General consensus - Stihl MS361 with 24" bar

[John Lyngdal]

My lightly modified MS361 has a 25" Stihl light bar on it and it's nicely balanced.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I have a 20 on my 361 but then again I put a 20 on anything bigger than 50cc. On the 50cc I put an 18. I sold all my really big saws since I quit using them..

 

[bwalker]

In hardwoods no 60cc saw will pull a 24" burried in the wood with any sort of authority.
The 361 is a turd stock until you gut the muffler. It runs much better after.
In western softwood a 361 is workable with a 24",but even then I prefer skip chain on a stock muffler modded 361.
A ported 361 by @huskihl will pull a 24" bar with authority in both soft and hardwood if you have good chain sharpening skills.

 

[bwalker]

My lightly modified MS361 has a 25" Stihl light bar on it and it's nicely balanced.

It is indeed.

 

[pining_fir_yew]

Don't ever, ever trust, that someone, says he knows what he is doing, if you are the one standing near the damn tree doing the important work.

thankfully you walked away unharmed! Jeez..

 

[Skeena2]

I ran a 28” bar on my 034 super with a ship tooth chain. It worked well on pnw old growth. It worked well even milling. The same 28” bar is now on my 261 and works great there.

Sacrificing a bar for ergonomics is a trade off I’d make any day of cutting. Insufficient oiling will eventually wreck a bar. But it’s one of the easiest items to change out on any chainsaw.

My family moved from Rolds two generations ago.

 

[MartDalb]

thankfully you walked away unharmed! Jeez..

Yeah got myself a drink that nite.

 

[MartDalb]

In hardwoods no 60cc saw will pull a 24" burried in the wood with any sort of authority.
The 361 is a turd stock until you gut the muffler. It runs much better after.
In western softwood a 361 is workable with a 24",but even then I prefer skip chain on a stock muffler modded 361.
A ported 361 by @huskihl will pull a 24" bar with authority in both soft and hardwood if you have good chain sharpening skills.

My 361 is stock, I don't work in mods or know anyone here that does that.
I do repair and fix my own saws though, every inch.

It's sorta rare actually here, in Denmark, that people do mods etc, afaik. anyway.

So you would suggest sticking to a 20" Light bar - I can't not go ES light bar, those pictures of these saws makes me drool

 

[pgguy2021]

Locally we make a landing or spot where we buck up fire wood with some soft wood on the ground to hold the fire wood up off the ground.
This does a couple things, it keeps you out of the dirt and lets you stand up straighter with a short bar on the saw.
I never see anyone with a bar over 20 inch locally but online everyone and their dog has a 28 or 32.

I asked a couple of youtubers how they gather up the wood after they buck the tree up where it lands but never get answers, they're just doing it to make videos lol. The whole stand up and buck thing is bs, just get the wood up off the ground.

To say bs is like saying your situation is what everyone else's situation is. Standing up to buck is never ever a bad thing. Less back strain, keeps you farther away from a potential kick back, allows for a different way to run a saw.

 

[pgguy2021]

I ran a 28” bar on my 034 super with a ship tooth chain. It worked well on pnw old growth. It worked well even milling. The same 28” bar is now on my 261 and works great there.

Sacrificing a bar for ergonomics is a trade off I’d make any day of cutting. Insufficient oiling will eventually wreck a bar. But it’s one of the easiest items to change out on any chainsaw.

My family moved from Rolds two generations ago.

25 inch on a 261cm will oil good. Oil runs out right about same time fuel does

 

[Wood Doctor]

I've used either a 24" or 28" bar on my 361 (I forget right now) but used a skip chain on it. Worked fine the few times I used it. (I normally use a 20" bar on the 361 which feels about perfect to me.)

My 361 has never oiled worth a crap (even after 2 oil pumps replaced under warranty) so YMMV.

And, when you upgrade a Stihl MS 361 with a 20" bar to a 24' bar you will find out that it will not oil the bar as you hoped that it would. The power might be sufficient but the oiler cannot handle the bigger bar and chain as it should. My solution was to buy an MS 440. That worked.

 

[bwalker]

And, when you upgrade a Stihl MS 361 with a 20" bar to a 24' bar you will find out that it will not oil the bar as you hoped that it would. The power might be sufficient but the oiler cannot handle the bigger bar and chain as it should. My solution was to buy an MS 440. That worked.

You can upgrade the oiler to a Ms460R oiler and have all the oil you would ever want.

 

[Wood Doctor]

You can upgrade the oiler to a Ms460R oiler and have all the oil you would ever want.

Rather amazing that Stihl never notified me of that possibility. I bought the saw brand new in the spring of 2007:

 

[bwalker]

Rather amazing that Stihl never notified me of that possibility. I bought the saw brand new in the spring of 2007:
View attachment 1205747

There was a thread only this site the let it be known, although not from Stihl.
The 361 was kind of the start of stingy oilers from Stihl and it's still going on until this day. My 400c wears a 460R oiler as it sucked even with a 20" bar.
Here was my last 361 I bought in 2019 I believe. The previous 361 was purchased around 04.

 

[Del_]

Rather amazing that Stihl never notified me of that possibility. I bought the saw brand new in the spring of 2007:
View attachment 1205747

It might be considered an emissions modification.