Homelite Super XL's

[Bigken462]

A few weeks back I pulled out my old saw that I used to cut wood with alongside my Grandpa. After a little effort the my old red saw fired up like it still had a few generations worth of run time left. I added a new chain and she now cuts like a like a champ. I purchased this with my allowance back in 1980 when I was a ripe age of 10 years old.

I then got to thinking about the old blue saw that Grandpa had used dating back to before I was born. I have pictures of me still in a diaper – perhaps one; maybe two years old sitting on top of this saw riding it like it was a horse. When I mentioned to dad I was thinking about seeing if I could get running again, I was heartbroken to learn he had given it away to a friend thinking I would no longer want it. When I thought all was lost, he calls me up last night to tell me he tracked down the person and asked for it back after explaining to the feller the sentimental value I had with this old saw.

Today, I scrubbed off 41 years of dirt, grease and grim from the engine. Recorded it with a new string and added a new spark plug and gave it a pull. I soon discovered – very fast actually, there was no fuel line connected. Oh well, at least it got a new bath. I think I should be able to still find parts for this saw online. If any of you guys have experience with small engine repair, I might could use some help. I would really like to see if this old saw has any life left. It dates back to at the least 1970, perhaps as early as 1965. So far, at the very least, I'm looking at needing a new choke assembly and a new fuel line and filter. I'm sure there may be more needed, but if I could get it running without spending too much money, it would make my day!
View attachment 266796
View attachment 266797
View attachment 266798
View attachment 266799
View attachment 266800

All the best,

KT

 

[mattinky]

Those saws are very common and parts are easy to find. They almost always need a new fuel line...

 

[Mad Professor]

Wonderful old saws. For 60cc they had lots of torque and will pull a 24" bar if needed.

 

[gunnerman27]

I love mine still looks new and pulls the he'll out of him 24"

 

[Bigken462]

I initially thought about trying to restore the old saw to a like-new condition with fresh paint etc. But I got to thinking that if I wanted a shiny new looking saw I would go buy one. My memories of this saw from seeing my grandfather use it, is essentially looking pretty much how it looks now. I don't ever recall seeing it new looking. I think if I can get it running again without having to spend a bunch I'll be satisfied.

Short of having to get into the engine itself. What would you guys expect to pay for replacement of the electrical items and a carburetor kit, or a replacement carb itself if it were to come to that? Having said that, what do you think it would cost for a small engine shop to take on the job?

All the best,

Ken

 

[mad murdock]

Carb kits for those saws should be 10-12 bucks. Take the side cover(starter) off and clean the flywheel magnet and coil face well, see if it has fire first, if no spark, check points/condenser. The old points ignitions are really stout, and last well. Also check kill switch and wires to make sure your ignition is not shorted out.

 

[Warped5]

Yah, carbs kits are cheap and so is fuel line ($15 total). I recently went through one of these .... while you're in there cleaning, check your coil/flywheel gap with a business card. If you have spark, that's a good thing. If no spark and the kill switch isn't shorting you out, check the coil color. If blue, you'll have a problem replacing it.

Since you asked about having a shop do it, you'll need to see what shops in your area are charging. Around here, they are $70 - $90/hr with a 1/2 hour minimum. Almost like they're 'over bidding' at ttimes to keep out the work they don't want.

Good luck!

 

[Bigken462]

Thanks guys, I'll look it over. I cleaned all the built up grease from behind the cover, wheel and engine fins. Amazingly the flywheel slid right off after just three or four very light taps with a small hammer. I had figured that by now it would have been seized up with rust.

Why I didn't think to check to see if it was firing is beyond me. I did use a wire brush to clean up the contacts on the wheel and coil.

I kinda threw the towel for another rainy day in when I seen that it was missing the fuel line.

 

[D&B Mack]

They are easy to work on, and parts are not hard to find. The local lawn and garden guy had the parts for mine and charge me $5 to go through an couple of old ones and find the parts the I needed.

I pulled it out of my father's barn, it was the first saw I ever ran, so the goal was similar for me.

 

[gunnerman27]

Electrical can be high but they sold a conversion for them to do away with the points but like every one say they r the easiest to work on gas oil and fire and she will purr or should I say growl

 

[Bret4207]

My hat is off to you for making the effort! I wish I still had my Dads old Pioneer "HolidayII" 1072 and "Farmsaw". I'm watching for duplicate models but the Farmsaws seem to have a collector following and the Holidays I find are all the earlier white jobs and I want the green one.

Anyway, good on you. As a grandfather myself, I'm going to say the old man would be tickled to know you're honoring him like this. Real tickled.

 

[Bigken462]

As a grandfather myself, I'm going to say the old man would be tickled to know you're honoring him like this. Real tickled.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I lost my grandfather to cancer back in 1987. Till this day I consider him to have been the best mentor of my life. I still recall his advice today that he instilled in me years ago. Much of which I should have listened to a bit better. Lol

In today's society, very few adults can look back on their childhood and youth and say they had a positive experience. I was shielded from drugs and alcohol by being taught to drive a tractor and work on a farm at a very early age. For the efforts my parents and grandparents placed into me, I will be for ever grateful.

Anyway, back to the chain saw. Tomorrow, I'll spend my off day running to town to track down some parts. I don't have much use for a saw of any kind short of cutting up some wood for a fire pit. But still, it will be nice to operate something my grandfather used almost 50 years ago. Do you think he gave any consideration back then that his grandson would still be trying to use his saw a half century later?

