Dan Forsh

Hi, thanks for the info. Well it is a red switch, but serial no. is x30xxxxxx and it is a 12mm pin (on the original one I'm replacing). I knew they came in 10 and 12 mm so first thing I did was check the pin diameter when I was stripping it down (hoping for a 10mm one), as I had heard that the 10 mm ones were more desirable, for exactly the reasons you say. So just so I'm clear on this, are you saying that my existing cylinder shouldn't be used if the crankcase I've ordered turns out to be a 10 mm pin? Cheers

Manage to call the place offering the 044 crankcase complete with crankshaft and oiler installed this morning. Web site price was £45 + £5 delivery, agreed over the phone on £40 delivered, so that should save me a bit of time on the rebuild. One thing I neglected to ask was whether it was a 10 or 12 mm gudgeon pin version, so now I'll have to wait until it arrives before I can order a piston:001_unsure: I doubt it is the 10 mm version, but does anyone know if there would be any issues using my existing cylinder (assuming it cleans up) on it? I seem to think I once read that one will fit the other, but not vice versa, I assume due to a different stroke length? Thanks again, Dan

Thanks for the additional input fellas. I know what spud means on the case halves. I remember it was always 'replace as a matching pair'. I tend to do a lot of cut-off saws and things like the TS400 and TS410 you can buy each half separately and they have a separate part nos. Looking at the 044 IPL it only give a single part no. for the complete crankcase so spud may be right. Having said that, I've found someone selling a complete case including crankshaft and oiler for 45 quid, so I might just go with that. Just priced the bearings and oil seals up and that was 40 quid alone. Don't know about you, but I'm never sure how the bearings are going to be after being pulled out of the case once and it seems a bit daft to go to the trouble of splitting a case and not changing them. So I could save myself some work and rebuild the saw on the complete crank and save my good bits as spares for later. I'm not a great metal basher, so whilst I appreciate spud's suggestion of a repair, I'm not sure I'm up to the task.

Bugger me, I was mooching in his shop on ebay just yesterday hoping he'd have what I needed and all he had on for the 044 was a few bits and pieces. Thanks for the heads up on that one mate! BTW I'm no stranger to splitting crankcases and have the Stihl ZS tool for it, so no worries on that score. Cheers

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I hoped the first photo had been clearer than it was as the close up I tried to take wasn't great. If you look at the front end of the clutch side at the AV buffer, that is the AV buffer that you can see all the way across the bottom. The mag has completely worn through and if you look at the AV buffer position to the back edge same side, (original pic) although its filled with sawdust, that sort of diagonal line at the buffer position is actually a crack right through the metal where its worn so thin.

Hi, thanks for that. I have an 026 too, so the 024 probably isn't needed then, just thought that it might be a candidate for a conversion. I've too much money in the MS170 to hope for a return on if sold, so I think I'll go with that one and sell the MS211, if either is good enough. For starters it will probably be a few shrooms to get a feel for it (and find out if I have any real aptitude for it) I did a very 'rustic' mushroom a few years ago and I was happy enough with it, now the cat's favourite scratching post. I find some of the detail you lads can get in your work truly amazing and I doubt that I'll ever get anywhere near that level, but it would be nice to turn out a few reasonable pieces for friends and family. Thanks for the suggestion on bars. Where would I go for them? See them on Ebay but they seem expensive, so I'll maybe go with what I have for now and see how I go on before I commit to bar, sprocket and chains too.

Quick hello to all from a new member. Hobby saw fixer and long time member on Arboristsite, but new to Arbtalk, nice to find something a bit closer to home (no offense to anyone on AS). So my latest saw on the bench (dining table) is an 044 bought as spares repair. This one I'm hoping to fix up and keep for myself rather than sell on. Looks to have had hard professional use. Piston is FUBAR, not sure on the cylinder just yet, have to see how well it cleans up. My real issue at the moment it the condition of the crankcase. I pressure and vac tested the saw as I was breaking it down and it passed no problem. My issue is that I really don't want to build it back up on this. You can see that the casing has been totally worn through on clutch side where the AV mount can be seen on the bottom of the saw. Don't know if it spent a lot of time cutting logs in a yard and being sat ticking over on concrete or what, but the case is well worn. So I'm wondering if anyone has, or knows of a good source of 2nd hand spares were I could get a better crankcase to rebuild this thing? As I say, this one I'm intending to keep, so if it ends up costing me a bit more than I would usually spend on a rebuild, so be it, but £160 for new from Stihl is way beyond what I could justify. Dan

Hi, Looking to try my hand at a bit of carving and wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction as to which saw would be the best to start out with. I do a little bit of buying & selling of saws, just as a hobby, so have quite a few saws to pick from. I'm thinking light and agile would be the way to go and think I've seen others suggest the rear handle Stihl MS200 as a good saw to go with. To be honest, I'd rather go with something I already have so I'm thinking that of the models I do have, MS170, MS211 or 024. The two MS saws are obviously less powerful and don't have the build quality of the 024, but I'm not sure that if I were to get into this a bit more seriously, I would be able to get a carving bar and sprocket set up for the 024 as it's the larger 3003 bar mount. Is it essential to get the carver set-up even? I'm also thinking that it's maybe a two saw set-up; something bigger to start out with on the rough shaping and then a smaller saw for the more detailed stuff? I've already discounted my 1967 Stihl Lightning from the selection process as 106cc might be overkill Thanks for any suggestions in advance. Cheers, Dan