I picked up an 064 a few weeks ago. It's mainly going to be used for noodling. I have a few bigger trees that I'll use it on also, but I cut mostly downed trees and I do most of my bucking with an 036. Anyway, I have 3 or 4 cord of black locust already bucked from this spring. It averages about 20" across. I took the saws out Friday to do some noodling and get a load hauled in so that I can get it sprayed for the bugs. Here's where things started going wrong.
I gassed up the 064, and filled the oil. I had noticed at home that there was a little bit of oil on the shop floor where the saw had been sitting, but I didn't think much of it. When I noodle, I set one end of the wood up on a 4x4 or a smaller piece so that I'm cutting at a slight angle to keep the noodles short. I set up the first two pieces laying on a 3' piece of 4x4 that I had in the truck. I basically cut an X most of the way through the wood so that I can hit it once with an axe, and have two pieces, and then hit each of those once and have a total of 4 pieces from each chunk. I made the first cut on both chunks and then set the saw down. I noticed that the idle must be set a bit high, because the chain would not stop. I set it on a piece of wood, and the chain stopped, but when I picked it up again, it took off spinning. I figured I would adjust it later. I set it back down with the bar on a piece of wood and rotated the two chunks 90 degrees so that I could make the second cuts. After making the second cut on the first chunk I noticed that the bar was starting to smoke. I completed the second cut on both chunks, and the bar/chain was smoking pretty good. So, I shut the saw down, picked up the axe and busted the chunks up. I pulled the 036 out and noodled 3 or 4 chunks with it. Much slower, but no smoke. I loaded the firewood, and checked on the 064. It had cooled down. I checked my oil, it had a slight cream color to it which I thought was odd. I later checked, and the bottle (old detergent bottle) looked the same way. I'm not sure if I got some water in it some where, or if its just the blend of oils that were in it. I mainly run Stihl or Huskvarna, but in the summer I'm not too picky. Anyway, the oil tank was still mostly full, so I started her up and did the same thing again. Propped up 2 chunks, made a cut on each, rotated, and made the second cuts. Again, the bar/chain was smoking really good. I shut her down again and finished the day with the 036.
Sunday evening pulled the bar off the 064 to check things out. First thing I noticed was that when I took the bar off, the stud on the chain tentioner stayed in the bar. I had already had the bar off twice, so I figured this was just a fluke. It would have to be replaced, but no big deal. Then I noticed that the screw that holds the cover over the tensioner appeared to be stripped out (the threads, not the head). When I removed it, it turns out that it's not the right screw. Thankfully, it was too small and didn't ruin the threads in the housing. Then, I noticed that the little o-ring that goes behind the tensioners adjustment screw was partially gone. Not that big of a deal. Next, I noticed that the 25" Oregon bar has a VERY small oiler hole, and it looks like it was bored in at an angle to try to get the oil up higher on the chain. It looks like it was done by hand. I pulled the chain tensioner out of my 036 and put it in the 064, and put the 064 back together. I checked the oil, and it was pretty low. Keep in mind that I had only run the saw about 10, or MAYBE 15m min since I topped the oil off last. I filled it up again, and adjusted the oiler all the way DOWN. I'm running a 25" bar. I fired the saw up and ran it over a piece of 2x4. There was very little oil coming off the chain, so I shut it down and adusted the oiler up to about 50%. Now there was a decent amount of oil coming off, but not a ton. I felt that it was enough though. Then I took it out to the wood stack where I had 3 more chunks of black locust that needed split. Same routine, made the first cut on two chunks, but started smoking on the second cuts. Also, during one of the second cuts, the nut for one of the dogs came off. This saw has 2 dogs on it, and the outer one came off and was hanging off the bottom of the saw, and there was only one bolt holding the inner dog on, and that was the one on the bottom. At that point I shut it down. Yesterday I didn't have any PPE on, and I noticed that there was a LOT of heat coming up off the top of the saw. It was about 90 degrees outside, and I'm not sure if this would be considered normal or not, but I could easily feel the heat radiating off the powerhead. Not sure if it was coming from the muffler, cylinder, cluth, or what, but it was hot. I took it back to the front and pulled the clutch cover off. I noticed that oil was slowly running out from behind the clutch. Using a shop rag to keep from burning my fingers, I pulled the tensioner back out and reassembled the 036, and put the original parts back into the 064.
I'm going to take the saw back to the shop that I bought it from to see what he will do with it. Normally I would trust him to find and fix the problems, but considering that there seemed to be a lot of little issues, like the wrong screw, screws falling off, things falling appart. Now I'm a little more concerned, and I want to get started on my own trouble shooting. I'm going to run the saw over too the shop after work tomorrow (Tuesday) and give him the chance to fix it, but my hopes are not real high at this point.
So far, I know that the saw needs a few nuts, bolts, and screws, a chain tensioner, and possibly an oil pump. I'm not sure if the pump is bad, or maybe a seal or a hose or something. I'm not sure how to track that down as I'm not sure about taking the clutch out. I'm also going to put larger oil holes in the bar. The current holes are less than 1/16" in diameter. I'm going to make them as big as the ones that are in my Stihl bars. I have some carbide bits, and if need be I will bring it in to work and put it in my mill.
