Heavy Oil Saw

@htb I never noticed the wear, but the slop in springs I did. Just gave me another reason to renew them to be honest.

This is for the OP to decide. I’ve repaired bearing houses with weld, metal epoxy, damaging the housing to close the tolerance, whether those are repairs or not, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If@Toad is happy with repairing things or not, I don’t know, I for one have had enough of “repairing” things and just go new or good 2nd hand, unless the part was rare as hens teeth, then I’d pay a machine shop to do it.

Cheers@Toad, glad you like it. The b&c is in my price point, not junk and not professional price. Seen some adverts and reviews which were very favourable, but they always are in my opinion.

@Toad Others may tell you different, but I’ve only used it as a get out of trouble, written the crank and block completely off, more damage was created as the bearing went back to spinning and ate everything. I’ve bodged plenty of bearings in my time with different potions, some successful, some not, but in a bind what can you do? Go new, peace of mind when running the equipment.

Got the makeover/post 2016 chain brake cover and clutch springs today. Needed the new type of cover as I bought a 2nd hand chain sprocket cover, which wouldn’t fit the pre 2016 chain brake cover. The clutch springs I fitted seem to of stiffened it up a bit, not as much flex when trying to spread the shoes by hand. Also a little wear as spotted by@htb in an earlier post. Here’s the old springs All that is needed now is a bar and chain, thinking 15” Oregon Speedcut for both. Any suggestions for a better alternative. Not looking for top notch stuff like Sugihara.

The loctite will fail and it’ll go back to spinning, it’s a very temporary fix. If the material is missing, it’ll never replace it. It’s for correct tolerance fits, and prevents corrosion to keep the tolerance correct. It does help “retain” the bearing.

It isn’t on the parts lists I could find, but I ordered that exact kit from L&S, received it and fitted it, and works a charm. Conversation below I had with L&S about the solenoid kit, no parts list on their site, but miraculously sent me a screen shot of the upgrade kit, which looks suspiciously like a Stihl exploded diagram, weird.

W

That was through L&S, before COVID-19 struck.

1140 007 1802 is the “upgrade” kit. Comes with white solenoid and up rated fuel filter, £17.73 +VAT. Hope that helps. If yours is fitted with a black solenoid, up rate it, if it’s fitted already with a white one, that’s the part you’ll need. It’s compatible with all control units, I think I have a gen 1, and the white solenoid works fine. Hope that helps.

When was the saw last serviced? As in more than a air filter and plug. 6 years on varying fuel will of tired the rubber out, on top of the work they do. Get it disassembled, service the carb, and inspect everything else, and see how she runs afterwards. I didn’t want to risk problems when I assembled a saw, so renewed all the rubber items and serviced the carb, no running problems. Even renewed the throttle rod, can’t believe how they wear out against plastic.

If the 181 is like the 171, the carb has turn limiters on the adjusting screws. I cut mine off and adjusted from there, I copied the procedure from a youtoob video. Sorry, deleted as already said above. I’d put my money on the carb diaphragm.

DIYSpares are having a bit of trouble getting parts I think, ordered a tank breather a couple of weeks ago and it still isn’t here, tried contacting them and just got a generic email in reply. Ordered the same part from L&S out of stock, came 3 days later, and no word from DIYSpares. If your in a bind, I’d email/message L&S and they’ll give you a lead time. They’ve helped me out loads during my 261 build, and I’m happy getting OEM quality for a little extra and P&P, just make a list, postage is reasonable in my opinion, DIYSpares charge a flat £4 odd, and I’m unsure if it increases for larger items.

@Toad Thanks, I’m quite chuffed with it. The clutch side bearing is playing on my mind, did I seat it correctly against the oil pump, is it far enough in/out, I don’t know. Did my best, and if it fails, lets hope it doesn’t chew anything else up.

Thank you, I’ll get a b&c, but that isn’t a priority at the moment, for two obvious reasons to myself [emoji23]. Looking at the way the drum was spinning, it was just free wheeling any which way with no load.

