New pal in the garden and beyond

[Tubetec]

The weathers picked up here so seemed like a good time to service the few machines I have .
I had been running an electric chainsaw in the garden a few years , it wouldnt have seen much use really , wasnt worth the trouble in the end as it was prone to loosening and throwing off the chain .
I had an older Stihl 026 given to me by a family friend about 20 years ago but never used  , I decided to dig it out . I made the usual 50:1 mix of petrol/oil , added some chain lube to the reservoir , would you believe in two or three pulls of the cord she started right up , and happily idled with a small adjustment of the 'L' screw on the carb . Even the chain lube pump was doing its thing , I traced a small petrol leakage to a broken seal on the fuel filler cap, luckily a Lidl selection box of washers provided the perfect replacement .Gave the whole thing a good clean , including the air box and filter which was completely choked with debris  , at that stage I could return the 'L' screw to its original position . Despite sitting caked in oil and saw dust nearly 20 years ,this thing is running like new . I didnt actually cut anything with it yet , as Im still cleaning and checking  it over .

It seems like the Chinese are producing spares for many small engines now , an entire range of aftermarket parts are available for many small engines , it makes repairs feasible , where oem parts wouldnt be economic . A new carb for my honda weed eater would be 40-50 euros easily , about 5 euros gets me a brand new knock off .
Even major surgery like engine rebuilds, new  piston rings and cylnder might cost less than 50 in parts for small two stroke or lawn mower motor .

 

[JohnRoberts]

I just spent about a week in my yard (garden?) making sawdust with my stihl... Not as old as yours and has some newer safety features  like an automatic chain brake for kick back situations. Nice saws...

JR

 

[Tubetec]

Garden or yard ,same thing here really .
I am impressed with the anti vibration mountings on the Stihl , makes it nice to use
I see even older Stihl chainsaws seem to hold their value well , mines probably 30 years old now , and still worth 200-300 euros,
which isnt far off the price of a new unit.
I might place an order to China for carb kits and extra consumable bits for all my machines , just so I have them on hand next time theres an issue I wont have to wait . There isnt a huge difference between old and new models as far as I can see , the old 026 I have shares many of the same parts as the current  MS260 , 30 odd years later , Its a sign of great design and engineering .
Might try a little tree surgery this afternoon .

(a new piston ,cylinder ,rings  kit I found online for $11.99, not $50,  so probably $20-30  in parts and a couple of hours work ,you could give anything worth while a full top end rebuild and new carb .

 

[JohnRoberts]

The opposite of that would be my old Poulon (POS) chain saw... besides ethanol dissolving all the fuel lines, I replaced pretty much every part that was replaceable (including a new carb, after rebuilding the old one didn't fix it). I eventually gave up and took it to my small engine repair guy ( older than me) and even he couldn't fix it. My suspicion is that it has a crankcase air leak that prevented it from pulling fuel/charge reliably. I gave it to my repair guy so he could harvest all the new parts from it that I replaced.  :

I bought a new stihl a few years ago and love it... Night and day better saw.

JR

PS I have heard horror stories about chinese carburetors from my small engine whisperer (missing internal passages?), but I've had mostly good experience using them (except for my Poulon that probably had more than the carb wrong with it).  IIRC the Poulon went squirrelly after overheating while running too lean, supporting my theory of an air leak.

 

[alexc]

Stihl is the biz down here too. 

My garden pal, a much used Rover 'well powered' medium duty type of petrol push mower, was doing great - until it gave up the ghost .. for now ...  the rear wheel came off   

Admittedly I do all kinds of field mow tasks, way beyond the manufacturers guidelines.

Anyway, next I'm going for something more in the 'pro' range at the local Stihl shop.

Perhaps I'll fix my current one some day, but spares are not really feasible (or available) and I don't have a welding setup.

Every day, the grass gets longer!

 

[Tubetec]

Did a huge teardown and clean of my saw yesterday , lots of nooks and crannies full of oil and saw dust .
Found some suspect wire insulation , silicone and fibre  worn away on the spark/run/stop  leads , glad I caught it before it became an issue . A very small leak remains in the fuel tank , trouble is the frame of the saw and the fuel tank are integrated so Id have to rebuild the entire saw to replace that part , I might chance draining the fuel and allow some two part epoxy to flow inside the the tank to seal the hairline crack .

'Dont stand still to long 'as we say here ,' you'll find the grass growing under your feet '