Muddy42

I prefer sprocket nose bars, but hard nosed work fine too, 42" is a doddle. Personally Id try and do the job for the minimal additional cost, so Id use the .404 42" bar. Sharp chain go slow and it'll be fine. I use chain sharpened at a normal cross cut angle, again to keep things simple. I've never felt a 120cc chainsaw to be underpowered and I mill mostly oak. Depending on the width of your chainsaw mill and whether you have felling spikes, you may need to take a few inches off the butt to get an easy cut. You don't mention if you have a chainsaw mill already but if not I have a cheap eco mill that is fine for occasional jobs. I would definitely rig up some type of aux oiler, there are cheap ones available that just dribble onto the bar nose, again fine for occasional jobs. I use lots of oil, any oil will do for the aux oiler.

One thing the army does extremely well is train up their leavers in preparation for the 'real world.' Maybe this is how the qualifications were obtained? In my experience, ex forces people have incredible abilities for hard work, strength, organization and ability to put up with crap weather, but the army is so weird - all the odd terminology and Victorian boarding school institutionalization, makes it hard for these transferable skills to come across on CVs or job interviews.

I would have thought you’ll have two types of customer. Firstly customers that in turn have a way to reclaim VAT through a business, they shouldn't care. Then those private customers who suffer full VAT out of already taxed income/savings. I think you would be naive to think the extra 20% cost wont make a difference to some of these people.

Very true!

My 460 has just exploded so I am looking for a similar sized saw to fix up. I’ll buy yours in a flash!

Ive not heard of that being a common complaint, so Id say your just unlucky. If its out of warranty, its still a valuable and sought after saw, so still probably worth fixing. Don't use the saw before then incase the bearing disintegrates and does further damage.

agreed and helpful and knowledgable over the phone, if you need to call. Ive had an unbelievable bad run of breakages, repairs and saw destruction recently - L&S should offer me a loyalty discount !

just catching up on this thread - the damage is remarkably similar to what happened to my 460 (posted here recently). I too struggled to find the problem - it had fuel, strong spark, no problem with the flywheel and timing, the piston didn't look scored and the rings were free. I too made the mistake of confusing friction (caused by gouging in the cylinder) with compression. The only way to find out was to disassemble the cylinder. I'm waiting to crack the case with a friend. The crankshaft feels OK and the circlips were intact, but we'll see.

Yes more so if you are cutting wet or green wood or staining wood like oak, but less so with dry seasoned wood. Also I sometimes sharpen and then go back with a critical eye and adjust.

Thanks. Lets see. We’re going to crack the case next week so no decisions made yet. Ive never done this before (but my friend has repaired a few and has the tools needed) so it’ll be fun to see. Yes I presume cracks would be a no go. I guess thats the risk you take with old saws, but hey my MS261 has needed expensive parts too so you cant win.

@spudulike @pleasant we've removed the cylinder and its not pretty. There are pieces of metal everywhere and deep scoring on a hidden inner side of the cylinder. I think a bearing has exploded somewhere (and probably what was making the ticking sound for a while) but we won't know for sure until we crack the case to assess the damage. Hopefully the crank is OK, but as a minimum I'd be looking at new bearings, gaskets, seals and another meteor piston and cylinder - about £150 in parts alone, so probably still worth it.

Pink nail polish also works well!

These doubles can also be useful as a handy reference to know where you started sharpening or filing rakers, if your chain is very clean.

As above, life was stressful before I had a big 9 inch angle grinder.

Agree. Sorry I flooded the saw on purpose - so I know that it was sucking fuel. Very odd, I will keep trying and provide an update.

totally agree with you. I much prefer a ‘short bar to a given cc’ ratio. I think manufactures always seem to fit too long bars as standard, maybe people look at price per bar length?

ive checked under the metering diaphragm - all looked fine - no blockages and fuel getting though to the plug. I have also managed to flood the cylinder. Nor will it fire with a shot of fuel into the plug. Im off to show it to a friend who ‘knows his saws’ and has a big box of spare ignition modules!

Thank you. I havnt had a chance to check the carb this weekend but I will. I also have a friend who might have have a spare 460 ignition unit to try.

@pleasant and @spudulike thank you. Yes the flywheel has minor play in a circular motion when the bolt is tightened down. I would say the movement is less than 1 degree, when a full rotation would be 360 degrees. Please see below, I'll add some pictures and a video of the motion of the flywheel. On second thoughts maybe the flywheel key is a tiny bit scuffed, how bad does it need to be to upset the timing? I will try disconnecting the HT side. If all else fails I will check the carb again IMG_6032.MOV

My Stihl MS460 is giving me grief. I refurbished this saw two years ago - new lines, carb kit, meteor cylinder, and piston. The saw held pressure and vacuum afterwards. Its only been run on aspen and has been fine until now and I use the saw a lot. Recently the engine cut out whilst cutting at full rev, making a slight ticking noise as the flywheel slowed down. In terms of diagnosis since then, the ticking was coming from the flywheel being too close to the coil, so I fixed that to a business card distance. Nothing looked damaged. After this, I checked for spark and it sparks strongly, meaning you can see the spark in daylight, but I replaced the spark plug anyway. It is drawing fuel to the cylinder, but still won't fire even with a shot of aspen down the spark plug. The compression feels solid (I don't have a tester but the saw and 20 inch bar will hang from the pull cord fine). Also without the decomp valve engaged, it still feels like a 76cc saw to start - hard. From the muffler side, the rings move freely and the piston looks like new, there is some minor carbon when looking at the piston from above. After all this failed, I returned to the Flywheel and pulled it off and cleaned everything. The flywheel key and race all look fine and square to me. On reassembly my only minor observation was that the flywheel has a tiny bit of circular play back and forth? Could this be my problem? I don't really know what to look for with timing/flywheel key problems. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I did but am not a buyer at anything like the price offered. No worries, maybe someone else will buy them.

Nope, not me. No disrespect, but @gobbypunk is asking for a fairly "full" price for these saws, having posted no pics nor really describing what parts are included or missing. Rather than 121 offers and rejections via Private Message, I'd strongly suggest he starts an auction on ebay, that's the way to get best price. Good luck, its amazing what people are paying for spares or repair saws these days.

Pm sent

Thanks, but that's not really my style. It rarely gets used anyway. I'll speak to a local metal working firm.

Yes your example is different from the example of lying in wait for diesel thieves, which demonstrates “intention” but even then I stand by my point - in the UK you are on very sketchy territory using guns for self defence or defence of property. You may win a long legal battle but i doubt you’ll ever be allowed to own guns afterwards.