For some reason I went from 13-14,000 on the tacho to remembering 17-18,000 in my head, went back out and annoyed the neighbours once again, and your right. My tacho also freezes at a high number, it’s a digital one, at idle it jumped to 10,000, froze, then resets back, my head hurt when that happened as I realised why the clutch was engaging and there was little I could do to tune it. Couldn’t get the clutch to stop, but I wasn’t trying too hard with my stick (not in the video), not in the mood for loosing fingers. Looking at the video I took, it does seem it is being dragged round, maybe a b&c will cure it. The springs will be renewed anyway as they are beginning to wear. Bought the wrong chain brake cover, so that’s on order as well with the springs. Chain oiler works, and no leaks from either tanks, my two biggest worries. It runs, and seems to run well. Loads wrong with this, but I’ll take it. Been doing it 18 odd years now, chip shop cowboy as [emoji23]. In future I’ll jot down what I’m seeing, supposed to be seeing, instead of remembering.

I’ve got the saw built and running, but the clutch is always engaging, even at idle, which on the tacho fluctuates between 2700-2900RPM, which I believe to be in spec, and that it’s the M-Tronic “hunting” to stabilise the idle. I’ve ordered the springs, replace them and see if that fixes the ever engaged clutch. The saw starts third pull from cold, and first pull when warm. There’s no decomp, so it’s good hard pulls to start. Revs throughout and up to 17-18,000RPM as per book. Very happy with the build and finish. Once I’ve got the clutch problem sorted, side cover fitted and a b&c, I’ll see if I can find some wood to cut [emoji1787]. Thanks for all your help and input. Sorry this isn’t a working saw, and a “shelf queen”.

Indeed, I don’t even have a use for a chainsaw.

I’ve cleared a space on the side board for that, those pics of the kids can go in the eaves [emoji23]. The mower is currently in the garage in bits, waiting on adjusting arms, I couldn’t save them from the rust, the transmission and engine now run, whether or not they will when I’ve put it back together is another story.

I’ll keep that in mind, and be next on my list of things to do, gotta get this and the lawnmower up and running (got a HRX573 side project).

I’m getting a new drum, .325 7T spur drum, then it’s bar and chain time. Been on chainsawbars, but not sure what length to settle on, I’m thinking 15” as a general purpose.

Stripped the centrifugal clutch assembly, it was full of what appears to be rust Stripped it using long nose, my spring puller is at work. Looks a lot cleaner, and I’m happier when things are cleaner. And all back together What is the wear limit on the friction lining? I can’t see a wear indicator, or find anything obvious online.

Gauze fitted.

Well it’s all together. Bought another rear handle, it’s in better condition, going to use the “original” on the second 261 I build from all the old parts I have left over and watch it burn as it fails. Rebuilt the carb, left out the strainer, flushed out the 90 deg plastic coupler, and surprisingly wood dust came out of it. For some reason I was sent a Wartec air filter, are these any good? Waiting on drum, clutch bearing, washer, e clip and tent vent, and then done and run. For some reason I almost forgot the c clip on the crank end, behind the oil pump, what does it do? I’m thinking it helps clamp the oil pump drive arm to allow it to drive the pump. On the subject of the oil pump, is that tiny rubber ring meant to seal the oil out put of the pump? Is the drive arm meant to clamp round the plastic drive spigot? I’ll drive the engine with a drill to test the pump, but I’d prefer to iron out any niggles while the saw is “dry”. Thank you for any help and putting up with my posts. Here’s some pics (as always). That’s my dog leaving as she hates me working on the saw.

On this note, I’ve ordered a carb kit. Don’t like dealing with carbs, but thought what the hell, got it apart and the diaphragm is nasty hard, and that area had plenty of saw dust build up, well more than I thought should be there, and I’m no expert. There’s a “strainer” in the carb, judging by the parts diagram, but was missing when I opened it up? Is this a mod or some other reason to be deleted unbeknown to me? The carb will be flushed through with cleaner, and left to dry. Hope this alleviates any fuelling problems. I flushed the carb when I had the solenoid out to replace it, so maybe I back flushed the crud into the diaphragm? Going to run this thing on premix fuel, so do it now, and save the hassle later.