arboriculturist

Woah, quite a few options there thankyou.   At least I have an idea what will work reasonably well on and off road.   Tyres are quite subjective by all accounts !

Someone mentioned General Grabber  ?

Old Weller Wheels - that's going back a bit.    I will search for the Kumho, not come across them. Thankyou.

The aging Ranger needs new tyres and with the trend of 6 months of relentless rain every year they need to be good. The M+S that are on there have been almost useless.  I rarely travel more than 5 mile radius, so tyre road noise is irrelevant.   I am hoping there will be a definitive answer and this is certainly the best pace for experienced advice.   Thankyou in advance. 

Sounds perfect to me Steve - I will report back in due course 👌

9 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

I've not looked at one of these closely, the top handle has a small outlet and you get quite a bit more power from opening it up so i imagine as long as there's more hole area it'll help. Some people just drill a 6mm hole in the side of the exhaust.

Maybe Spud has done these mods in the past ?

On 03/03/2024 at 19:38, Dan Maynard said:

Think this is the rear handled one he's doing so maybe that case is a different shape?

 Yes it is  - the MS150 C and there is no torx screw - it is 100% one piece with nothing removable. Can I still mod this Steve ?

28 minutes ago, Mark_Skyland said:

This is a parts diagram, it may help with understanding how the bottom end is put together.

MS150.pdf 111.95 kB · 2 downloads

 

Ideal - Stihl diagram is slightly different than the L&S ones I have used. I shall post how this all pans out. Thankyou.

37 minutes ago, spudulike said:

The engine is a bit strange in the fact the crankcase is split in to two halves but has a plastic cradle a bit like a clam shell type engine.

The bearings and seals are a push fit in to the cases. 

It will be a good learning curve and it will be worth opening up the outlet hole under that muffler top cover. You will get a good increase especially if you go for the nylon air filter as well. A real simple mod, cheap and effective.

Excellent ! I will change the old for a new nylon filter.   This 12 year old saw has a single piece muffler with no top cover. Yes very good learning curve.

16 minutes ago, spudulike said:

Pulling the bearings and working on the crank is like working on a sewing machine. everything is super small on these saws and typical bearing pullers etc are pretty useless on this tiny engine. 

The plus point is that the saw is relatively easy to take apart.

The crankshaft should have no in and out movement as the bearings are a interference fit on the cank shaft unlike the MS200T. There should also be no up and down movement as the bearings are ball races. Don't confuse the sprocket movement as crank bearing movement.

Thankyou Steve.   I have the bare engine on the bench clutch and flywheel off.

There is definitely some in and out movement and up and down movement of the crank in the bearings.   

This saw has had a lot of use, so I would expect some wear in the bearings over 12 years of use.   I find it easy to work on.   I have a good level of engineering skill, not on your level of course.    I have no hesitation in pulling the bearings and replacing.   

I cannot see on any schematic of a MS150 C if there is a seal between the 2 halves of the crankcase, you would know of course.   

Some may say I am wasting my time, but parts are lo cost for this saw and I am happy to persist.

3 hours ago, arboriculturist said:

A lot of sound advice from everyone thankyou.   Yes this is an old saw and I like to get a long life out of my equipment, saws included.   Spud fitted a new barrel / piston and ported the Husky 346XP which is now 26 years old. Better than the day I bought it. Yes replaced odd bits and pieces but that is still a tremendous machine.  I accept that the time does come when repairs become uneconomic and this is looking like one of those times.   I am not sure if I can pull those bearings without a puller though if I go down that road ?

 Ok, so I have ' grabbed the bull by the horns ' like a lot of you would do.   Checked the impulse and fuel pipes - perfect.    Rubber carb manifold - perfect.    On close inspection with just the engine unit in my hands it is apparent that there is some end float movement and some lateral movement of the crankshaft.   I could see bubbles in soapy water around crank seals after sealing exhaust and inlet ports and blowing gently into inpulse spigot in barrel - so they are leaking air.    I could replace bearings and seals myself ( I have no bearing puller) or give to someone to replace ?   Parts are all lo-cost items as are the crankcase and barrel gaskets.   Any thoughts

A lot of sound advice from everyone thankyou.   Yes this is an old saw and I like to get a long life out of my equipment, saws included.   Spud fitted a new barrel / piston and ported the Husky 346XP which is now 26 years old. Better than the day I bought it. Yes replaced odd bits and pieces but that is still a tremendous machine.  I accept that the time does come when repairs become uneconomic and this is looking like one of those times.   I am not sure if I can pull those bearings without a puller though if I go down that road ?

10 hours ago, spudulike said:

A few things to try: -

1) make sure the air filter is clean - replacing the flock paper one with the nylon one helps the saw.

2) make sure the muffler is clear of carbon. They can get pretty clagged up under the top cover held in place with the screw. Whilst the muffler is off, check the piston for scoring and the port for carbon.

