Trailoftears

Do you have an image of the carb purge/charge bulb?I remember them as a horizontally placed item rather than the now usual vertical top-down bulb in most m/c these days.

Yep,that resonates quite strongly with me of kawasaki powered/badged engines from a few years ago both with single and double sided blade sets.If so,its worth a bit of effort to get back into service.Showing my vintage now,but there used to be loads of westmac 2/stuff about all with kawi engines,generally,they were all good hard working rigs.

I mean if you're looking for a cutting edge,excitingly ground-breaking Tomato var. for instance,you need to pore over say,3 pages of several seed merchants latest offerings.On the other hand if you're in the market for a stihl pro saw-again,you need to pore over the prices/stats,weights etc.This you cannot do online.Taint the same-at all.

You may well scoff,but its not the same,I noted that Stihl had dropped the pricing in their cats over the last couple of Years odd.But I decided that was because their headline prices were irrelevant anyway/and frightened the casual users off.Still, Engelbert Strauss still send me what seems like 40 Cats a year.Even there-I see disturbing trends creeping in-clothes for windswept gels/clobber for adventurous small persons,and some very disturbing bright/dayglo colours creeping into their ranges.

Effing hell, they're going down the same road as the seed companies.No seed,machinery,porn mags anymore-its the road to Hell.

No-I'm not from N.Wales,but perilously close.The title pertains to my annual wait for the new Stihl catalogue,my local dealer tends to get them in by late May-on a good Year. Still,one can speculate.I've seen the details/prices of the 'new' little homeowner ch.saws-boo,hiss! More of interest-will their bonkers pricing lead to the demise of the 241c-m? Will the 362 go the same way as the 441?More fuel injection/magnesium pistoned saws?Or are they SO last year. Will stihl have a Road to Damascus moment and stop selling 4 stroke stuff.Or,Throw the entire industry into turmoil and sell the World's first 60cc pro 4 stroke chainsaw! Will the cunning Devils put 2 on the end of all their chainsaw models to give us all a warm,fuzzy moment?Will they grit their teeth and match most other firm's warranty without selling a £25 tub of motomix to achieve parity The suspense is killing moi.

Not directly pertinent to the O.P's question,but I've noticed a definite dropoff of the external control handle switches.Seems to apply to my 261/441/181-all shiny thin hard plastics.One fears as with so many things-The corporate bean-counters are abroad again!

Oh dear, that looks a weak point-possible to bend or replace with similar gauge wire and re-drill/reposition end of wire into plastic housing?

My good old 038 was stamped made in W.Germany on the recoil starter housing.I notice quite a few stihl ch.saws have the powerhead marked as German built but the bars are often marked U.S.A.Presumably all the U.S.A. Pro stihl gear is made in their big V.Beach plant? And no doubt most budget items are made/assembled in China,which is fine really.The Chinese 4 stroke clone/Honda engines are a huge step up from the contempary b&s 'engines' thats for sure.And dare I say, the last gen briggs crop of chinese engines were better than their previous American ones prior to the companies sad demise 😳I await irate transatlantic replies...

Yeh,1.1 on the 170/1.3 on the 180 maybe?

True,but on paper the power difference between the 170 and 180 was virtually negligible,but in real World use the 170 was incredibly shitty but the 180 was actually quite a capable little saw 🤔

Likewise,I recently sold on a venerable 180 that did a helluva lot of work-fencing,decking,felling and processing innumerable 10-12" trees and when sold-it was totally game for more work.

It just seems a cosmetic 'upgrade', plus for the casual user more cc looks better.I can see what's in it for stihl-interchangable top covers etc in the whole range,so simplified parts supply and so on.But taking a look at the 182 for instance-its heavier than the old 181 with a miniscule hp/kw power gain. But they look good and the right branding appeals no doubt.Therefore they will sell well I think.

As an afterthought-I can't comment on the ms251,but I did have the misfortune to own the 250-it was absolute sh*te.I won't bore you with its issues,suffice to say,they were legion.Equally,I wont mention its good bits-there werent any.When I bought my 261 I lovingly tossed the 250 onto a large bonfire-hand on heart,thats the most pleasure it gave me during my period of ownership.On the other hand,I recently sold on my 2003 ms180 for £150 via ebay and it was still working like a champ.So,one never knows with these homeowner budget saws I suppose.

Its hard to look past the 261, it'll wear 14-20" bars,tho 16" is the sweet spot.Its high revving and relatively lightweight.Probably one of Stihl's best all-rounders at the mo.On the other hand,the 241 with a 15" bar would be perfect for the work outlined.The elephant in the room is how small the price differential is.Last time I looked online the 261 is around the £685 mark with a 16/18" bar.The 241 is somewhere around the £625-640 mark.So its a bit of a no-brainer to get the 261 for more power/flexibility.Also its on v.3 of the mtronic,so any issues seem to have been ironed out- not sure the smaller saw is on v.3? I'd be dubious about buying a used 261 on earlier software/without the 15 micron fuel filter tbh.The husky 550xp is an exact match for the 261 on price/power/weight etc.But I'm not sure if you need to replace the whole carb should the autotune system throw a wobbler,with the stihl,you can buy a new solenoid for £12 odd quid and at that price its good to have a spare in your kit really.If you buy a new stihl online,Radmore&Tucker take some beating on price/c.service.At my local stihl dealer last week the 261 was ticketed at £775,and the 241 at £717.So the in store 241 price is higher than the online 261! There's probably some price creep going on with the 261 given its popularity and positive reviews.

