GardenKit

Is it really fair to blame the customer? It was in all probability the first time they ever had to get a tree attended to. They probably did not know of any other ' tree surgeons' and may not have been able to tell the difference even if they had. They may have asked 'are you insured.' and when told 'yes' they were happy. They were probably in awe of the brave chap with the saw, and the way they dissmantled the tree, because to a layman it is impressive. I have to agree that it is sadly just ond of those things which will never change.

I totally get the idea of putting your name on your plate, but just dont get the idea of putting BMW on a bmw, or V70 on a Volvo V70 etc, are'nt the badges clear enougth? Maybe the owners have poor eyesight and need this to choose which car to take from the garage?

You are totally right, my post was made without proper thought, and a little alcohol. I generalised, as I get fed up with the number of machines brought into me that have been sold on flebay and do not work. Most have serious problems and have been sold by unscrupulous sellers, its a great place to unload rubbish. This one may well have been genuine and I jumped in too soon. But, please, anyone considering buying on fleabay, BE CAREFUL.

Like the bit about the flamesl:thumbup:

Hope the surgeon can clean it up tomorrow and that you have a speedy recovery. By the way, the homeopathic medicine, Arneca speeds up the healing process really well. I speak from experience, if you are into that sort of thing its well worth a try.

Beats chaining your bike to the tree! Nobody will nick that one.

I sort of agree as I hear lots of negatives about other dealers, especially the larger ones who possibly employ staff who may not have the companies interest at heart. I am a one man band (well, me and my wife) and try to give a very personal and fair service. We do need to identify any problems and decide wether they are warranty or down to the customer. It is often difficult to put it across to a customer that the problem is due to his own actions, but sadly it too often is. It is also essential that if either I or the manufacturer is at fault, I accept it and deal with it. My customers have paid me for a warranty against faulty parts or workmanship and I see that they are treated fairly. As regards seperation of machines and spares, I guess you mean that you would like to buy via distance selling, but have service and spares support locally. This wont happen unless spare part retail prices rise significantly so that the dealer margin can support the business and replace the lost margin on the initial sale. The time spent identifying and sourcing spares far outways the profit. We happily accept the need to support machines we have sold but are less happy to support machines sold at low margin by distance sellers who then dont have the support hastle.

The good old days are still here if you want to support your local dealer. He will be happy to supply you a saw and show you the necessary safety features. he will judge the amount of information he needs to give as the one to one sale unfolds and he gets to to know you, and your capabilities. He will only need to see your certificate if you buy a top handle. He will be on hand to handle any warranty or service issues you may have without the need for you to pack a saw up for return to distance seller. He wont be quite as cheap as Jonesie as he will need to make a little money in order to give his personal service. Come on guys, support your local dealer or you may lose him.

I agree, its not clever to avoid tax, in fact its just plain stupid. Its not a case of IF the taxman gets you, Its a case of WHEN. If everyone pays their tax, maybe I wont pay so much.

I agree. Sold as working.... Not working. Dont try to get it working, it will cost money. Send it back.

You will be Ok to test it. With what you know so far set the h screw to the richer end of the limits and you wont do any harm whilst tuning the low end, but you still need to get the H screw properly set before working the saw.

It sounds that it wont disengage as Catweasel has suggested. This is most likely due to a damp atmosphere within the bell housing, causing the flywheel and or pressure plate to rust. The rust penetrates the ferodo clutch linings, effectively sticking them together. It does sometimes work as Catweasel suggests to drive it around and try to shock them free, but you may rip the linings from the disc. Before doing this try the gentle approach, which is to let the engine run at speed for a long time ( in neutral of course) to get as warm as possible. As engine heat migrates into the flywheel it will expand at a greater rate than the disc. This causes the surfaces to gently slide across each other very slightly, breaking the rust bond and freeing up the clutch without causing damage. Once free, drive the tractor and slip the clutch a liittle to polish up the surfaces.

Or even think about using Aspen2. It comes premixed with the oil at 50-1, contains no ethanol and will not go stale. Also much better for the operators health. Visit the Aspen link on the left of the page for more info. Wait for it.......!

