Chain Saw Question again

Dan Mosley

Member
Messages
1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
I had contacted a guy several days ago that was selling his Sthil chain saw with a 20" bar. But then a friend gave me a Poulan he had laying around and was not using it anymore............ so i thought i would be set..........

Wrong.........last night the guy called me back and asked if i was still interested in the saw. I said no because i had gotton the Poulan i mentioned . Originally he wanted $150 for his Sthil but after several days of me not calling him back he said if i still wanted it I could have it for $90.00.
I wondered why he picked such an odd ball amount but i decided to buy it and picked it up this morning.

A couple problems that were disclosed by the seller - It starts fine but does not stay running and the blade needs to be sharpened up.

I guess i was thinking "how can i pass this up"........Now i have one to many...........LOL............Pics Below

Pic 1 & 2- Poulan
Pic #3 & 4 - McCulloch electric and Sthil 026
Pic 5 - Close up Sthil
Pic 6 & 7 - Wood Pile with both Saws and another close up

Anybody know where i can download the manual for this Sthil 026 ?
 

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The Stihl doesn't look like it's had a hard life Dan, and it's a real saw with quality parts - not sure one could say the same for the Poulan. I've used the Stihl many times.
A tune-up at a serious saw shop will work wonders, as will stabilized gas and a little workout every month or two.
I've never been to Palm Springs, but, would my misconceptions be far off if I speculated you might have to drive out of town a ways to find a no-nonsense shop that catered to real, checkered shirt chain saw afficionados? No offense intended :)

Enjoy the saw. Use it with a heavy dose of fear and respect.

Peter
 
I'll echo Peter's suggestion. Take the Stihl to an authorized Stihl shop, and let them go over it. It may cost you as much as (or more than) you've paid for the saw, but you'll end up with a tool worth a lot more than you spend. I'd also suggest buying a new chain for it instead of trying to sharpen the one you have now. Use a new chain to see what it's supposed to cut like, then you can have a benchmark from which to compare your old chain after you learn to sharpen it. Eventually, you'll probably want multiple sharp chains available anyway.

Peter, you might be surprised...there are likely a lot of professional gardeners and landscapers in the Palm Springs area, and Stihl shops tend to pop up where there are a lot of those kinds of businesses. Looks like Yoshi's Lawnmower Shop is the closest, at less than 5 miles.
 
$90, man is that a deal, unless the saw is trashed, that is a really good price! :thumb:

For me, I'd rebuild it myself, and I'd go over it with a fine tooth comb, even if it needs a new piston and rings, it is still a great deal!

A carb kit does not cost much, but unless you are used to rebuilding carbs, I'd let the shop do it.

I agree, if you put another say $150 into that saw, you will end up with a saw that will run for a very long time!

Check the bar for wear as well, a new bar and chain, with a tune up and you will love that saw! :D
 
I found my notes on my old Poulan. It used a 16:1 mixture. I bought it in 1979 it lasted many years. But, I understand that the current ones in Green are for light duty only. Their professional line is another color.
 
Chainsaw question again

If it were mine,Ist I would clean the card,might just have dirt in it.Then if it doesn't run right,get a kit an rebuild it.They are easy to do,coulple of hrs,an make sure the filter (gas) is clean,just blow it out with compressed air,also the air filter.As for doing a complete rebuild on the motor,I would do a compresion check and if it over a 100 lbs,then I wouldn't rebuild it.All this seems like a lot of work,but its not that difficult to do and learning to take care of it yourself will save you a lot of money and headaches down the rd.Especially if your out in the woods and it acts up.
 
Frank,

I hate to be picky, but I scrapped a lot of customers chainsaws over the years solely due to improper fuel/oil mix causing mechanical trouble.

When your Poulan manual called for 16:1 mix, they likely included a provision for a type of oil. "Usually" a manual will say something like "mix at 40:1, using a two cycle oil designed to be mixed at 40:1". The differing viscosity of various brands of oils means that they don't all optimally mix at the same ratio.

When I ran a two-cycle motorcycle back in the early 70's, I mixed sae30 motor oil at 16:1 with good results, but when using STP mix oil, I mixed it at the 40:1 recommended on the oil container.

cheers

John

The saw and owners manual are long gone.
But, I tend to write some things on walls for quick reference. I have the mixes for various tools written in my garage. The Poulan note says 16:1. I was never particularly careful about types of oil I mixed except for my Stihl tools. But, I always did use oil particularly designed to be mixed for 2 cycle kickers. I used that saw from 1979 until 2002. The first ten years it was used daily to provide wood for heat. So....I dunno. I musta dun sumptin' right. :dunno:
 
Frank you certainly would not hurt most saws, especially the older ones, by running too much oil in the mixture, but you would also NOT get the best performance out of the saw, the saw would run lean with too much oil, and would not produce as much power as it could have.

Most people don't understand how the oil mix thing works with 2-smokes, more oil in the mix means less gasoline, the oil does not produce any power in the engine, it just lubricates it. if you have 1 gallon of oil and 16 gallons of gasoline, compared to 1 gallon of oil and 40 gallons of gasoline which has more gasoline compared to oil? Right, the 40:1 mixture, so if you do run 16:1 or like I did, 32:1, then you have to fiddle with the carb to make the air fuel ratio richer.

When the saw is under load, at full chat, with a sharp chain, and cutting with a good portion of it's bar in a log, the saw should burble a bit, this is peak power and where the saw wants to operate, you will know the sound when you hear it.

http://store.chainsawr.com/blogs/tu...djustment-and-tuning-of-a-chainsaw-carburetor

Here is a great page with more info that I could pass along, there are even wav files with the sounds you should here.......... :wave:
 
"Peter, you might be surprised...there are likely a lot of professional gardeners and landscapers in the Palm Springs area, and Stihl shops tend to pop up where there are a lot of those kinds of businesses. Looks like Yoshi's Lawnmower Shop is the closest, at less than 5 miles.[/QUOTE]"

You're right, of course, Vaughn. I new my pre-conceived impression had to be skewed :) Hadn't thought about the yard maintenance business.

Dan, if you buy a new bar and chain, hang the old one on the wall somewhere. Sometime, a real gritty sawing job will present itself and that's not a good place for your #1 chain.

All the best
Peter
 
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