help pick a reliable second hand saw

[ltec]

My father has a stihl 041av. He's had it from new and its never needed anything. The bolts came loose in exhaust last week and broke a lug off. I repaired it for him but or dealer said that you can no longer get parts for them. I now want my own saw because if something else happens his saw ill not be fit to listen to him.

What reliable second or new saw should I replace it with. All the new saws seem very low powered now and I'm reading stories on here about all sorts of problems with saws. It sounds like they are scrap compared to what they used to be

Would a 357xp be a good saw. They still seem pretty expensive

[Bren.]

Personally I would never buy a secondhand saw saw in this sort of size, a big saw, yes, but smaller saws tend to get a lot of use, and abuse and so make a pretty risky second hand buy. Go new, get a 560xp.

[Mortimer Firewood]

A 560 xp is a lot of money's worth of saw for the occasioned user. There are some good second hand saws out there with a few miles on the clock just take some finding.

[IVECOKID]

Good second hand saw are becoming like Rocking Horse Sh.t, with these m tronic thingy me bobs saws coming along people like myself aint parting with there trusting old saws that we can fix easily .

Get yourself a new saw has most second hands saws have seen there day .

 

 

 

Ste

[spudulike]

The first thing to look at is your budget - I always try to throw a reasonable amount of money at long term items as nothing is worse than having to buy twice due to the first attempt being cheap and NOT cheerful.

 

A good used 357XP will be between £250 & 350, they are good saws, the weak points are the oiler pinnion taking the crank seal out and the inttake boot leaking - generally from bad fitting on a rebuild. The EPA decomp if still fitted, should be removed, the lower hole plugged and a standard decomp fitted - just done another one:thumbup:

 

As others have said, they can be well used so you are faced with a cheap one £70-100 and then rebuilding it or splashing out a decent sum of money.

 

If purchasing secondhand, check the pot and piston are original - it will have a letter (A/B) on the plate next to the spark plug hole and if it is missing and the cylinder looks a bit silvery rather than grey then avoid. If you see a saw, take a small LED torch, remove the plug and look at the exhaust side of the bore with the piston out of the way, any signs of scoring/transfer - avoid.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[ltec]

What other second hand saws should I be considering. I was hoping £300 would sort me but if not I'd rather buy once

[CJM]

Most of the 2nd hand saws I've bought need work doing to them people don't really tend to sell good saws, you might get lucky and find a good one but I would never sell a decent working saw I only get rid of them once they start causing more issues than they're worth.

If you can stretch to a brand new saw that would be your best option. Would a 550 or a 555 husky be acceptable for you?

[TGB]

Don't know for sure if this place can help but it's worth a try:

http://www.mister-solutions.co.uk/products/stihl-041-041-av-041-fb--041-g-chainsaw-341-c

 

I know it not a saw for you. But for next time/ this time something snaps off.

Edited December 14, 2014 by TGB

[agg221]

What are you wanting the saw to do?

 

If your father is still running an 041 it suggests it's pretty occasional use. This means that if the saw goes down, you may not need to fix it next day? If so, parts are still pretty much all available if you can afford to wait, so I wouldn't scrap it, just wait for the replacement parts to turn up (ebay, sometimes in Germany and the US rather than the UK).

 

Having an alternative saw would still be a good idea though. More recent saws are not lower powered (there are still much higher power saws around than an 041!) but bear in mind that most people on this site are using saws on a daily basis in arboriculture and hence not necessarily needing a big saw on a regular basis. They are also more likely to post about saws which give them problems than ones which do not - worth looking for the saws they don't talk about. Being heavy professional use, they are also buying new for the warranty and the best power to weight ratio. New models are also always more likely to have teething problems. This creates a skewed impression.

 

Not being reliant on saws for a living, I buy secondhand. Parts availability on most saws from the 1990s onwards (and some 1980s with long production runs) is excellent. You need to be mechanically minded enough to change basic stuff, and find a good saw technician who can check it over (pressure and vacuum) and tach tune it for you.

 

The first thing to consider is what do you want the saw to do? If it's basically equivalent to the 041 and not being used hard on a daily basis - more the odd bit of firewood or farm type use, you could look at the Stihl 038 or 044. These will sit within your budget by enough that, having followed Spud's advice re. looking it over, you will have enough left to get it pressure and vacuum tested and a bit of budget to replace fuel pipes, carb boot and a carb overhaul kit.

 

I've bought about 20 secondhand saws - the only one which has caused serious grief is the 026 which refuses to run properly for no apparent reason and will shortly be going off for yet another serious talking to.

 

Alec

[IVECOKID]

Try harrythecat178 on E-BAY and he is on here too , has a few Stihl MS260 in last time i looked .

 

 

Ste