Do you have the dealer clean your chainsaw?

[Bud Soda]

Great post :laughing: I laughed, my dog even laughed when I read it to him.

 

[PILOON]

If U own a chain saw you should also be in the class that owns an air compressor.
From that a simple air gun becomes your friend. (and a file for touch ups)
LOL, my saws get a 'blow job' at the end of every day's use.

My saws always act like new as I 'touch up' my chain at every tanking.

 

[PILOON]

Great post :laughing: I laughed, my dog even laughed when I read it to him.

Perhaps he gets it waxed by the dealer as well!

 

[fried1765]

If they want to pay for the cleaning and chain. Thats on them. Sure as heck aint a free service. My time cost $.

If I got to clean the saw to work on it. Time cost you not me.

View attachment 597267View attachment 597268

I have a wonderful older Stihl, but I see a battery powered Stihl in my very near future.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have a wonderful older Stihl, but I see a battery powered Stihl in my very near future.

The AP300 series has proved to be a real workhorse around the Christmas Tree Farm after original sticker shock...

Looking to expand and finding MSRP only...

The Father Day Specials and Dealer Days seem to apply to the Home Owner line only...

 

[djefferis]

As to paying for a shop to ç”°lean up a saw...not my style, but to each their own. Easy money for the shop/tech and if there is a demand for the service...

What I don稚 understand is complaining about labor of $95 an hour? Again, this is highly regional - but 70-100 is �ypical? My question is how much do the complainers feel is a fair rate for a professional to charge.

That rate covers tech, overhead and training. So let痴 say a tech isn稚 self employed- works for the dealer - annual salary - say 35k per year and health insurance (that痴 probably just below the US median wage). Say the tech gets 2 weeks vacation - so works 2k hours per year, 35k is $17.50 an hour. Health insurance varies, but say 500 monthly...so another 3 bucks an hour. So for every hour the tech works - the shop pays about $20.00.

Of course there痴 努aste - maybe it痴 a slow day and the shop only does 6 hours work - but the tech still gets paid for 8. Let痴 not even factor that though.

Space/tools and training don稚 come cheap. A tech making 35k a year isn稚 coming in with all those things - so you can plan on spending $15 an hour in operating cost - minimum.

So right now your at a fixed cost of $35-40 an hour for a 1 man repair shop - before you make a dime. Yes, $40 leaves a big markup over $95 you charge - but also keep in mind your not getting $95 on ALL those repairs. Warranty work, service plans and corporate/govt work all drive volume - but pay about 2/3 or less per hour as they can negotiate their volume into a discount.

Then you have the inevitable 5% of your work thatç—´ going to be done gratis. Good customer service sometimes means bending over backwards to handle a problem.

For all this trouble - your probably clearing $125,000 to $150,000 per tech in an operation charging $95 an hour - and that tech and overhead cost you in the neighborhood of $85 to 100k. Still - easy money right? After taxes your clearing 10-25k - and risking 8-10x that figure potentially. Still think those shops are å*µreedy?

 

[fried1765]

As to paying for a shop to ç”°lean up a saw...not my style, but to each their own. Easy money for the shop/tech and if there is a demand for the service...

What I don稚 understand is complaining about labor of $95 an hour? Again, this is highly regional - but 70-100 is �ypical? My question is how much do the complainers feel is a fair rate for a professional to charge.

That rate covers tech, overhead and training. So let痴 say a tech isn稚 self employed- works for the dealer - annual salary - say 35k per year and health insurance (that痴 probably just below the US median wage). Say the tech gets 2 weeks vacation - so works 2k hours per year, 35k is $17.50 an hour. Health insurance varies, but say 500 monthly...so another 3 bucks an hour. So for every hour the tech works - the shop pays about $20.00.

Of course there痴 努aste - maybe it痴 a slow day and the shop only does 6 hours work - but the tech still gets paid for 8. Let痴 not even factor that though.

Space/tools and training don稚 come cheap. A tech making 35k a year isn稚 coming in with all those things - so you can plan on spending $15 an hour in operating cost - minimum.

So right now your at a fixed cost of $35-40 an hour for a 1 man repair shop - before you make a dime. Yes, $40 leaves a big markup over $95 you charge - but also keep in mind your not getting $95 on ALL those repairs. Warranty work, service plans and corporate/govt work all drive volume - but pay about 2/3 or less per hour as they can negotiate their volume into a discount.

Then you have the inevitable 5% of your work thatç—´ going to be done gratis. Good customer service sometimes means bending over backwards to handle a problem.

For all this trouble - your probably clearing $125,000 to $150,000 per tech in an operation charging $95 an hour - and that tech and overhead cost you in the neighborhood of $85 to 100k. Still - easy money right? After taxes your clearing 10-25k - and risking 8-10x that figure potentially. Still think those shops are å*µreedy?

My point is that $95 per hour for chainsaw cleaning is just more than I am willing to pay.
I won't pay $50 per hour for house cleaning either.
The point being, that even at 78, those are tasks that I CAN perform myself.

 

[two_bit_score]

I noticed one poster said he topped off the fuel and oil after each use before putting the saw away.

I try to wipe down the saw or blow it off with compressed air, same as I blow off the mowers but I never fuel up AFTER I use them. I do that before each use. Always try to run dry and leave an empty tank but it doesn’t always work out that way.


