Chainsaw Choice?

[R Socey]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I chopped this up for my sister last year after a storm dropped it on her house!

 

[markheck1]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Interesting that you mention this. My neighbor has an older?, lightly used Stihl with a 20" bar. I do not know what the model was but it was red instead of orange. Friday we were trading cuts on his flowering Plum Tree that he had just cut down. We were cutting it up for firewood for me. That is some real nasty wood.

As we had no splitter and I'da hated to try to split the larger pieces, we were making lateral cuts to section the trunk pieces down to burnable size. I noticed that it did not take much to stall his Stihl out. That McCulloch would just continue to sail right through. I'd bury that bar, in the lateral cut, and it would just keep soldiering on.

I am still looking for my McCulloch manual so I can review its specs, ie, weight, hp, etc.

I noticed that you are in Oil City. Me dear departed Madre was from the Franklin/Oil City area. I visited the both of them back in 1964. I was a California kid, certainly used to warm weather but I got a case of heat stroke while visiting Drakes oil well. Had to take some salt tablets. I still have a little can of WolfsHead 3 in 1 type oil that I got from one of her cousins, while visiting.

My Daughter is down at Kutztown working at the University. Small world!

Cool, after further research, they named a few saws timber bear....from the old PM610 650 series up through the new plastic garbage....
Starting around 55cc and going up to 60 and down to 49.....

I'd guess yours is the earlier, andwhat I would recommend is the MS250, it's a good light saw, and if you get in trouble, you can drag out the old beast(that you have thoughtfully drained the fuel out of upon last use) when things get too big. The 250 is becoming Stihls most popular saw.

WOW, Small world indeed!!!.
The museum is still there, and has grown and modernized some, but still retains the country charm.....

 

[BlueLightSpecial]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I have an MS290 farm boss, I bought about 6 or 7 years ago. I have used it to cut pine, oak, maple, elm. It will cut through oak like butter. It has the power, but the safety chain is the down fall. Get yourself a 290, with a full skip chain, and a good pair of chaps, and watch the chips fly! Just my. 02

 

[jimr]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I have a ms250 and its a great little saw I have a 16 and 18" bar for it, and it works fine. If I did it again I would step up to a 3/8 chain

 

[sschefer]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I have an MS290 farm boss, I bought about 6 or 7 years ago. I have used it to cut pine, oak, maple, elm. It will cut through oak like butter. It has the power, but the safety chain is the down fall. Get yourself a 290, with a full skip chain, and a good pair of chaps, and watch the chips fly! Just my. 02

Agree.. I have the Farm Boss and the bar and chain sux. Change the bar, the chain and the clutch and you got yourself a nice rig. I hated it and now I love it. My favorite little go to saw is my little 14" arborist saw.. It'll cut up to about a 8" log but nothing bigger. It had that stupid safety chain on it too but that's gone now. If you need to trim up around the house it's hard to beat.

The one thing I like about all my Stihl stuff is that they work and I never have any problems with any of them. I take all of them down to the local shop at then end of the summer and have them gone through. The two chain saws get thrown in my truck box and the leaf blower, weed whacker and hedge trimmer fire right up when spring rolls around.

 

[ZMAN-AZ]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I am a Stihl dealer and I can tell you for the typical home owner the MS250 or MS290 is your best choice. If your cutting big stuff the 290 is the way to go, best bang for the $$. If moderate use or for branches around the house the 250 is a good choice, I actually like the 250 with the easy to pull, easy chain adjuster and primer bulb. Of course they do have larger professional saws and they can get real pricey, but if you use them weekly they are worth it. As a dealer I like Stihl because you can only get them from a Stihl dealership, this means no online price wars and they are not in the big box stores. Stihl dealers must service what they sell so you got someone to go to if you do have issues. Right now if you get the 6 pack Ultra Oil a home owner can double the warranty. As far as Ethanol, it loves the fuel hoses and can turn them real soft over time. Just store the saw dry if not going to use for a long period of time. BTW, if you every clean a Stihl carb due to old fuel use Brake Cleaner and do not use Carb cleaner. Carb cleaner is tough on the internal parts.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

.....Agree.. I have the Farm Boss and the bar and chain sux. ....

I understand about the OEM chains but what does the bar have to do with it? Isn't a bar just a bar?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

..... the MS250 ~~~~~ is your best choice.

Zman, how does the 250 compare with the older 031 model? And can you get them with a 20" bar?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Zman, how does the 250 compare with the older 031 model? And can you get them with a 20" bar?

Don't think you'd want a 20" bar on a 250.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Don't think you'd want a 20" bar on a 250.

Yup, 16", 18" would be comfortable.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

I'm in the same boat so to speak. I have a Homelite 27AV that has an awesome running engine, but the design of the plastic chassis leaves something to be desired. The plastic part that supports the clutch band melted on mine, and the replacement chassis I bough off ebay had the same issue. Me thinks there be a design flaw.
If I had the cash, I would probably be buying a Husqvarna pro-grade XP model.

I have a neighbor at the cottage in Maine who has had his Husqvarna 51 since new when he built his house in '92. It's an aluminum
bodied pro grade saw (don't even know if Husky made plastic saws back then), that he says he has been using to cut between 10-15 cords of wood per year, trees for his saw mill, and various other tasks.

