Best less than 50cc saw

[Dangerous]

I don't have a 241, but have a couple of 024's, 026's and MS260's. But I believe that the best bang for the buck (and I say this at the risk of being pelted with rotten tomatoes) is the lowly and disparaged 025 or MS250. Great power to weight ratio, ubiquitous and cheap used, and parts are everywhere. The drawbacks for a father-in-law are: they are hard to pull over and they flood easily on starting. The reason they are hard to pull is that they are the largest of the series, but they have the same rope pulley diameter as the smallest (021). (German engineering isn't all it's cracked up to be) The easy flooding can be conquered by remembering no more than two pulls on choke. They are much lighter than the venerable and reliable 028's, and, once started, they will be much easier on the mature male's stamina. I use a 16" bar with 3/8LP full chisel chain. Can I get a witness?

16 inch bar and 3/8 full chisel chain are key items to a quick cutter.

 

[holeycow]

Not on a little saw it's not, imo.

 

[thill]

I know the tomatoes are coming, but I really like my little 025, and my all time fav small saw was a Homelite Ranger 33 from the mid 1990's. I got it as a cheap limb saw, but that thing would outperform the larger Timberman 45 up to a point, and many other larger saws. I'd have to put them side by side, but I think it might even take out the 025 too, in speed and definitely in lightness, but that would be an interesting contest. That was a "magic saw" for me that nothing else has ever quite replaced.

In fact, this makes me want to go dig it out, go through the carb and see if I can bring her back to life.

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

I know the tomatoes are coming, but I really like my little 025, and my all time fav small saw was a Homelite Ranger 33 from the mid 1990's. I got it as a cheap limb saw, but that thing would outperform the larger Timberman 45 up to a point, and many other larger saws. I'd have to put them side by side, but I think it might even take out the 025 too, in speed and definitely in lightness, but that would be an interesting contest. That was a "magic saw" for me that nothing else has ever quite replaced.

In fact, this makes me want to go dig it out, go through the carb and see if I can bring her back to life.

You should absolutely bring it back to life.

 

[thill]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll try to do just that.

I tried about 5 years ago, but if I recall, stuff was crumbling inside the carb. I tried to get parts or a replacement carb from Homelite, but they wanted crazy money. More for the carb than the whole saw. I cobbled the pieces together, tuned it as well as I could, and the saw ran strong for about 5 minutes. Made me remember why I loved it. Then it shut down and that was it.

So I need to see if I can find the parts or a carb that will fit. Hopefully, it will run just as well as it used to. I have three big oaks down and I would love to use that saw to limb with.

 

[KASH]

Get her running recapture your youth and tell us all about it.
Kash

 

[JTM]

I realize you are the original poster but that discussion should not be in a thread titled the way this one is. I have one and have commented elsewhere, could do so some more. The guy who suggested the MS200 or 201 might be on to something. I tried out the Husky 540 top handle gasoline saw lately it worked quite well and I tried restarting it half a dozen times and it was flawless.

Have no idea what you are talking about. I am not looking for 50cc. I’m looking for “less than 50cc “. Is it because I asked the question about the echo model?

 

[thill]

Get her running recapture your youth and tell us all about it.
Kash

Found what I think is the right carb on Amazon. From the reviews, it looks like I may need to modify the carb, but that's okay. If it's close enough, I'll just use the parts in my original carb body. If not, I'll modify it as needed.

It's supposed to come on Tuesday, and although it's silly, I'm getting excited about using her again. In the meantime, I need to pull the chain and see whether I can sharpen or whether it's better to buy a couple of new ones. I have 3 big oaks to limb up. plus a lot of other work.

 

[thill]

I don't have a 241, but have a couple of 024's, 026's and MS260's. But I believe that the best bang for the buck (and I say this at the risk of being pelted with rotten tomatoes) is the lowly and disparaged 025 or MS250. Great power to weight ratio, ubiquitous and cheap used, and parts are everywhere. The drawbacks for a father-in-law are: they are hard to pull over and they flood easily on starting. The reason they are hard to pull is that they are the largest of the series, but they have the same rope pulley diameter as the smallest (021). (German engineering isn't all it's cracked up to be) The easy flooding can be conquered by remembering no more than two pulls on choke. They are much lighter than the venerable and reliable 028's, and, once started, they will be much easier on the mature male's stamina. I use a 16" bar with 3/8LP full chisel chain. Can I get a witness?

I have an 025 that has been solid, but not spectacular. I recently upgraded chains to a full-chisel, commercial chain and WOW, what a difference! It's like a completely different saw.

I may need to pull out the Homelite Ranger 33 and have a contest. I bought a carb for it a couple of years ago, but haven't run it, as I didn't want to run fuel through it right at the end of the season, and then I kind of forgot about it.

It will get plenty of use now. I have 6 trees on the property that need to go, all of them over 60', and one about 80. The limbs on that giant one are as big as a lot of trees in the area. Once I get all my saws running 100% I'll jump on this backlog of work and I'll post the results.