Meticulous Chainsaw Maintenance

Jomo

TreeHouser
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Jan 31, 2014
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Can't help but be curious as to whether any other commercial chainsaw wielder's in this industry are as anal about chainsaw maintenance as I've been for the last four decades?

In other words every time I fuel my saw, I blowout my air cleaner,
It's surroundings and the fuel caps, as well as sharpening the chain by hand, be it just a few swipes to stat razor sharp, or four or five if shiny dull.

IME the very first maintenance item after running out of fuel on the ground is sharpening the chain.
Why you ask? Because a hot chain's more malleable to a sharp file than a cold chain by a considerable factor.

Funny that I only wear gloves sharpening hot chain, but not cold chains.

I read many threads where pro loggers only get a few years out of their professional grade saw's, whereas I myself got a decade of use out of an old 032, and two decades of use from from two 365 husky's runnin to this very day on original pistons n rings!

Costs me a lot of money for compressed CO2 in my tooltruck to be so meticulous, but my saw's apparently love it!

I've been runnin racin gas at 110 octane with Stihl's silver bottle synthetic mix for the last five years and all my old saw's love it, along with my new 461.

Any other meticulous old farts out there?

Jomo
 
Wow, that is anal @Jomo, but if it works for you that's great! What's up with the compressed CO2? A normal air compressor does just fine for me?
 
Have two tanks for Keg Refrigerator .... way way too meticulous for me. Fuel when empty , file when dull , when chain is done service the bar before the new one goes on ...
 
Indoor weed growers use CO2. I clean around oil and gas caps on some saws before filling. Poor cap design. When cutting dead wood they end up with a bunch of fine dust collected. Check chain tension. That's it on fill ups.
 
Is say a “pro logger” would put far more hours on a saw than an arborist. That alone would mean a vast difference in longevity.

I blow out the air filter on my 200T once a week (primary). I’ll blow out the back up about once a month if/when it’s used. Bigger saws once a month or as needed.
 
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I’m not as meticulous as some, but I keep the air filter clean and I do not tolerate dull chains.

That’s awesome about sharpening hot chain vs cold chain! Never thought about it, but makes sense to me.
 
I never blow anything. Brush it off. Air filter gets brushed with a toothbrush or banged on a surface depending on style.
 
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  • #15
Actually livin at a tree boneyard now has me cuttin n quarterin on the ground now more than ever.

I'm not a full throttle firewood cutter, as long as the chain's razor sharp n pullin well, I'm content to just truck along at 3/4 throttle.

Bar dressing tools are an absolute must now.

Without compressed air to vacate all the sclurge that builds up on the engine n cases?

My saws would weigh more n run hotter, like the saws brought to me for crank seal replacement etc.

Jomo
 
I run a 395XP, so I never even look at the air cleaner. Keeping an eye on the flywheel and cooling fins is important on the 395, as that's where the junk that doesn't make it to the air filter ends up. I scrape out the clutch cover a bit if it's off. Unless I've hit something, I hit each cutter three times, and a swipe in the gullet, as needed.
 
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  • #17
My 394XP's still truckin along on the original piston n rings after 25 years, a real work horse with lots of low end grunt.

A bit heavy to throw around all day though.

The 461's my go to saw now, givin the old 365 twins a well deserved rest!

Jomo
 
I would absolutely hate to get two decades of use out of a saw.

That would mean I would miss out on all the improvements on newer saws.

Like I would have had to wait till 2040 to get a 500i.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #19
The only M-Tronic saw I run's an MS201 for work aloft, and it's been good so far.

At least the friggin muffler hasn't rattled loose yet anyway!

Jomo
 
So far I’m extremely pleased with my M-tronic saws. The MS201TC, MS241C, and MS441C.

I’ll probably be getting the MS261C and MS362C soon. I like 50cc and 60cc saws a lot. I have a normal carb MS362, it’s really nice, but I’m digging the M-tronics.
 
I couldn’t afford to blow out the air filter and surroundings and sharpen the chain every time I fuel up. That would add up considerably over a busy day.
 
So far I’m extremely pleased with my M-tronic saws. The MS201TC, MS241C, and MS441C.

I’ll probably be getting the MS261C and MS362C soon. I like 50cc and 60cc saws a lot. I have a normal carb MS362, it’s really nice, but I’m digging the M-tronics.

Same here, and I probably put more hours on saws yearly than most members.
Bear in mind that I started logging in -76 , I have simply not a single bit of nostalgia for saws of past time.
You can keep those, Jomo, I like the new stuff.

I can log Beech for 4 straight 10 hour days with the 500i, then blow the filter on friday, and it'll be ready to kill trees again after the weekend.

I run a professional logging show, where we cut to scale, not some sort of chainsaw version of Pebble Beach.
 
So far I’m extremely pleased with my M-tronic saws. The MS201TC, MS241C, and MS441C.

I’ll probably be getting the MS261C and MS362C soon. I like 50cc and 60cc saws a lot. I have a normal carb MS362, it’s really nice, but I’m digging the M-tronics.
60cc is kind of a weird size. A 362cm was my first pro saw, and just about suited me perfectly when I got it, but if I could do it all over, I'd skip it, and go from a 261 to a 462 in size jump. I like about 20cc difference between my saws.
 
I blow off the 201 at virtually every fuel up. Saw seems to love it, it still runs like new after, idk, 2 or 3 years and loads of daily use. I blow off my husky every day or so but as other's have noted above, huskys don't tend to generate much if any internal dust.

When the bucket truck has to sit and regen at high idle for 15-20 minutes once every 3 weeks, I blow off the chipper engine and air cleaner, the kubota engine, the terex engine and anything else that need it.

You'd have to shoot me to get me to file a chain OTJ. I just grab another sharp saw if I hit some metal etc. and I file at home at night at my leisure.

I run a professional tree service, where we compete against lots of all-cash/cut throat outfits, everything has to run more or less perfectly to win the bids and then get the jobs done at a profit and usually wrap up at about 1pm most days.
 
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  • #25
Admittedly I'm a semi-retired old fart now, but surprisingly I burn more mix now than when I worked six days a week.

I paid 1100.00 bucks for my 461, so takin meticulous measures with it's justified. I'm amazed how much dust just one tank of mix deposits in the air cleaner, dang near a handful!

Luckily I can afford to be old n set in my ways.

Friggin 500 I costs 2 grand here!

Jomo
 
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