blazer

I was thinking about a coment a while ago, where somebody said, he has known motorcross mechanics damage some chainsaws including a MS880. All I can assume is a bike mechanic will tune for best free revving power. I admit I'm a bit like that, so am a bit worried I may have it wrong as I have no mfg info to work from:confused1: Pls correct me if I'm wrong but I tune a saw by the normal setting air screws to std setting, warm up saw - adjust the L screw for best running, then adjust tickover. To set the H screw I rev the saw and adjust for best free revving and back it slightly just before it 4 -strokes. I have no tacho but had no probs for 10yrs using this method. I tried to do some searches but no luck

Sort of a 'Spud army knife' finger tips. Had some so called special tools on medical equip - well maked up.

Are you sure you want to put a weaker chain on a very powerfull saw:confused1:

Interesting on the 460 how a £2 breather can work out a bit expensive. Spud; do you use a honing tool to clean seized barrels or are just good at doing it by hand techniques & do you use 'ring clamps' to fit barrels over pistons ( I used to use them on bikes mainly twins many yrs ago) I'm suprised that saw owners don't clean their saws before sending them to you.

Nothing to do with the location just the position by going too far south:blushing: don't worry you can go 'North/South or the 'darkside of the Moon' in Brighton:001_tt2:

Well'er I sort of made some, I cut the back up on a pair of my lads old trousers and fitted x3 strap & buckles to each leg and reversed the belt. They are only for those 'quick jobs' where you wouldn't change for eg; cut a fence post or testing a saw. don't worry I won't post a picture of me wearing a chap:sneaky2:

Another vote for FR Jones - good price + fast service:thumbup1:

Same here Spud, I once tried to change the rear brakes on my old transit, stopped after running out of plasters - few days later no probs, don't understand. Some jobs seam to flow with luck from the start and probs solved as you go, I was lucky a while ago changing the head, clutch & gear box on my old L200. Its good how with a few 'tips' from mates how alot of probs can be avoided. My best 'lost it' was at work at the hospital trying to change the date on an ECG M/C it wouldn't accept the change and kept flipping back - I closed my eyes and brought both fists down on the keyboard, opened my eyes to see keys everywhere - so closed & opened them again, no luck. So I played Scrabble sticking all the letters back - a fews days later the nurse phoned up to say 'some of the letters were different to normal' I told her not to worry it's an Americian keyboard:lol: I realized from your posts how you are on a stepper learning curve than me with your real breakdowns to solve against my normal running maintenance.

Many thanks Ironbark:thumbup1: I've had probs with ordering spares as a kit or single unit before.

Thanks Spud - looks like I've been saved by being too tight to buy the right tool:thumbup1: Bit of worry to see what can happen to a piston. Mind you undoing some nuts can push you to the limit, my brother 'lost it' once and came out of the garage asking "if I'm any good fixing radios?" - holding a radio with a 2lb hammer sticking out of it:thumbup:

From your picture Spud I wondered if the guy who put the hole in the piston didn't realize it was a 'left hand thread'. It can be a bit confusing, as far as I'm aware clutch threads on saws are left handed, the problem on many motor bikes with a nut over a spline or keyed shaft they will be right handed. I think I may have gone the wrong way for starters with my Quad, like saws they have auto clutches, so you can't jam the drive so it's rope down the plug hole ( being a bit carfull with the valves) I use a lenght of old 6 mm climbing rope, with a spanner up on TDC and wind back say 30 degrees before putting the rope in saves jamming the exhast - hopefully:blushing:

Many thanks Megatron. I will leave it untill my warrenty has expired. I need to order the revised chain catcher. Just one query, does the twin port cover come complete with outlet mesh & cover and gasket? I ordered the smaller twin spikes for my old MS390 but had a spare ID prob the same inner spike was supplied so I just filed down the outer to match up, works fine.

I have a MS280 & MS390 had both for say 10 yrs, the MS 280 because it was a bit bigger than a MS 260, so fitted an 8T rim sprocket = really good saw. The MS390 because I couldn't afford to go for a MS 460, but again a really good saw, needed a bit of tuning to get the best out of it. Of interest the clutch is the same size, the chain the same just less power for big jobs. I now have both a MS260 & MS 460, all run well. The Pro saws are of better design and build quality and for contract use tougher, but the Farm saws are not the 'L model' against the pro 'GTX model' One detail I never get is why Stihl make say the MS 270 & 280, both are the same weight so why not just make the bigger model:confused1:

If it's in you to fix 'things' then it gives satisfaction to solve a problem, and save yourself a lot of cash as well - hence the Scots being such good engineers:lol: Only joking, I must save 1,000's a year doing my own work and for me feels good.

