YES. Deep six it and buy a good one. Echo and Stihl are worth looking at.

Are you sure the drive tube has not slipped out of the motor housing or trimmer housing? They are a simple machine so it shouldn't take much to get it going again.
If the drive cable has gotten chewed up by being loose, I stock them.

I'd have to agree with canguy homelites aren't worth the headache of fixing or finding parts to match. You can eather buy some more cheapies for 70$ a piece... or just spend $150+ to get a stihl or echo that will probably last forever. And the stihl or echo will perform better than any homelite.
Good luck

Thanks BillW.

No, the drive shaft doesn't look chewed up - I just can't
get it to re-engage at the cutter head end. Do you stock replacement mufflers for them too?

And to everyone else - I'm aware that Homelite is a crappy machine, hence the reason for labeling it a POS in my initial post. Regardless, it is running fine now and rather than just scrapping it, I'd like to get it working again. Once it finally dies, I will replace it with a higher quality piece of equipment.

You can contact me direct...walcott@oz-online.net
or 785-562-3539
They prefer this to be a non-business site.

I have a Homelite Trimmer also that has lasted 23 years. Now I need a new clutch between th drive shaft and the engine. It is a Model HK-24 trimmer with a Kawasake TD24-DX engine. Does anybody know where I can buy one ??
AppyRees@aol.com

I am having the same problem. The trimmer runs OK but I can't get thet @#&!$% flex shaft to engage into the head. If you get an answer please pass it on.

The problem I'm having is that when I try to put the motor and the shaft back together, I have about a quarter inch gap all the way around. I've made sure the flex shaft is seated all the way into the engine side (because I was told by a repair guy this was a common problem with Homelites), but something's still keeping me from putting the two "halves" together. It's driving me nuts.