Last year at the camp after Irene blew threw and trashed everything, his Husky gave up the ghost. When you pulled the cord, you could feel little to no compression. It wasn't a matter of running it with out oil, he said he always mixes his gas/oil on the heavy handed side with oil. He just literally wore out the engine. We pulled it apart, and found that the ring on the exhaust side was significantly thinner then the rest, and the piston had a bit of material missing from the exhaust side as well. Again, no scoring or signs that it had run with out oil, it was simply worn away. We tracked down a local husky dealer who had a piston kit in stock, and had their mechanic do a very light de-glaze to the cylinder. I threw in the new piston and ring assembly, then handed it over to him. He fired it up, and the saw ran again like a dream. According to him, it runs as good as it did when new. She soldiered right through wood season with out a glitch, and is still alive and running superb today.

I have been actually looking right now at the Husqvarna saws on ebay. There are a few vendors who sell factory reconditioned saws, and I am currently considering pulling the trigger on a "prosumer" grade 445 with an 18" bar. I realize this saw would probably be a joke to tree men and foresters, but for the amount and type of work I would be considering using it for, I'm sure it would probably be better then my Homelite. At $239-$259 shipped for a reman one on ebay (normally $310+ for a new one), not a bad deal either.

 

[markheck1]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Zman, how does the 250 compare with the older 031 model? And can you get them with a 20" bar?

Not anywhere close! 031 is bigger and slower....

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Well it turns out that I am having to spend about 4 chainsaws worth on my service van. I went out the other morning to find a large puddle of oil below the right rear wheel. The 1/2 ton axle shaft looks like someone put it in a lathe and turned down the bearing surface by about .030. Of course all that metal compromised all bearings in the differential. So, needless to say......

I went out and fixed up the old McCulloch. Internet search for them shows them to be notoriously hard starters. I think I found a solution. Take off the air cleaner cover, stick a hypodermic needle under the carb diffuser cover and squirt about a 1/4 teaspoon of gas straight down the chute.

She ripped off on the first pull! So for now, I'll just have to dream about a new, shiny, easy to start Stihl.

 

[BlueLightSpecial]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Stihl make the best chainsaws, imo. Not too fond of their weed wackers. Have a stihl 110, nothing but problems. Switched to a shindaiwa t242x and haven't looked back. It is one bad ___ machine!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Stihl make the best chainsaws, imo. Not too fond of their weed wackers. Have a stihl 110, nothing but problems. Switched to a shindaiwa t242x and haven't looked back. It is one bad ___ machine!

Interesting, I have a couple of Stihl's weedwackers and have no problems. I use them commercially too.

Stihl or Jonsered chainsaws, you can't go wrong with either. I have the latter.... But, it looks like you're out of the chainsaw market for now...

 

[ZMAN-AZ]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Zman, how does the 250 compare with the older 031 model? And can you get them with a 20" bar?

They are not even close. The 031 has been replaced by the MS310 which was replaced last year with the MS311. As far as a larger bar on the 250 I would not go larger than 18". I cut down a pine which covered the hole bar and it did bog down the motor.

 

[ZMAN-AZ]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Stihl make the best chainsaws, imo. Not too fond of their weed wackers. Have a stihl 110, nothing but problems. Switched to a shindaiwa t242x and haven't looked back. It is one bad ___ machine!

Have you had your dealer look at the 110 and what was its problem? The FS110 is a 4 stroke and if you have bad dirty or poor mixed fuel you can get carbon deposits on the exhaust valve. Also the valves do need to be adjusted over time. I have the FS90 which is a step down and it has been running great for the last 3 years. I love the 4 stroke feel/sound and the trimmer is balanced nice.

BTW, Yes I did say it is a 4 stroke but it does require the 50:1 mix as the mixed fuel lubricates the engine.

 

[ZMAN-AZ]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

It really comes down to how much and how hard you use it. Sometimes a WallyWorld special meets the need just fine. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Poulan-18-Pro-Gas-Chainsaw/14282629

One huge advantage to them, if ya drop it in a creek and kill it the pain of loss is minimal.

I will say I owned a poulan and did not take very good care of it and even after leaving fuel in it for over 9 months the damn thing still fired up right away. The saw was 7 years old and I gave it away. Did not have much luck with there string trimmer though.

Lastly stay away from anything that has Homelite on it. Nothing but junk.

 

[BlueLightSpecial]

Re: Chainsaw Choice?

Have you had your dealer look at the 110 and what was its problem? The FS110 is a 4 stroke and if you have bad dirty or poor mixed fuel you can get carbon deposits on the exhaust valve. Also the valves do need to be adjusted over time. I have the FS90 which is a step down and it has been running great for the last 3 years. I love the 4 stroke feel/sound and the trimmer is balanced nice.

BTW, Yes I did say it is a 4 stroke but it does require the 50:1 mix as the mixed fuel lubricates the engine.

it has been back for a prematurely worn gear box, and I definetly grease the box, once at the beginning of the season, and again mid season. I have only used it once for cutting brush. The rest of the time I use it as a string trimmer. I always use stihl oil, and 93 octane gas. The other problem was the zama carburetor that cracked in the casting. This happened last year. I had to wait 7 weeks for a replacement carb. Finally got it back, and the thing screamed. I took it back to the dealer, and asked him if it was too lean. It screamed, but seamed to be running too fast, and would run hot. He said it was adjusted perfectly. I ran it, for about 15-20 minutes, then the motor locked up. I took it back to the dealer again, and he said I adjusted the carb, and ran it too lean. I never ever touched the carb, the only things I would do to the trimmer was change a plug, restring the spool, and grease the gear box. Needless to say, I drive 20 minutes out of the way now, to the other stihl dealer. I received no support from stihl. I know how to run my equipment, and to take care of it. My saw is awesome, my shindaiwa is awesome. I will never buy another stihl trimmer. Period.