Craftsman 3.7PS question

[sawjo]

I just put together an older Sears 3.7 PS. This is the teal and white Homey like saw made by Roper. I did fuel line and carb kit and general clean up. First start last night - It popped on one try with the choke and then roared to life on the second pull. Problem is its running alittle too fast. I have the L screw out almost 2 turns and no idle screw contact and its barreling away enough to turn the chain at a good clip. I suspect there is an air leak. Is it possible for a compression release valve to be the culpret? This saw has a spring loaded one sticking straight out the top of the jug but I removed the linkage from the trigger switch.

 

[zart1953]

Sears 3.7

I just bought o newer model of the old Roper 3.7 Barracuda, red. I have two thoughts to offer. 1) If the compression release valve is leaking, you could feel it when you pull the rope when it's not running and you will hear the hiss, and it won't feel like it has very good compression. 2) If it's an air leak, take a can of WD40 and spray around the areas where you might suspect a leak. If the speed changes where you spray it, you found the leak.

Good Luck
Art

 

[Scooterbum]

Check around the throttle plate for excessive play.
I just did an old Husky that had half of the shaft for the throttle plate completely worn away and the hole in the carb body was egg shaped..I'll see if I can post some pictures later.
This one drove me up a wall for awhile.It would not idle down for nothing.
I ended up taking 3 carbs to make one good one.

 

[Drive_1305]

Im wanting a cheap 60cc saw to play with and I keep reading here that the old Ropers are pretty good saws. I see several of the ones like in Zart's post above (post#2 ) on ebay. I keep wanting one of them thinking they have some vib control. Are these the Roper 3.7's that you guys say are pretty good or is it the ones that look more like an old Homey saw? I assume these are the newer of the two models. Wonder if you can still get parts like carb kit and air filter? I read in one post that the carb was a Nikki or something like that- I don't see many parts listed for those.

http://www.mfgsupply.com/ChainSaw.html has some filters, but I don't know which type of Roper its for- the newer or the older.


Thanks!

 

[stihl 440]

ring

Anybody have a piston ring for a craftsman(roper) 3.7cu in (60.6cc)? I need one, tore mine apart and found a broken ring.

 

[Gravely Grinch]

Im wanting a cheap 60cc saw to play with and I keep reading here that the old Ropers are pretty good saws. I see several of the ones like in Zart's post above (post#2 ) on ebay. I keep wanting one of them thinking they have some vib control. Are these the Roper 3.7's that you guys say are pretty good or is it the ones that look more like an old Homey saw? I assume these are the newer of the two models. Wonder if you can still get parts like carb kit and air filter? I read in one post that the carb was a Nikki or something like that- I don't see many parts listed for those.

http://www.mfgsupply.com/ChainSaw.html has some filters, but I don't know which type of Roper its for- the newer or the older.


Thanks!

The top filter #39-3114 fits my saws, they are the Homey knock-offs. I have no idea what the other filter fits. They're actually pretty tough little saws, I put alotta time on one when I was a kid. No AV at all on mine. Both of mine have HS Tilly carbs on them, parts are not a problem.

 

[zart1953]

Roper 3.7PS

I wanted to tell Drive 1305 that the ROPER 3.7 is an all-metal 57cc saw that came with and without the power sharpener. It has vibration isolators, but no chain brake, just a hand guard. It's a red woodchucker! All you have to do for the PS unit is buy a conventional chain to get it up to snuff, no other modification. I just watched another one that looked lightly used go for $50.00 on eBay because it was advertised as a parts saw (had no bar). They come around from time-to-time, but if you are lucky like I was, you can find one that has spent the last few years collecting dust for around $50.00. Good luck shopping.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Im wanting a cheap 60cc saw to play with and I keep reading here that the old Ropers are pretty good saws. I see several of the ones like in Zart's post above (post#2 ) on ebay.

Thanks!

Drive, you have a PM.

