Stihl 026 -- Red master control lever?!?

[brages]

Hi folks.

One of the Stihl 026's I picked up recently has a red master control lever, instead of black (the other 026 has a black lever). Anyone else seen this? What does the red lever signify? A redesign? A recall? :monkey:

 

[ms290]

seen it a time or two but as far is i care it means run it harder.

 

[Tzed250]

.


MCL's used to be red, now they are black. My early 026 had a red MCL.


.

 

[brages]

I think my other 026 with the black lever is actually older, though.

 

[Tzed250]

I think my other 026 with the black lever is actually older, though.

YMMV.

The serial numbers will tell...


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[Steveo_supremo]

This is just a theory and I may be totally wrong, but I think that the German made 026's had a black MCL and the USA made units had the red MCL.

 

[brages]

I'll have to check on that too -- I think the black lever one says "Made in USA" on the recoil cover, but I could be wrong or it could have been swapped.

 

[devonhubb]

 

[Tzed250]

Red Bird 026...

 

[Racerboy832]

I have a 025 and 021 that have the same red lever. The other odd thing is these are the same ones that the Orange is really brite like neon orange. All my other Stihls are darker orange.

 

[SawTroll]

My German MS361 has a black one, as did all other Stihls I can remember having seen the last few years........

 

[devonhubb]

Red Bird 026...

Went to Red Bird Supply yesterday to get some parts. The old fella is not doing very well. He said that he about died from some kind of infection a few weeks ago and is slowly recovering. He doesn't appear to have much gumption.

He said he still has a few 024 & 026's left....

 

[albert]

I had 2 026's with the red control. I have a 036 I bought new in 92 0r 93 with a red control. I have a friend with a 034 with a red one also. Thats what color they came with around 1993. I don't know if any other models came with the red control.

 

[brages]

All I have been able to figure out is that there are a lot of variations on the 026 over the years:


Handle: plastic vs. aluminum
Gas tank: white vs. clear
Control lever: red vs. black
Carb: fully adjustable vs. no "H" screw vs. Intellicarb
Air filter cover: knob vs flipper
Filler caps: close knurl vs. wide knurl
Top cover: smooth flat vs. plugged decomp hole
Top cover badge: riveted vs. glued-on
Starter cover badge: riveted vs. glued-on
Clutch cover: metal vs. plastic
Bore dia: 44mm vs. 44.7mm (?)

:help:


what have I missed?

Former AS member "windthrown" had a post on another forum showing some of the changes... google "windthrown 026" and it should be the first hit if interested...

 

[Tzed250]

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My early '90s 044 (Germany) has a red MCL.

.

 

[Showme]

My older serial #220xxxxxxx has black, serial #223xxxxxxxx has red, both of these have the riveted badges and say made in Virginia Beach.