I haven't really asked a lot of questions here, but I am open to advice as to where to look or how to locate the oil leak. I'm also curious as to how hot the saw should get in 90 degree weather after cutting for less than 10 min.
Thanks,
Mark
I gassed up the 064, and filled the oil. I had noticed at home that there was a little bit of oil on the shop floor where the saw had been sitting, but I didn't think much of it. When I noodle, I set one end of the wood up on a 4x4 or a smaller piece so that I'm cutting at a slight angle to keep the noodles short. I set up the first two pieces laying on a 3' piece of 4x4 that I had in the truck. I basically cut an X most of the way through the wood so that I can hit it once with an axe, and have two pieces, and then hit each of those once and have a total of 4 pieces from each chunk. I made the first cut on both chunks and then set the saw down. I noticed that the idle must be set a bit high, because the chain would not stop. I set it on a piece of wood, and the chain stopped, but when I picked it up again, it took off spinning. I figured I would adjust it later. I set it back down with the bar on a piece of wood and rotated the two chunks 90 degrees so that I could make the second cuts. After making the second cut on the first chunk I noticed that the bar was starting to smoke. I completed the second cut on both chunks, and the bar/chain was smoking pretty good. So, I shut the saw down, picked up the axe and busted the chunks up. I pulled the 036 out and noodled 3 or 4 chunks with it. Much slower, but no smoke. I loaded the firewood, and checked on the 064. It had cooled down. I checked my oil, it had a slight cream color to it which I thought was odd. I later checked, and the bottle (old detergent bottle) looked the same way. I'm not sure if I got some water in it some where, or if its just the blend of oils that were in it. I mainly run Stihl or Huskvarna, but in the summer I'm not too picky. Anyway, the oil tank was still mostly full, so I started her up and did the same thing again. Propped up 2 chunks, made a cut on each, rotated, and made the second cuts. Again, the bar/chain was smoking really good. I shut her down again and finished the day with the 036.
Sunday evening pulled the bar off the 064 to check things out. First thing I noticed was that when I took the bar off, the stud on the chain tentioner stayed in the bar. I had already had the bar off twice, so I figured this was just a fluke. It would have to be replaced, but no big deal. Then I noticed that the screw that holds the cover over the tensioner appeared to be stripped out (the threads, not the head). When I removed it, it turns out that it's not the right screw. Thankfully, it was too small and didn't ruin the threads in the housing. Then, I noticed that the little o-ring that goes behind the tensioners adjustment screw was partially gone. Not that big of a deal. Next, I noticed that the 25" Oregon bar has a VERY small oiler hole, and it looks like it was bored in at an angle to try to get the oil up higher on the chain. It looks like it was done by hand. I pulled the chain tensioner out of my 036 and put it in the 064, and put the 064 back together. I checked the oil, and it was pretty low. Keep in mind that I had only run the saw about 10, or MAYBE 15m min since I topped the oil off last. I filled it up again, and adjusted the oiler all the way DOWN. I'm running a 25" bar. I fired the saw up and ran it over a piece of 2x4. There was very little oil coming off the chain, so I shut it down and adusted the oiler up to about 50%. Now there was a decent amount of oil coming off, but not a ton. I felt that it was enough though. Then I took it out to the wood stack where I had 3 more chunks of black locust that needed split. Same routine, made the first cut on two chunks, but started smoking on the second cuts. Also, during one of the second cuts, the nut for one of the dogs came off. This saw has 2 dogs on it, and the outer one came off and was hanging off the bottom of the saw, and there was only one bolt holding the inner dog on, and that was the one on the bottom. At that point I shut it down. Yesterday I didn't have any PPE on, and I noticed that there was a LOT of heat coming up off the top of the saw. It was about 90 degrees outside, and I'm not sure if this would be considered normal or not, but I could easily feel the heat radiating off the powerhead. Not sure if it was coming from the muffler, cylinder, cluth, or what, but it was hot. I took it back to the front and pulled the clutch cover off. I noticed that oil was slowly running out from behind the clutch. Using a shop rag to keep from burning my fingers, I pulled the tensioner back out and reassembled the 036, and put the original parts back into the 064.
I'm going to take the saw back to the shop that I bought it from to see what he will do with it. Normally I would trust him to find and fix the problems, but considering that there seemed to be a lot of little issues, like the wrong screw, screws falling off, things falling appart. Now I'm a little more concerned, and I want to get started on my own trouble shooting. I'm going to run the saw over too the shop after work tomorrow (Tuesday) and give him the chance to fix it, but my hopes are not real high at this point.
So far, I know that the saw needs a few nuts, bolts, and screws, a chain tensioner, and possibly an oil pump. I'm not sure if the pump is bad, or maybe a seal or a hose or something. I'm not sure how to track that down as I'm not sure about taking the clutch out. I'm also going to put larger oil holes in the bar. The current holes are less than 1/16" in diameter. I'm going to make them as big as the ones that are in my Stihl bars. I have some carbide bits, and if need be I will bring it in to work and put it in my mill.
I haven't really asked a lot of questions here, but I am open to advice as to where to look or how to locate the oil leak. I'm also curious as to how hot the saw should get in 90 degree weather after cutting for less than 10 min.
Thanks,
Mark
