Which are the bad 261 models/years?

[AHPP]

I've read on various places, including here probably, that some Stihl 261s are rubbish and burn through bearings or something. Is it certain years or certain letters after the numbers?

Edited July 4, 2018 by AHPP

[Dan Maynard]

I've read on various places, including here probably, that some Stihl 261s are rubbish and burn through bearings or something. Is it certain years or certain letters after the numbers?

I've got a 2010 and it's never had a tendency to eat bearings, I was told on my CS31 to put a spur sprocket instead of the rim sprocket it came with (which I did) but obviously as I only have one I don't have any comparison.

[spuddog0507]

19 minutes ago, AHPP said:

I've read on various places, including here probably, that some Stihl 261s are rubbish and burn through bearings or something. Is it certain years or certain letters after the numbers?

i dont think any of them are its just down to the muppet, who either maintains or supposed to maintain it how many people on here take the clutch drum off and grease the bearing or replace the 70 pence needle bearing on a regular basis like once or twice a week if the saw is used regularly and lets face it in the present climate we have grease does not hold its viscosity so quickly vanishes, had a lot of stihls over the years ( inc 261s) and had very little trouble with any of them ,BUT one guy who worked with us had a 261 2014 and all he did to that saw was put fuel n oil in it and clean the air fillter now n then , 2 years later he tells me its fuckrd loads of play in the clutch drum ,we took it of put new bearing in and it still had play but no where near as much , put a caliper on crank shaft and it had a slight tapper on it ,so he took it to get it sorted about £300 later he had a saw that had no play in the clutch drum, so i gave him a £1.80 tube of grease and 2 spare 70p bearings and told him to grease it more often as if he had of done it more than likely been ok.

[Stephen Blair]

My 2013 models were terrible. When I collected them they felt lighter, had nothing but bother with them. I would just use either top handle or 461 as I lost faith in them.
I persevered and got them fixed until finally buying a new 1 in 2017, it’s like an original 26, feels better and runs great.

[dan494]

I had a 2011 that was a good saw, no issues and cut great, got stolen so got a 550, never quite got on with it so got rid of that this year and got a ms362, don't think i'll bother with 50cc saws again tbh

[Baldbloke]

Certainly happy with my pre 261 2007[emoji1303]

[Rough Hewn]

2017 model, no problems yet.
Cracking small saw, 18" bar .325 chain.
Eats trees!!!
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[jon18uk]

15 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

i dont think any of them are its just down to the muppet, who either maintains or supposed to maintain it how many people on here take the clutch drum off and grease the bearing or replace the 70 pence needle bearing on a regular basis like once or twice a week if the saw is used regularly and lets face it in the present climate we have grease does not hold its viscosity so quickly vanishes, had a lot of stihls over the years ( inc 261s) and had very little trouble with any of them ,BUT one guy who worked with us had a 261 2014 and all he did to that saw was put fuel n oil in it and clean the air fillter now n then , 2 years later he tells me its fuckrd loads of play in the clutch drum ,we took it of put new bearing in and it still had play but no where near as much , put a caliper on crank shaft and it had a slight tapper on it ,so he took it to get it sorted about £300 later he had a saw that had no play in the clutch drum, so i gave him a £1.80 tube of grease and 2 spare 70p bearings and told him to grease it more often as if he had of done it more than likely been ok.

Yep what he said!

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, jon18uk said:

Yep what he said!

So why is it only 261 saws that attract these muppets ?

[jon18uk]

10 minutes ago, Stubby said:

So why is it only 261 saws that attract these muppets ?

Not knowing the inner workings of a muppets mind i'm not suitably qualified to answer this question sir