Here is a couple of my flock of 45 saws! --- My favorite small saw is the Echo cs310. I have had good luck so far with most of these plastic saws and for my use they do fine. The Blue max is a chimnaeese invention, BUT its old school choke, ( no bulb), carb with set screws you can tune it and made of metal, NOT plastic. Does a good job for me.
My big saws are old Homelite 8800 and Echo cs8000, both with 36" bars on them. The 8000 is currently on the Granberg chainsaw mill attachment. The medium saws are mostly Homelite SXLAO's . I have and use several of these. Another good model I have is a Eager beaver 3.7 and the Baby beaver 2.0. The plastics are mostly Homelite and Poulan. Waiting on parts for the Poulan 4218a right now so I can put it back together. The Homelite 3514 motor is back in and almost hooked up. One of the SXLAO's is next up with a new block and piston to go in it.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
Next saw on the test list scared the hell out of me! --they said it didnt run and they quit messin with it.---Sit down boys cause this is some funny shit! -- saw wouldnt run cause the switch was off! anyway the first thing I did was test for spark and none to be found, so I flipped the switch to the other position and---YUP we got spark. Next job was a dribble of gas down the carb and on the second or third yank damn thing lit off and tried to jump out of my hands! LOL!! half tank of gas and quarter tank of oil still in it.To top that off,--it has a new chain on it that dont look to have ever made a cut! Best thing is that the Mc Cullough Mini Mac 25 only has a 10 inch bar! -- PERFECT to use up in the bucket truck!
as you can see in the pix, the 2.0's have 14 inch bars which is too long for 1-hand use!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
got a couple more saws from the auction! Sthil 041 Farm Boss and an Echo 452 vl. Echo starts/runs/saws for now so I am going to use it. Chain/bar looks low hour and sharp. Sthil starts/tries to run but carb needs a kit or a new carb. Its a beast and all metal,--NO plastic on this guy! lol!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
I have an old Echo 650 ELV... we call it the evil 650.. and I love my Sthil 034... I got that brand new back in 92... I have a couple small saws for trimming... Echo I got from a neighbor & a Poulan I got at walmart for $80 6 years ago to cut up a tree dropped at the place in Florida when Mom & Pop still owned the house.. Hurricane clean up tool. Been using a little electric down there might have to take a gas one back down one day... like when I move there.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
got 2 650evl's here,---problem is they need starter cup dogs which cant be had from anywhere!! Did get one to start but the dogs wont hold so they sit! --- sad cause they look like good saws!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
need starter cup dogs which cant be had from anywhere!!
sounds like you need to make them yourself Sonny..can you use dogs from another model saw? sometimes the parts are used on multiple different model saws like Stihl does
So far nothing comes even close to working. Probably should try to hammer out something and see if it works or not. I am not the only guy needing these dogs,---there were a bunch of guys over on Arborists site that were also looking for them. lol! Need to figure out a simple way to stamp out a bunch!! HMMMM!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
Got a new carb for the 041 and it does run like a banshee! The kit I put in the Homelite 290 didnt do the job,---it tries to run for a while then dies altogether, gotta take it apart again and set the needle higher,--dont think its letting enough gas into the carb. I always hated messin with these carbs! Thats why I just get a new chimna knockoff and slap it on set it and go cut logs! LOL!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
Ya,--I piss off the guys on Arboristsite when I tell them this is the most practical way to go! lol! They go off on the idea that I should take old carbs apart and put them in my ultrasonic cleaner( which I dont have) and buy a kit from a reputable dealer!!! WHAAAA?? The kit from the dealer comes from chimna anyway!! They just dont get it! I can get the same package from chimna myself for 1/4 of the dealer price! A couple other guys over there say carb cleaner sprayed on them will fix them right up! WRONG! If the little passages art blocked solid,---aint nuttin gonna open them up cept a drill! I never knocked out the welch plugs in one to see if you can actually poke a wire or drill in them or not. Might be a good test some day! LOL!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
I have an ultrasonic cleaner and I used it to clean the carb on the old Bolens mower. the gasket set Was wrong even though I ordered it for that specific engine. Wrong info for gaskets Or some one already changed out the carb.. Either way, it was cheaper for a whole carb kit with the filter etc...
