Which are the bad 261 models/years?

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, jon18uk said:

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

Nice swerve !

[Countryboy]

I use a 261 and love it, no problems so far. However I do grease the bearing on a regular basis

[Rough Hewn]

Had mine 18 months. Use it daily. No problems.
Greased the needle bearing once.
[emoji3]

[Stubby]

I have a 2003 Husqvarna 372 XP and I can't remember greasing the needle roller .  Obviously I must have once or twice in 15 years .  There was definitely a problem with the early run of 261 saws . It didn't happen with other Stihl saws run by muppets or not .

[spudulike]

The bearing only works when the saw is idling - it was a design fault and nothing to do with maintenance. Never seen a worn bearing on a MS200T......strange don't you think

[spuddog0507]

22 minutes ago, spudulike said:

The bearing only works when the saw is idling - it was a design fault and nothing to do with maintenance. Never seen a worn bearing on a MS200T......strange don't you think

dont know about a design fault more like a over sight on stihls side, they increased the out put of power on the 261 and continued to use the same clutch drum and bearing as the 260 , one dealer i know does a mod on them by machining the clutch drum out to take a heavier bearing and it seems to work well 

[spudulike]

1 hour ago, spuddog0507 said:

dont know about a design fault more like a over sight on stihls side, they increased the out put of power on the 261 and continued to use the same clutch drum and bearing as the 260 , one dealer i know does a mod on them by machining the clutch drum out to take a heavier bearing and it seems to work well 

The saw makes the peak power at what revs? What is the needle bearing doing at those revs? At anywhere near peak power, that clutch will be locked solid to the drum as the clutch will kick in at around 3,000rpm and the needle bearing will be just sitting there not doing a great deal.

The same bearing is used on the MS390 and it makes another 0.4HP!

The heavier bearing sounds Interesting though!

[MattyF]

We Ran a couple of 261’s In to the ground , I preferred them to the 260’s but still a shite saw , I would rarely pick them up opting for the husky’s .. think the needle bearings got changed twice and the saws got used for Sitka regen clearance so got abused .. one of the subbys brought a new 261 and used it at the same time in regen and it lasted one month , why some lasted and some didn’t is a mystery, from my personal experience of the 260 I could bring it back in a box of bits in one felling session .. horrible saws

[carlos]

On 04/07/2018 at 17:13, 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.

i wouldnt call replacing a needle bearing twice a week regular maintenance! id call that a faulty saw.

we have a dead 261 due to this fault, not sure of the year but id be wary of buying one personally

carl.