3) On these saws, the flywheel runs pretty close to the plastic body and they tend to build up a fair bit of wood chip in this area and this can stop the saw idling. Just remove the recoil cover and clean with an old paint brush and compressor air line. Whilst in there - make sure the front engine mounts are OK - if the stop switch has stopped working, they are probably loose or knackered. They are located to the top and bottom of the clutch drum.

See how that helps.

 

Thanks for replying :   1. New air filter fitted - no difference.     2. Muffler clear.  Piston perfect.  Port already spotless of carbon.   3.  Flywheel area clear as I had flywheel off to check keyway was perfect.   Engine mounts good and I took the stop switch out of the equation.           This may or may or not be relevant  - but the saw will only run for 10 or 20 seconds with the choke on and held on full throttle.

10 hours ago, Joe Newton said:

How much time do you want to spend on a saw that cost £300 when you bought it 12 years ago. Chuck it in the spares bin and replace. 

I take your point and that was my initial thought, especially as many of the parts on that saw will fit the 150 TC's.

I have a Stihl MS 150 C and a Stihl MS 150 TC.   Both are 12 years old.   The MS 150 C has become harder to start over a few weeks and now after getting it started it will barely run at low revs for more than 10 seconds before cutting out.   I stripped the carb, found nothing amiss and built it up again and re-fitted.   Same symptoms.    So removed carb and fitted it to the    MS 150 TC and this saw ran perfectly with the MS 150 C carb.   I tested the resistance of the coil, which appeared as specified.   So I removed the coil off the MS 150 C and fitted it to the MS 150 TC.    Pulled it over and it started 1st pull, revved up fine and ticked over perfectly.    I am thinking crank seals but have no way of testing crankcase pressure.   This saw has done a fair amount of work.   There appears to be the slightest of play on the flywheel end of the crank, which is the end I looked at.   If the crank seals need replacing what is the likely cost if I gave it to someone stripped already and is it worth it on this 12 year old saw ?     These are the only saws I have that Spud has not ported !    Any replies much appreciated.

Both electric - happy with both and not much speed difference. The quantity you are producing is minimal.

Have both machines here. The 11 tonne Mignon is 3hp - 2.2Kw so fine on an extension lead. Like chalk and cheese and you get a lot for your money with the Mignon with large pneumatic tyres. We welded a 1 metre x 500mm 10mm steel table to ours and it transformed its operation allowing rings to be slid around.

A lot of people forget the off the shelf 50m extension reels only have 1.5mm cable.

On 13/12/2022 at 12:51, Johnpl315 said:

 

Forestry commission blue book quote hardwood dries 5% per 20 days April until September and the 1% per 20 days in the other months. That tallies with my experience. And so timber stacked for three months over the summer will loose 20% which is enough to make a difference between a job being viable or not. Timber on the ground may soak up some moisture in the winter but the majority of the stack won't. 

Hardwood in the round will never ever loose moisture at the figures quoted above - the figures may apply to processed firewood stored under optimum drying conditions.

Never ever sell dry processed firewood on tonnage !!! 

Sorry to break the news.

On 13/12/2022 at 12:51, Johnpl315 said:

 

Forestry commission blue book quote hardwood dries 5% per 20 days April until September and the 1% per 20 days in the other months. That tallies with my experience. And so timber stacked for three months over the summer will loose 20% which is enough to make a difference between a job being viable or not. Timber on the ground may soak up some moisture in the winter but the majority of the stack won't. 

This must be processed firewood in crates outside not stacked roundwood roadside ?

On 10/12/2022 at 12:30, Woodworks said:

£240 for 2 cube for us. Put it up 10% back in April

 

Unless your kilning no need to pass the extra price of cord on to customers today as the logs it makes wont be going out until later next year. 

T

IMO that is way, way too low for 100% hardwood.

Every single overhead we have has risen by way more than 10% and that has to be recovered by increasing the price of the product.

Hardwood roundwood up 29% 3 weeks ago !!!, so you have to follow that trend partially.

I am charging new business more than established.

Got some Red Oak milled, it's been down a couple of years before I got it and shame the ends were not sealed.

17 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Well as doobin said pallets with aggregate on top.  Or as you said strap them and keep tightening the straps.

Ooh missed that - I can easily do that !

27 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Well, that won’t be much weight in the top, but most of the stack will be well weighted.

 

 The other factor of course ifs log quality.  A knotty or bendy log is going to produce timber that will distort more than a clean straight log.  Also some species are more prone to move.  Cedar of Lebanon (and other relatives) are super stable.  Oak and beach will move all over the place!

4 sleepers not much weight - so would you recommend - I could use 12 and ratchet the top stack ?

After all the effort of milling I am keen to produce as high a quality product as possible. 😀