Modern equal to mythical Stihl 026 chainsaw?

[grsthegreat]

i still have my o26 that i purchased back in 1993ish. usually takes 5-6 pulls to start nowadays, but for years it was never more than 2 pulls. just keeps on running, and it gets alot of use 6 months out of the year. have 20 acres of trees i maintain. only weird thing is if i let it sit and idle for over 1 minute it shuts down. sometimes that drives me nuts. no adjustment seems to help. if i speed up the idle, the chain turns at idle. so i just live with it. I liked the stihl so much that i reciently purchased the tree saw version from stihl. it had a little 10" chain, but man does it cut.

 

[ericm979]

CL's mostly flakes and bottom feeders. The saws on our local CL are either totally beat up at a premium price or decent used saws at a nearly new price. Last year I needed something larger than my trusty 025 and after lots of looking on CL and not finding anything reasonable, ended up with a new 362CM. It's nice but was expensive. An Echo might be an alternative if you end up going with a new saw.

I did buy a used 460 from a forum recently. (I was taxing the 362 on some things). At least that way I could read the seller's posts and see how knowlegable they are. And on that forum many people post pics of compression tests and a shot of the piston through the exhaust port. No one on CL does that. So you know the top end is ok. The 460 wasn't perfect but seems like a decent used saw.

 

[LD1]

IF I was shopping for a stihl, craigslist and ebay are the last two places I'd look.

Sure, might get lucky every once in a while and snag a good deal. But for the most part they are indeed all overpriced. People seem to think stihls are gold plated or something. Husky's too, but to a slightly lesser degree.

People just think that because it carries the husky or stihl name that its "professional" grade stuff. And that couldnt be further from the truth. In fact, you rarely see pro saws from either on c-list. rather alot of mid-range and homeowner junk. At least in my area anyway.

But Echo and Dolmar.....when you do see them.....they are usually a pretty good deal and dont last.

 

[xyz123]

Not around here eric. I have picked up and sold some nice saws on CL.

 

[BarnieTrk]

I have an 026 Pro that I use for limbing with a 20" bar. I never use it for anything over 6". I did a muffler mod to it and an adjustable carb. The thing really came alive. Not really large enough for a go to firewood saw for my cutting needs. ( 20 cord yr.) but I would never get rid of it.

(Pardon me, OP, but I gotta butt in right here....)

Yomax4, what did you do to modify the muffler?
I have read where others have discussed muffler modifications, but haven't learned if such a mod is applicable to a MS250....any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in Advance!

BarnieTrk :drink:

 

[goeduck]

I got my MS441 off of CL. A local logging company went away from their 441s in favor of the 461s and got rid of the 441s. Nothing wrong with my 441 but I searched CL for a LONG TIME before finding it. I like the anti vibe and the 441 is big enough for me. They liked the 461s because they could get a few more % production out of them. I paid less than 1/2 price of new, Win-Win.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Sort of double posted, I posted the following in another chainsaw thread. But, I've decided that for the cost to upgrade, if an MS261 C-M is able to called an upgrade.... I'm going commit to keeping this nasty beast, the 026.

I was really twitching to go buy an MS261 C-M to replace my 28 year old 026, but my father smacked me around a bit and might have knocked some sense into me

Instead, since I have a perfect running 026, I decided to treat it with a Forester tune up kit, new 18" bar, chain and file combo and also 2 more chains.

I also ordered a bar/chain combo and spare chain for a guy at work with a smaller Stihl.

This will buy me another 2 years, maybe 3 instead of paying $535 + 6% Pa sales tax on the new MS261 C-M (I get 10% off).

I'm still twitching a bit, just because I'm addicted to shiny new things!

 

[John_Mc]

(Pardon me, OP, but I gotta butt in right here....)

Yomax4, what did you do to modify the muffler?
I have read where others have discussed muffler modifications, but haven't learned if such a mod is applicable to a MS250....any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in Advance!

BarnieTrk :drink:

The mufflers on many modern saws are rather restrictive. The saw can breathe a lot better, will have a bit more power and can run cooler if you open things up a bit. If you have a catalytic muffler on your saw, the simplest "mod" you can do is swap it for a non-cat aftermarket replacement. If you want to mod your existing muffler, many people start by gutting the insides of their mufflers. Warning: if you have a catalytic muffler, be aware that some of the guts are toxic heavy metals. You don't want to breathe any of that in while grinding on it, and you should wash your hands after dealing with it.

The other change is to enlarge the exit hole slightly, or drill an additional hole near the original exit hole. Think about where the exhaust is going before drilling this. You don't want to create a path for hot exhaust to hit directly on your saw. If the muffler has a deflector over the existing exhaust hole, see if you can keep your added holes within the area covered by the deflector as well. Don't over-do it enlarging the hole: a chainsaw engine runs better with at least some back-pressure on the exhaust.

ANY MUFFLER MOD REQUIRES ADJUSTING THE MIXTURE ON YOUR SAW BEFORE RUNNING IT UNDER LOAD.

Lastly: I'm far from an expert at modding saws (though a muffler mod is a pretty simple thing). IF in doubt, find someone who has done a few in your area to advise you.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Me and my father went out today and cut up a nice oak that was knocked over in a storm over the winter. The new 18" bar really does take some of the guts away from the little beast, but this was really wet wood and it took cutting 2/3 from one side, then jumping the log to get what the bar couldn't reach. That load in my Rhino in the photo is 1 and about 3/4 rounds! There are like 15 more of the main trunk this same size! That's a lot of wood from one tree.

 

[LD1]

ANY MUFFLER MOD REQUIRES ADJUSTING THE MIXTURE ON YOUR SAW BEFORE RUNNING IT UNDER LOAD.

I am far from an expert too, but have found this to NOT be true more often than not.

First, I would never mod a saw without a tach and the knowledge to tune. Because improper tune will destroy a saw in no time.

But too many times I read of people being told to "richen" up a saw if they mod it....and you may very well be defeating the purpose of the mod by doing so. So a good tach and some knowledge is a MUST

But on to the "technical" aspect of it.......a carburetor is nothing more than a fuel metering device. And the amount of fuel being sucked into the engine......via the carb......is directly proportional to the air flow.

So people think by doing a muffler mod to help a saw "breath" that they need more fuel to compensate. And they arent wrong. But the carb already does that. Because more air...also means more fuel is being sucked in. Up to the limits of what the jets can flow. Thats why with hotrodders...be it two stroke or 4....guys change carb jets.

I have seen too many saws that someone has hacked on a muffler....turned the mix up....and are left with a saw that is noisy, burns more fuel, and doesnt preform any better than stock or even worst.