It is much more common to have a weak mixture than a rich one as there are more faults that can cause it. It is also much more detrimental to the saw, so dont use it until its tuned. The 261 needs to be tached to 14000 but even after that I like to check that its just starting to four stroke as its possible that due to wear and tear the saw just wont reach 14000 unless running weak. The LA screw does not have an initial setting, but what you do is start the saw and warm it up. Set LA to a slightly fast tickover (3600) Turn L in to get max eng speed (weak) If this is over 3700 then start again. Then set LA down to 3300 and then tune L screw out (rich) to 2800 rpm. The above instructions come from the Stihl manual. In practice, I do it by ear, set LA a little high, tune L in to 'lean drop off', this is where speed has peaked and just started to drop off. Then turn L out to ' rich drop off ' then turn very slightly to lean, which is where the engine reaches its lowest stable speed. At this point the engine should pick up immediately when the throttle is blipped. I then set the LA to an even tickover just below the point at which the clutch starts to engage, i.e the chain is not attempting to turn, and check the tune again. The movement on the L screw will be very slight between the drop off points so turn it very slowly. The clutch engagement point can be tricky if the clutch springs are worn as the engine speed may be too low to keep running, hence using the tach.If the chain moves at 2800, replace the springs. Hope this helps, and I hope I have not missed anything out.

I agree, but something happened to me today to prompt me to add a safety note. When pulling the saw over to eject excess fuel make sure the ignition switch is OFF. Whilst doing the same operation to a flooded lawnmower today the first pull expelled a large amount of fuel. The second pull expelled slightly less, but it IGNITED. Even though the plug was not in the cap, a spark must have jumped to earth. The, flaming, expelled fuel shot, very prettily, about 2metres across the workshop and landed on the fuel store,( luckily fire resistant and shut) No major problem this time, but I will take more care in future.

I used to sell them, sold several into forestry, excellent value and virtually indestructable. Terrible for your street cred, but at least they have few electronics. Wise choice.

Hi Matt, Glad you got it going. I use the Stihl tacho, but as I am home I cannot look up the price, if I go to the unit over the holiday I will look it up and PM you. In the meantime I suggest initially leaving the H cap on. Set it in the mid range, you should be able to increase speed by weakening the mix (in) and slow it (out). hopefully you will be able to detect the speed by ear. You need to be able to to turn it out until the engine starts to 'fourstroke' (the note changes from a smooth sound to a very slight missfire as the revs drop. Then do the stall as suggested by Spud earlier. If you cannot get it to sing, rather than fourstroke, then you are beyond the limits of the screw. You may be overfueling because the needle arm is a little high. I only say this because many people try to 'tune out' issues that should be fixed first. A saw in good order should run within the limit caps range Good luck

I agree. Although you may build up in a prepared joint to achieve a weld, you wont weld it in one IMO. You may be able to over a short weld but you have to be aware of the current draw at high amperages. Fuses tend to melt regularly. Ideally you need to be on a 32 amp supply with an industrial plug and socket or you may overload your ring main.

Well stacked

If a vat registered trader were to buy in a secondhand item from a non registered owner he could not be charged vat by the seller. However when he comes to sell it on he has to add vat, hence the much higher price he sells for which equates to cost + profit + 20% on total. If he has registered under the VAT 'secondhand goods scheme' ( it applies to my trade, but I am not sure if all goods are eligible) he only pays VAT on the profit he makes. He cannot show this VAT on the sales invoice, so the purchaser, even if VAT registered cannot reclaim any Vat on the purchase. This supports the fact that the VAT has already been paid but shows that the VAT man wants his bit of my profit.

I dont keep one but my supplier does. Problem is I close for christmas today, so am not going to be able get one until the new year. If you want me to get you one pm me with your details. Have a happy christmas. Barrie

The WTE is different to the normal WT. We are all so used to WT that we immediately think K20-WAT kits, which is what your supplier did. You need a K10-WTE kit. hope this helps

No, nor me, I pull them off just as Spud says, can never get them back on so leave em off. Just be careful when adjusting and if using the factory sets as printed on the cover be aware that they will be for the caps on and may be different from basic settings. See some of Spuds previous posts.

If those pawls are tight in the pulley holes it might be your problem. i have not had this on stihl, but have seen exactly that on, dare I mention, Mcculloch strimmers. Had to sand down the pawls as a temp measure. its almost like the plastic had swelled. Try new pawls in the first place, or just replace the pulley and pawls.

You would have to remove them to ajust the carb, but you need to find out why you need to adjust the carb beyond the range of the limiters. Carbs do not go far out of tune on their own, usually there is another reason for it appearing out of tune and to retune only compensates but does not put it right. Air leaks on the crankcase or the inlet manifold will weaken the mix, blocked air filters will richen it. Dirty fuel filters and gauzes will starve it and reduce revs. Internal carb faults such as hard diaphragms, contaminated needle seats or worn needle arms also need fixing. Any of these, when fixed , should allow the saw to run close to the HL presets.