harrythecat178

We had a MS200T arrive with a similar issue, it was down to blocked cooling fins, the saw had been having cooking oil rather than chain oil and hence had baked a sawdust cake inbetween fins, We had to use a hacksaw blade to cut fins clean

Last Friday 5.55pm when cutting some up some broken pallets I put a nail through my boot sole and into foot, fair bit of blood. I thought about tetanus and rang my GP surgery, who were just finishing for weekend. Last booster was 1999 they said, you need it every 10 years. Fair play, I was told we will stay open and come straight down, 3 miles away , and within 20 mins I had had wound cleaned, dressed and right for tetanus for another 10 years. I am 48 and my age wasnt relevant it appears. Doing the jobs we do where there is risk of a puncture wound or cut, we must have a booster every 10 years. God bless the Welsh NHS and our local doctors surgery.

Our attitude when we sell a saw is try and find out what the purchaser knows about using a saw and advise accordingly, offer to sell the required add ons ie oil PPE etc, if he refuses then so be it. Unless you are going to treat a chainsaw in the same way as a gun, then it would be impossible to enforce a licence system

I knew a chap years ago who sold cheap generators but struggled. Once he started whispering they were "iffy" and so were cheap, they sold no problem!! Perhaps thats the way these chaps sell the chinese specials

Best we have found is the Stihl 2 in 1 easy file, about £30, takes down stop teeth at same time and doesnt ruin chain like an electric grinder

It always amazes me that the importers of chinese made garden machinery do no spec an NGK plug instead of a homemade lookalike. If nothing else it would stop many returns of machines for a refund

Japanese quality or chinese c**p even in spark plugs, you cannot even to begin to understand why they skimp on plugs for a few pence

Golden rule with 2 strokes in my experience, use a good quality branded semi synthetic 2 stroke oil at 50;1, . If is doesnt say semi synthetic or synthetic or is not mainstream brand use 25:1 . The only exception I know of is Stihl HP which is mineral but designed fpr 50:1

Oil rigs, Scotland and posted to Germany also feature in this scam. I have even heard of pay by paypal and the buyer ending up out of pocket as the "seller" asked for payment as a gift rather than an invoice. Another scam is on Pistonheads, similar performance , but vehicle will be delivered after payment to a secure Pistonheads site. There is no site and Pistonheads dont accept money

We see hundreds of Stihl chainsaws a year and the only flip cap that causes problems is the oil cap on MS181 and family models. The problem appears to be when the flip lid is not fully tightened before pushing the lid down. The are 2 recess holes in the cap lid that the flip needs to seat into, if it doesnt, it leaks

Is there any mention of commercial use warranty or whether spares are available. I have seen other True Shopping products and havent been impressed. Why not buy a good quality used set. I was only looking at a Honda one today , we supplied it to H J Pugh auctioneers as used 5 years ago, has had one service and still runs like the day he had it despite doing 10 hours most weeks. £250 should sort your job out with a tidy good quality set

What was your budget? Are you looking for chinese or do you want proper quality ie Honda EU20i

We use APC-overnight who now cover Europe, excellent service , perhaps not cheapest but certainly one of the best and easy to talk to especially if a problem occurs. Ebay feedback says it all. Just remember to drain off as much oil and fuel as you can, wrap in several plastic bags and the in secure box

Different to many Ebay "private" sellers, he is a trading as a business with a vat number and visible address. It is almost certainly a fleet saw from one of the national rental companies, who seem to be disposing of perfectly good chainsaws I suggest due to safety concerns. They rub out the etched number before they sell them off. I would be more concerned about the seller that doesnt print an address and wont allow collection

I know the seller well, he is a decent honest chap. He is probably only trying to over point out any defects as if the purchaser complains, Ebay deal with the seller by issuing defect points and too many points lead to a selling ban

You need a new oil pump, they get dirt inside and just never behave after that. Genuine one around £16, non genuine around £5, make your own mind up which

He has an MS260 for sale as well and looking at the link to Youtube in that advert is in the tree surgery business. Bet you he bought it at a boot sale , took what he wanted and this is the dross left over. PS his MS260 needs a top end rebuild in the very least.

Ignition pack is prone to failure on those, could be weak spark. Borrow another and swap round

You are missing the splined washer, about £17 from an Echo dealer. You must fit washer first as you will not be able to lock head up to remove otherwise. Then a universal head and adapter needed, usually a 108 adapter

If a BCS has a seized cone clutch then we remove engine and after slackening grub screws on crank, slide clutch off. Try and remove fork arrangement from bearing at front but be carefull its quite delicate. If not carry on with fork in place. Place clutch in large vice and carefully clamp up to squeeze it and if it doesnt "pop" straight away leave overnight under tension. Tighten a bit more in morning. If this fails , tap with hammer several times and last resort is soak clutch for 24 hours in a bucket of red diesel. To prevent it resticking, always park with clutch in locked up disengaged position and do not pressure wash and the leave unused. When you reassemble then you need to make sure fork on bearing lines up with clutch engagement lever.

I think any tree surgeon needs to ask himself how he wants to be treated himself. If you had to quote for a job and was presented with a cheaper online quote or a cheaper quote from a company 150 miles away , what would be your response? Selling online is a cheaper way of running a business as there is far less labour or premises required, but its that personal touch that is lost and that is the element that adds extra value to a transaction to the end user. We sell Stihl chainsaws to most of the local tree surgeons and can nearly or exactly price match on most occasions. The difference for those regular customers is the service they get, with minor repairs and warranty work carried out on the spot, small jobs often not charged for and if the customer is desperately stuck a loan saw. I am happy to admit that saws bought from us and especially those under warranty get priority attention, that is only fair as that customer has supported us and we should support him. All other saws are dealt with as soon as time allows Realistically, saw buyers need to build up a good relationship with their local dealer as the more they buy, the better deal they will get and the better service they will receive. If the dealer doesnt offer this then he needs to look in depth at his business

We have seen a few with oil leaks. First thing is pressure test the oil tank if you can. See if there is a leak along tank joint, if so its a new tank or we have in the past grooved out the tank and rebonded it. If its not the joint, then inspect the oil pipe where the grommit goes into the body. If need be change the oil pipe. Next check the oil tank cap is sealing properly. If this is all good then use saw for 10 mins and place on a clean sheet of cardboard. Leave for 12 hours and check for a puddle of oil. Move to a clean piece of card and leave again, if there is the same amount of oil then there is a crack or split somewhere. If it is far less then it is oil passing the oil pump and running out after use. There appears to be 2 designs of oil pump, the later of which has a flared outlet. We have removed the old oil pump without the flare and replaced with new type and oil leaks have reduced or stopped. Both types of oil pump appear to have the same part number

Certainly on a strimmer if there is an excessive lip on the clutch drum, then the clutch shoes travel too far and hence snap the clutch springs. I think clutch springs are about 60p each for most Stihl clutches. Local dealer should have them

Clutch springs have clearly snapped and been spat out. Could be a badly worn sprocket drum but assume if you have rebuilt it a new sprocket has been fitted. New genuine springs are very cheap so suggest 3 gen springs are fitted

The perils of rehashing an Ebay advert, which was clearly a generator and this seller is keen to promote the virtues of his vastly superior generator with copper windings rather than the even nastier cousin with aluminium windings