for reference:



Thanks.

I think the problem could be wrong plastic type used for cold weather, poor molding process, or just bad design.  If anything, the heat probably isn't the cause of the failure, it should make the plastic more resilient and less prone to fracture.  I don't think there's enough heat cycling to make the plastic brittle.  The cable tension might be too high or it is binding or kinked somewhere.  I would check into that first.

You could keep replacing the same part, or go to a bicycle repair shop and get a brake lever made out of aluminum of similar size and shape.  If you want to keep it plastic since it's not as cold to the touch, you can check if Toro or Ariens use similar levers and get that one.

Good ideas. Thanks.

you may have ice forming in the cable putting more tension on the trigger.  you can try to flush the cable with some wd40. if you can pull the cable from the case even better.   If you can get the cable out of the case flush the case with wd40 and give the cable a good coat of a lite grease.

carl