couple of newbie questions about a Stihl Ms 261 chainsaw

[H 2 H]

261 will get stronger yet

Just wait till you get a dozen tanks thru it and when you get two dozen thru it then you'll know what that saw really has

Then when you mod the muffler (MM) it will get even stronger :msp_wink:

Have you tuned a saw before

[video=youtube;5BZkB9QQTJU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BZkB9QQTJU[/video]

 

[phillipmc]

Thanks on all the tips guys. What's the reason behind semi-chisel for dirty conditions?

On the carb adustment, the dealer didn't mention anything about that. The saw sounds okay to me but I'm no expert. I guess I should get it checked out, but annoying that the dealer didn't mention it. I thought one of the points of buying a Stihl was having a good dealer close by.

I must say I had a hard time keeping the revs down on the first three tanks of gas (break-in). The saw is just raring to go, and before I knew it I had it totally opened up. Can't imagine that's too much of a risk, but if the carb wasn't set right.... hmmm.

Always run the saw wide open in the cut. If you are cutting wood have the trigger pinned b***s to the wall. And dont run it wide open free spinning. The engine is designed to run wide open under load its where the air/fuel mixture is set for best performance and lubrication of the internals. As far as free spinning goes you wouldn't run your car engine wide open in park would you ?

 

[lonetoe]

Yep. Just checked the owners manual. Here's what it says -- A factory new machine should not be run at high revs (full throttle off load) for the first three tank fillings. I missed the "off load" part. I had always learned you run a saw full throttle in the cut so this makes a lot more sense now. Frankly, I'm not sure why you would run your saw at full throttle off load at any time? No worries because as I said, I found myself running it full throttle in the cut despite my initial attempts to avoid it.

I have tuned a saw before, but not sure I'm very good at it. Mostly I've adjusted the idle. Fiddled with the other screws on and older saw my Dad had to keep it from stalling out -- was able to get that to work. How do you know if it's running lean? I thought common wisdom was that saws come from the factory set a little rich to avoid engine damage?

 

[indiansprings]

Congratualtions and welcome to the site, you own one of the finest saws on the market today. We run two of them with 18" set ups, give the saw 15-20 tanks and it will really wake up. It's become about my favorite saw to run and I've owned and had a lot of run time on saws over the past 30+ years. You will learn you just have to ignore Stihl haters like Saw Troll, it is so dang rude and childish to bash another man's purchase, there are many quality saws on the market by all major saw manafactuers. The 261 has proven itself in our firewood operation to be a very reliable and rock solid platform and it takes a backseat to no one on build quality, air filteration and overall performance.
Feed it 91 octance (non ethanol if you can get it) Stihl Ultra at 50:1, keep your air filter clean and you'll be posting about running it 15-20+ years from now. New saw rep sent!

 

[dbittle]

Congratualtions and welcome to the site, you own one of the finest saws on the market today. We run two of them with 18" set ups, give the saw 15-20 tanks and it will really wake up. It's become about my favorite saw to run and I've owned and had a lot of run time on saws over the past 30+ years. You will learn you just have to ignore Stihl haters like Saw Troll, it is so dang rude and childish to bash another man's purchase, there are many quality saws on the market by all major saw manafactuers. The 261 has proven itself in our firewood operation to be a very reliable and rock solid platform and it takes a backseat to no one on build quality, air filteration and overall performance.
Feed it 91 octance (non ethanol if you can get it) Stihl Ultra at 50:1, keep your air filter clean and you'll be posting about running it 15-20+ years from now. New saw rep sent!

+1 on all of the above. Also, you might consider buying a small tachometer (I think Northwood Saws has a fast tach for about $80) so you can set the engine speed. As was mentioned, most of these saws come set pretty lean for emissions reasons and could stand 3/4 of a turn richer on the high speed carb screw. There are a couple of threads on how to re-set the carb without modifying anything and creating a warranty issue.