The term 'slow' is somewhat inexact in truth.Here in mid Wales which is yukky and mild historically,but far,far drier in late spring/early Summer than I'm used to these days-Yew hedges will do 6" odd,beech maybe 12" over a season,box praps 3",and I would guestimate leylandii has dropped away from 6" on the sides to more like 4" max really.I'm finding years of hedge-cutting experience now needs re-learning locally.Also trying to respect the non-cutting of hedges from 1st Mar until the end of July is somewhat different too.I'm finding privets in particular dont hugely enjoy this new regime.Instead of 1 biggish cut during late June/a lighter cut late Sept.Now they get a massive cut early Aug.This I suspect doesn't suit them.Its akin to cutting your lawn at 4" long down to 0.5" its stressy and something of a shock I suspect,but time will tell.

Like yourself I'm equally behind with my conifer hedge-cutting season due to one of the wettest periods I've endured for some years.Re:Leylandii hedges, I'm at the point of advising customers to let me do them in the Spring pre- nesting season.As thuggish as they are,a late cut can backfire due to scorching easterlies etc.Yew is a tough old subject tho.The only damage I've experienced doing them was in an extremely hot summer period when I observed some scorching after taking the top cover off.I'd evaluate the prevailing winds/local climate/exposure of the particular jobsite.Given their relatively slow rate of growth,it may be better to wait until close as you can get to the 1st of March to avoid any 'blame'.Then again,Mid Feb can well be pretty ugly in certain seasons/localities 🤔

Like yourself I'm equally behind with my conifer hedge-cutting season due to one of the wettest periods I've endured for some years.Re:Leylandii hedges, I'm at the point of advising customers to let me do them in the Spring pre- nesting season.As thuggish as they are,a late cut can backfire due to scorching easterlies etc.Yew is a tough old subject tho.The only damage I've experienced doing them was in an extremely hot summer period when I observed some scorching after taking the top cover off.I'd evaluate the prevailing winds/local climate/exposure of the particular jobsite.Given their relatively slow rate of growth,it may be better to wait until close as you can get to the 1st of March to avoid any 'blame'.Then again,Mid Feb can well be pretty ugly in certain seasons/localities 🤔

Totally agree about L&S,I tend to save up an order for lots of bits,never had any issues at all.Worth creating an account for the comprehensive exploded parts diagrams on each m/c too 👍

I try to use my local stihl dealer in Mid-Wales-Charlies,who have several stores in this region.Unfortunately, they're pretty crap tbh.No local stihl service shop its chucked on vans and goes to Newtown,same with ordering stihl parts-its commed to Newtown and often goes quiet for several weeks-or sometimes forever.Basically they're a cheap hardware chain of shops who I suspect Stihl have only appointed as dealers to 'fill a gap' in Mid-Wales.

Somewhat off-topic but I've recentltly read about amazon uk demanding police reference incidence reports for those unfortunates that open their amazon packages, and instead of finding a state of the art laptop instead find a box of kellogs cornflakes.Can you imagine the convo with the plod on the phone;re: your non-delivered item? You're going to be laffed off the phone (assuming they answer the phone),I suspect the same would apply if you report a stolen horti item-Jeez guys,they have demonstrators to arrest for God's sake.

An interesting topic and a real concern for many of us.I've taken most precautions over the years-chains on machines,chained to each other- both in a 'theft-proof' shed (yeah right) plus within my vehicle.I've also looked at these microdot/security marking subscriptions etc,etc.As other posters have pointed out, I'd trust the Police to recover stuff/have the appropriate kit to check stolen stuff as much as I'd trust a chocolate teapot-they have other agendas-preferably being parked up in a climate-controlled big unmarked volvo estate.Even in my 'secure shed' with disklocks on the door/ metal grids over the windows etc,All a thief needs is a battery drill,Battery jigsaw plus a battery grinder after he's cut a 3' square hole in the side of the shed at 3 am when I'm uneasily dreaming of wet weather,job done! My work vehicle is worth say,£7,500 tops,inside (and in the dual roofbox) I'd conservatily value the contents at £15,000.As a crude compromise I mark all my high value small horti machinery with my initials prominently-preferably on non-removeable areas via writing my initials with a sharpie,then burning them over with a red-hot scriber and remarking with a black sharpie.Hardly ideal,but its marked forever-If I see a local scroat using my gear-gotcha,If not,the plod at least has something to go on re: visuals.Also,any local pawn shops can be informed/monitored too. There is,I fear,NO ideal answer.

Should anyone be facing that eternal dilemma of 'do I need another chainsaw', there's a few stihl ms promotions at the mo.Some models are offered with the easyfile jobbie.Of more interest to me as I was looking around for the best prices for an ms181 is that via toolbritannia they were chucking in a free stihl soft chainsaw case,which is pretty decent.Internal pocket for storage and more importantly,semi rigid wipe clean internal surfaces which happily accomadates up to 18" saws/maybe the slimmer 20" models too.Suffice to say the offer tipped me over the edge and now my old friend the 180 can begin an honourable retirement/go to a deserving new home-year 2003!So it owes me nowt really.

So apart from my good Lady,these are the characters that keep me awake of a night 🤫.In order of notoriety (Bear in mind the more agricultural and annual troublemakers are excluded)1: bindweed. 2:ground elder. 3:Lesser celandine. 4:Enchanters nightshade. 5:bedstraw. 6:Bluebells. 7:Oxalis (purple leaved. 8:wood sage. 9:Wood Avens. 10:Buttercups.