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
took a pic of the dogs in the 650, --- they have an offset to them and different from other echo models making them an orphan! a couple pix of the unit.
Last edited by sonny; 03/10/202307:01 PM. Reason: add pic
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
keep your gas cans clean inside and outside, the dirt outside has a way of finding its way inside..I only use 100octane low lead '100LL' aviation gas and Stihl HP 2-stroke lube in my saws,nothing else,no compromise,no one elses gas mix,EVER! the two 1990's vintage 044's both run like tops with ZERO cab issues ever..bought one new back in 1993 and never had an ounce of issue with the carb..rebuilt the other 044 from the ground up,new jug,piston,polished the transfer ports in the jug and then port matched the jug to the muffler..worked out great but got a sliver of metal in my R eye had to go to the eye doc to get it removed that was $600 so that saw rebuild got more expensive..but old school adjustable Stihl carb on it turned the screws just a bit and used a Stihl digital tach to set the upper rpm limit at 11.5 they say they can go out to 13K rpm but I dont push em that hard..best saws Ive ever own probably hand em down to my nephew if he adopts the outdoor lifestyle. Rebuilt an old 1980's 084AV big boy which is a totally different saw personality, big and slower but torquey runs a 36"bar with big 404 chain..I have a 60"bar and chain for it,used it once,took all I had to lift and run that gawd what a hoss..still dont use or like it as much as the 044s. I dont know what Stihl is gonna do with the new designs,doubt they run like the old ones.Fuel injection sounds like trouble with built in trips to the dealer for service.
Ya the new ones are junk! ---should make the older ones valuable, but it wont! The newer plastics are not the greatest either BUT I do a lot of loggin with them. They wouldnt work in the big timbers! I ended up with high bid on a few sthils, besides the free ms 250, --(long story on that one), next one was a 251,---TOTAL junk,--locked up, started taking it apart and gave up, --- cant get the clutch off. Next one was an 025, dead ignition module, replaced that and still runnin the hell out of it! , next up came another 250, needed carb, good saw now. next was the 041, new carb had it runnin but must have internal carb problems so gotta take the carb apart and check float height. almost forgot the 009-L, -- cute little guy, light handy for cutting limbs/brush. runs strong, has slight carb problem. The 2 Echo 650's need starter dogs and they are NLA anywhere on planet earth. Not sure I can make then due to the offset design they have. Probably could be done with a LOT of time involved but the one that I did get started one time, ----- well I wasnt impressed with it! Last auction I got a 452 and it runs like new and cuts great. Got the cs 8000 on the 36" Alaskan mill, needs new piston/jug. hard to start after sitting for long time. My favs. are the Echo cs310's and Husky 235"s for lighter cutting. The Blue Max does a lot of cutting for me. as does some Poulans. got a 302- a with a 24" bar, ---mean runnin saw! lol! Finishin up on my Homelite 8800, gotta put the duckbill vent in the top of the tank yet. It has 404 chain , 36" bar I bought it new and cut tons of big trees down and made firewood with it. Got probably 50 saws now.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
Sonny go to the local small airport near you and buy some 100LL Avgas-ours has a 24/7 365 pump you can use your CC to get gas anytime! itl straighten out your saws for sure..might have to richen up your mixture a bit it runs cool
The only airport here is Bloomington airport and I here they are real assholes to the general public, so thats out! I dont know anybody that works there.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
sounds like an item you should stock up on if you're running old saws that you like..Ive always liked the older mid-90's Stihl 044's, I can carry one all day long and not get tired, and it has all the power I need even running a 32"bar with full skip chain.I'm not sure what they have done with the new designs,these older saws will last me the rest of my life,and with replacement jug/piston kits off the shelf they'll be around a long time
he only had a couple left. I got a BUNCH of sthil saws here along with all of the other guys of various brands. Have a top end to put on my last new Homelite SXLAO. --- just need time to do it!!!!!!!!!!!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."