Warning: that $800 power trowel upgrade might not be the fix you think

I had this old walk behind trowel that was giving me trouble, mostly with the throttle sticking. Instead of just fixing the carb, I dropped about $800 on a brand new electronic governor system for it. The sales guy made it sound like it would run smooth as glass and save me hours on every job. Well, it's been six months and I'm not sure it was worth it. Sure, the speed is super steady now, but the setup was a pain, and I've already had one sensor go bad on a hot day. On the other hand, my buddy swears by his and says it's the best money he ever spent for consistent finish on big slabs. Has anyone else gone down this road? Did a big upgrade like this actually pay off for you in the long run, or did you just end up with a fancy headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77921h ago

Ever think it depends on the brand of the trowel itself? My old machine had a cheap carb that was always a problem, so the upgrade made sense. But if your engine was basically solid, maybe just a good carb clean and a manual governor adjustment would've done the same job for way less cash.

diana61721h ago

Yeah, the "basically solid" part is key. I had a similar thing with an old tiller. Spent a whole weekend taking the carb apart, cleaning every jet, and tweaking the governor spring. Ran like new for years after that. Throwing parts at a simple fix is such a waste. Some people just don't want to get their hands dirty, I guess.

allen.kai19h ago

Sounds like my usual move, buying the fancy fix instead of just cleaning the gunk out. I probably would've spent the eight hundred too, just to avoid taking a carb apart for the third time. That steady speed is nice, but fighting with new sensors and wiring sounds like trading one headache for another. Sometimes the old way of doing things just works, even if it means getting your hands dirty. My wallet definitely learns that lesson the hard way.