.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I noticed that also, and it's the way that I was taught to do it. If you aren't running ethanol the gas is good for at least a year; and the saw's ready to go when you need it. The gas in my Husky never gets that old; but my Poulan hasn't been used since winter 2018 when I used it to cut out the pinched bar on my other saw.

 

[ultrarunner]

It seems either empty or full to the brim... two schools of thought.

Full leaves less room for moisture and empty it empty.

What I have found in my unscientific observation is gas powered equipment stored in a control temp has little problem... I keep my Chainsaw filled in Olympia and stored in the basement... it's always 60 year round.

I have placed empty 5 gallon plastic totes outside at work and they will pick up a lot of water from condensation...

During the day they get hot and at night cool and suck in the foggy air... repeat 365 times and dry containers with small vent hole fill with water...

 

[Gary Fowler]

"doesn't cost a whole lot for a shop to do it"
Really ????
Small engine shop rate was $95 last time I checked, and that was 2 years ago.

Same here. It cost more to repair a cheap weed eater with carb problem than to buy a new one. Chain sharpening: I just bought the elcheapo HF sharpener and it works fine for my uses and only takes 10 minutes to do. It is 20 miles to the nearest repair place and it would likely take 2 trips (wouldn't know for sure since I never take in a chain to sharpen). I would only take in a small engine or piece of equipment for repair after exhausting all my knowledge to fix it myself OR if the job required some heavy lifting which my back wont take anymore.

 

[tradosaurus]

I noticed one poster said he topped off the fuel and oil after each use before putting the saw away.

I try to wipe down the saw or blow it off with compressed air, same as I blow off the mowers but I never fuel up AFTER I use them. I do that before each use. Always try to run dry and leave an empty tank but it doesn稚 always work out that way.

.

The reason I top off fuel and oil is just in case my wife or one of my sons use it. I have the peace of mind knowing it won't run dry of oil within a short period of time.

Also I use my chainsaw frequently with 40 acres of woods so I would rather sharpen, clean and fill up chain saw after I'm done using it and while I'm dirty then have to worry about it before I use again.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've seen too many times 2 stroke ruined because someone put straight gas in the tank...

Thinking that would be harder to do when the tank is already full...

Happened just last week where I manage property... a man was out with his new string trimmer... he was going to town and then nothing... as I was getting ready to leave he motioned me over... there was a language barrier but I saw the bottle of 2-stroke oil un opened... he just put straight gas in...

I bet he will be taking it back to Home Depot saying it doesn't work...

 

[Jstpssng]

I've seen too many times 2 stroke ruined because someone put straight gas in the tank...

Thinking that would be harder to do when the tank is already full...

Happened just last week where I manage property... a man was out with his new string trimmer... he was going to town and then nothing... as I was getting ready to leave he motioned me over... there was a language barrier but I saw the bottle of 2-stroke oil un opened... he just put straight gas in...

I bet he will be taking it back to Home Depot saying it doesn't work...

My father ran and maintained equipment all of his life, and was the guy that people called when they were broke down or something wasn't running right. So it was rather frustrating toward the end of his life when he started forgetting things...
He burned up two nice Stihl saws in a row. My mother tried to explain that he needed to use mixed gas but he showed her right on the saw where it said to put the gas, and where to put the oil. By that point he wasn't using them much anyways... thank God.

 

[dragoneggs]

My father ran and maintained equipment all of his life, and was the guy that people called when they were broke down or something wasn't running right. So it was rather frustrating toward the end of his life when he started forgetting things...
He burned up two nice Stihl saws in a row. My mother tried to explain that he needed to use mixed gas but he showed her right on the saw where it said to put the gas, and where to put the oil. By that point he wasn't using them much anyways... thank God.

That is sad... hope I go fast but not soon!

 

[ultrarunner]

One of the hardest things to see sharp people decline through dementia/Alzheimer's...

 

[Oldoak]

I always keep my chainsaw ready to go. Full of gas and and bar oil. And never stored with a dull chain on. Never know if or when I made need it in an emergency. Downed trees blocking our road or neighbors needing help, etc.

 

[Garandman]

We bought some yard furniture and the guy threw in a Poulan chain saw, 釘ecause it didn稚 work. Once we put the chain on in the right direction, it worked fine....

The local saw shop has been telling people to use oven cleaner on the fins of their newer saws... 2 of my coworkers blew up their 550XP's from overheating because fir pitch built up in the fins.

That might not be a good idea. Most oven cleaners use NaCl - lye. It is corrosive to aluminum.

You can buy alloy wheel cleaner that won稚 hurt the aluminum, but a lot of people use Simple Green.

 

[ericm979]

Simple Green can be hard on aluminium as well, though not as bad as oven cleaner with lye. Simple Green makes a special aluminium safe version for aircraft. Regular SG would be fine on the painted parts or on bare aluminium if you rinsed it off afterwards.

I blow my saws off with air. If there's baked on crud like on a used saw I bought last year, I use mechanical means to remove it. I've never brought a saw into a shop- I do my own work. I'd bring a new saw still under warranty in if it had problems but I'd clean it first.

 

[fried1765]

We bought some yard furniture and the guy threw in a Poulan chain saw, 釘ecause it didn稚 work. Once we put the chain on in the right direction, it worked fine....

That might not be a good idea. Most oven cleaners use NaCl - lye. It is corrosive to aluminum.

You can buy alloy wheel cleaner that won稚 hurt the aluminum, but a lot of people use Simple Green.

"NaCl - Lye"?

NaCl is Sodium Chloride to me.
SALT!