Good point about piston damage Spud, the force on the piston increases the higher the piston is in the cylinder for the same crank torque ( I won't go into the phsyics just trust me) so the more rope down the hole the better if its hard to undo the nut, (always turn it the same way it goes around when running). One of my mates suggested using rope down plug holes say 30 yrs ago to change valve springs & oil seals on Cortinas without taking the head off, when the engine caught a nasty oily cough:sneaky2: I had my doubts if it would come out again but it did everytime. I used this technique recently to undo the crank sprocket on my Suzuki Eiger quad as it auto clutch - really hard on ended up using a inpact socket & a lump hammer on the old socket bar to put in a shock load ( bit worried but it was the only way to undo an over tightened nut to access the auto clutch) I use either a spare started cord or 6mm rope:thumbup1: Have a good weekend

I fitted the large dogs to my 460 and smaller twin dogs on the other 3/8" chain saws - only really used for stump cutting but handy to have. For carb adjustment with the Duel port cover is it just the hi & lo air screws or does it require different jets to be fitted, don't want to risk damaging the motor. Plus any details on power increase for a 460 ? many thanks:thumbup1:

I find a few choice words work better than WD40:lol: I use the rope down the plug hole technique.

I'm more of a Stihl & leg man myself - confirmed by this years Stihl calender:001_tt2: I brought my old Husky 266xp did some external work on it , no top off etc and I'm very impressed. I have brought some spares from GHS but it's a bit random whereas Green stripe seam to stock the lot but cost more. I'm going to get a spare piston for the Husky GHS 20quid against nearly 90 quid = worth a go. I do all my own servicing used to do bikes and heavy engineering in the past, bit of a 'love - hate' thing going with being under smelly trucks but once I get started I love it. Changed the propshaft centre bearing and U/J joint on the L200 yesterday, tip- sort of controlled agression. Good luck with your saws

On 3/8" chains it's 1.5mm wide on Husky & 1.6mm on Stihl (sprokets no prob), if the Bar is worn it may fit. I made an adaptor to fit Stihl bars on my 266xp Husky, that way I have no probs getting chains mixed up. All I can say is look it up on say Mister solutions for .325" chains, I'm finding that they stock Charlton semi chains & they cut as well as Stihl and are 1/2 the price.

I was going for the original question with general answers from my experience but this is limited to my Stovax and a few other woodburners from holiday cottages where I take my own firewood. Some of my answers were just general checks, the old simple ones often missed. I had problems fitting a 6 " liner so I suspect some maybe fitted with 5" although it worked well it slowed on drawing but when swept only 1/2 a bucket came out. My stovax is top air only with airwash, the glass with often tar up when starting but soon clears. I had one stove on hoilday that was fairly complex and took a while to get the best out of it, so I can see where problems can arise.

Just a thought - Some 'auto-air dampers' are set a bit low so they many be setup for 'multifuel' as in coal, not top air as needed with wood burning.

Stovax Sheraton logburner model, top air draw only - brill stove about 14 kw, had it in for say 15 yrs will control low and when cold run like a blast furnace all winter. Any problem could be the flue is too small, when I first installed mine I connected it to a 5" flue (the old gas boiler one) to try it out first winter, it ran well but needed sweeping every 6 months or it wouldn't draw. I later fitted the recommended 6" flue with much swearing - me standing on the roof shouting down to my dear wife to pull **** harder, 2 double bends to get around. Now it draws better with the 6" flue only clean the flue one a year, not much comes down 1/2 a small bucket. As it's the only heating used we get through tonnes of wood in the winter, so it has a hard time I need to replace the cast iron 'smoke deflector' every 2 yrs as it often runs red hot and burns out. As a stove I would buy the same again, although I don't think they still make them. One other item to check is the house sealed? I have x6 30mm air holes drilled into the lounge floor to draw air from the air bricks, and left the old catflap in to act as an air balance valve (bit posh for an old cat flap) but in a sealed house with a kitchen extractor fan running it's possible to draw air back down the flue.

I used to use Stovax glass cleaner good bit corrosive but most of the time it's just hot water and a cloth and rinse well:thumbup1:

Met a few guys like that:thumbup1: I don't know but I assumed a few yrs ago most were happy with the older style of pickups easy maintenance fairly basic, ideal for offroad working, but the recent tread is going for a more USA urban style high tech 'take it to a dealer to get it fixed' type of pickup is getting away from what most land work guys need. Hence looking at the LC70 range, for a more robust type of arb-truck.

So this is why we fail at Rugby - they have LC70 in Auss, South Africa Man ( they always say that when asked where are you from) & the all blacks have them in NZ:sneaky2: Interesting about the 'agreement' with LR is there a time limit:confused1: With LR planning to drop the 110 in a few yrs, will that allow the LC70 into the UK? from the responce is is a demand I had thought it was because the early models were a bit crude, we used them on the dam construction sites in central Brazil in the early 70's - very tough but a bit like a tractor with a 4 seater cab.