 

[ericjeeper]

as for the High idle

you say the screw is not touching. I had mine apart this fall to clean carb.I noticed going back together, that I had bent the linkage(what a nightmare). make sure it is not something as simple as bent linkage holding the carb open

 

[zart1953]

Good Old Craftasman 3.7 Saw

Driver 1305,
You can still find these aws around. There is one on eBay that sounds like it is in good shape with 137 lb compression advertised. You should take a look:

craftsman 3.7 18" chainsaw new chain, Item number: 230096585313

http://cgi.ebay.com/craftsman-3-7-1...ryZ20538QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Art

 

[Drive_1305]

One guy here sent me a pm about a saw he had. I thought about contacting him but then decided I don't need to spend the money. Then I saw one on ebay a few days later and put in a bid an won it. That's been a week ago but haven't heard anything from the seller yet. Maybe I'll get it in a few days. Doesn't look bad-hope its a good one.

 

[zart1953]

eBay Purchase 3.7PS

Drive 1305,
Let me know how it goes with your eBay purchase. I lucked out myself. I only had to clean up the saw and buy an 18" 74DL square chisel chain. My mochine is ready to rock & roll now. I hope your project goes as well. I bought the chain on eBay at the following link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150091504900
0.325" - 0.050" Saw Chain Full Chisel 74 link 18 inch

Good Luck

Art

 

[Drive_1305]

I didn't have too good of luck. It cranks and runs pretty good, but the piston is scored. The bar cover and cases are busted some but still useable and the bar is wavy. I learned a good lesson- ask a lot of questions about the condition of a saw and ask them to pull the muffler and check p&c. I didn't spend much , $30 including shipping. I doubt the seller even knew about the piston, probably just checked the compression by pulling on the rope-said it had compression and it fired off with gas in the carb.

I feel bad for some of the guys I've been reading about. They spend several hundred $$ and get bad saws. I'll ask a lot of questions from now on even for cheap saws.

I should of bought from the guy here, but it just seemed like more fun buying a saw that "I thought" just needed cleaning up and tuning.

 

[zart1953]

3.7ps

Hey Drive 1305,
I'm sure you're bummed. When I had my 3.7PS & poulan 46cc saws stolen, I thought I got a good deal on a PoulanPro 330. It looked good in the pictures, but when I got it, it was hard to start and had fairly low compression and a mildly scored piston/cylinder. When I tore it down, it only has one ring (pro??) and the ring had a 1/4" piece missing and the cylinder had a 1/4" ridge in it. I think it came from the factory that way! I have tried to rebuild it, but after putting in a new ring and another "used cylinder", I am still not getting good compression. At this point I am cutting my losses.

I lucked out with the 3.7PS I found because it wasn't running and consequently went for cheap. The problem was a fouled plug. Although the saw was pretty gunked up inside and out, all indications are that it wasn't used, or abused considering it's age. I have a total of $65.00 into it at this point.

There are still some good 3.7PS saws coming up on eBay, but none right now. You might stumble across another one for cheap and have a donor from your first purchase. Good Luck.

Art

 

[zart1953]

3.7ps

The NorEaster caused some storm damage this week and blew down two trees in my front yard. I fired up my 25+ year old craftsman 3.7 and it just purred. It doesn't have a primer like the newer saws, but the compression release made it a breeze to start. After buying it on eBay and cleaning it up from top to bottom, I only had a minor problem with the oiler. It must have been a bit clogged because the chain got dry, but unlike the newer saws, I pumped the manula oiler and the chain loosened right up and ran fine for the rest of the clean-up. I guess it took some time for the sludge to pass through the oiler and open up for the fresh stuff. The funny thing is that after all of the cutting I did, the chain tension was just fine and the saw didn't even break a sweat. It still has the original plug that I just cleaned up on a grinder with a wire brush. I couldn't be happier!

Art:biggrinbounce2:

 

[sawjo]

I found out why the overspeed. The oiler is linked to the trigger to "automatically oil through the manual oil pump". It looks like when the saw is triggered, it activates the manual oil pump . Anyways, thats what was hanging up the throttle.