# Got a 048 from a friend



## Dieselshawn

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Just picked up this old 048 stihl today from a farmer buddy of mine. It needs a major cleaning job all over but he said it ran before it was put on shelf several years ago. Now he bought a newer stihl and has no need for this anymore so he passed it to me to play with and add to my saw collection. 

Once it's all cleaned up, hopefully it'll run good. Pulling the rope feels like good compression. One wire needs fixing for the off switch, the carb likely needs cleaning and fresh gas/oil mix. 

I'm told this saw is obsolete but hopefully I can still use it for a good mild work saw and maybe still find some used parts out there for spares. 

any pros or cons to this model of saws?


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## Naked Arborist

That one looks to be in good shape. I have 4 of them with two needing top ends. I'd pull the whole saw down because top ends are hard to find! At the very least run a pressure/vac test on the power head. Make sure it is right before using it. Make sure all the bolts are tight on the block. You can still buy the serviceable parts except for the air filters. They have a ton of torque. It falls in the 042 or 048 family.


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## Dieselshawn

Naked Arborist: Sorry for the late reply, been busy with many different jobs and have only started coming back on Arboristsite.

The 048 has been stripped down and cleaned. It looked dirty on the outside but under the covers was a different story.

The saw was used to cut hay bales into pieces and hay was everywhere under the covers. The hay also has acid in it and it ate parts of the magnesium casing away.

I've cleaned and scrubbed this saw down, using JB kwik weld and JB weld to repair, fill, and smooth the gaps over. 

The cover for the oil pump has been eaten through as well and the hay got inside. I'll use the kwik weld to fill the holes back up and smooth everything out again. my saw repair shop friend has another gear to replace the bad gear from a different parts saw.

The crank case has allen head bolts holding them together.

I'll be posting pics of the progress.


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## Naked Arborist

I'd like to see it running  Makes me want to pull out one of mine just cut a few peices of firewood with it. She got some grunt for an ol girl.


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## Dieselshawn

Naked Arborist: me too, Been working on it in spare time. have only seen it run once. 

Since you have one, can you get a pic of the muffler for me? It's rotted off on the cover and I can rebuild it as I've been a custom muffler builder for 12 years. Need to see where the factory exhaust exit and size of it.

thanks


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## Naked Arborist

Trust me your not missing nothing there lol. You can still buy them brand new AM. If you build exhaust just pipe it up. That saw could benefit from some good exhaust flow compared to stock. The primary pipe is #### imo. Take a real good look at it and you will agree I think.


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## Dieselshawn

Naked arborist: it's very easy to see. The saw has been running for awhile with basically about the whole front cover rotted out. I can see the elbow that directs the exhaust down. 

So just toss the muffler and put what on?


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## Naked Arborist

I mean to change the whole pipe. I'll get you a pic this week. The pipe is way whacked for any good top end flow. It has poor shaping. It kills the top end RPM's. The saw is no screamer by any means but a good port cleanup and a nice pipe would really wake one up IMO. The cover has louvers in it at mid point. Nothing special there.


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## Dieselshawn

Since I wanted to port it anyways to make it a good runner, what do you suggest? 

Looking forward to your pic of the muffler.


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## Naked Arborist

Dieselshawn said:


> Since I wanted to port it anyways to make it a good runner, what do you suggest?
> 
> Looking forward to your pic of the muffler.



Too much crap there and weight. Pipe it. Rectangular port to a large 90 degree chamber. You got all the room in the world up front there to dump it straight out the bottom as a rectangle.


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