Hat's off to those engineers of yesterdays past who designed tools to last a lifetime!

 

[bikesandcars]

Hat's off to those engineers of yesterdays past who designed tools to last a lifetime!

It's not the Engineer's, it's the businessmen! Hats off to the business-weenies back then for allowing their engineers to make a quality product in the USA, and really for the people that bought them.

Seriously though, in todays world of plastic throwaway everything this thread really makes me think. Remember back when your grandfather had a chainsaw like that and he probably saved a while to get it.. he expected it to be built strong and easy to maintain.. sure they were heavy, but they were sturdy. Grandpa wouldn't touch "jap crap" and there was no internet to snipe a deal on the latest tanakahitachiredmaxavarna... grandpa went down to [insert your local store] and said "I need a chainsaw, what works".. maybe he did some research in the Montgomery ward catalog... man the world was different.

I was thinking the other day..If I would design a chainsaw what would it look like. I wonder if I could make my own chainsaw out of metal / aluminum just so it wasn't such cheap plastic S@#$T...then I saw this thread and the homelite-xl is exactly what I would make.... I'm an engineer... go figure...

 

[tilenick]

Great thread Ken, I found this site the same way,Trying to resurrect my grandpas poulan saw. There is tons of info on this site and great people here to help, and as well, arboristsite has a great search function that helps a lot on finding topics that have been covered before. Also there is a whole thread dedicated to homelite chainsaws in the sticky section, it helped me rebuild my xl12 and my brothers super xl. Hope to see a vid of it running in the future.
Nick

 

[Bigken462]

I was hoping she might be interested in coming to life as easy as the other one did, but I guess a 45 year old saw earned the right to be stubborn.

While I look in the threads for the info, I don't suppose anyone knows the hi and low needle turn adjustments to get me started do you?

I have what appears to be plenty of fire on a new plug. I installed a new fuel line and filter so unless there is a clog inside the carb I should be getting fuel. To what concentrations I have no idea.

All the best,

Ken

 

[jasper89]

The "normal" is 1.25/1.5 turns each. great old saws.

 

[Bigken462]

After about an hour of pulling, two new blisters and a cpl restrings, I got the thing to fire up just for a few seconds. I can tell she's trying, and seeing all the white smoke reminds me of how it used to smoke. Seems like we even used to call it "Smokey" when I was little.

The guy at the local shop has kits for about 12 bucks for the carb. I'm going to search Youtube up and these old threads for some instructional videos on how to do a rebuild. I'm a paramedic by career and my tailgate mechanic skills is just not up to snuff to make the grade today. I fix people, not engines. Lol

 

[Bigken462]

Being on several scuba and cave diving forums I know how frustrating it is for folks to ask repeated questions about stuff that's in 100's of threads. But to be honest, after several hours of searching the forum, and YouTube, I can't find any info specific to the rebuild process for the carbs on the Super XLAO

My next step is to attempt a carb rebuild. But I would like to find a step by step video of the process. Have any of you guys seen a thread being posted in the past that might would have this info?

Ken

I'm sure most of you have the info about the saw engraved into your head, but below is the specs I found on the net if having that info proves useful in finding a how to video. The specs are for the XL, but when I went to the one for the XLAO it referenced back to this one so I'm assuming for the most part the two saws are identical parts wise.

MANUFACTURED BY:
HOMELITE CORPORATION
PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
SERIES OR ASSEMBLY NUMBER:
10045C
YEAR INTRODUCED:

YEAR DISCONTINUED:

ENGINE DISPLACEMENT:
3.55 cu. in. (58.2 cc)
NUMBER OF CYLINDERS:
1
CYLINDER BORE:
1.8125 in. (46 mm)
PISTON STROKE:
1.375 in. (34.9 mm)
CYLINDER TYPE:
Aluminum with chrome plated bore
INTAKE METHOD:
Reed valves
MANUFACTURER ADVERTISED H.P.:
3.33 SAE @ 7,500 RPM
WEIGHT :
13 lbs. 14 oz. (6.3 kg) powerhead only
OPERATOR CONFIGURATION:
One Man operation
HANDLEBAR SYSTEM:
Rigid
CHAIN BRAKE:
none
CLUTCH:
Centrifugal
DRIVE TYPE:
Direct
CONSTRUCTION:
Die cast magnesium
MAGNETO TYPE:
Breaker point or electronic
CARBURETOR:
Tillotson HS-4D, HS-142A
Walbro SDC
Zama
MAJOR REPAIR KIT:
RK-23HS for HS-4D
MINOR REPAIR KIT:
DG-5HS/T for HS-4D
AIR FILTER SYSTEM:
Cellulose fiber element
STARTER TYPE:
Homelite automatic rewind
OIL PUMP:
Automatic with manual override
OPERATING RPM:
6,000, 10,000 to 10,500 no load
IGNITION TIMING:
30 degrees before TDC. Mount stator as far clockwise as it will go on breaker point systems.
BREAKER POINT SETTING:
0.015 in. (0.38 mm)
FLYWHEEL/COIL AIR GAP:
fixed
SPARK PLUG TYPE:
Champion CJ6
SPARK PLUG GAP:
0.025 in. (0.63 mm)
CRANKSHAFT MAIN BEARINGS:
Caged needle roller
FUEL TANK CAPACITY:
24.2 oz. (716 ml)
FUEL OIL RATIO:
32:1 with Homelite oil
RECOMMENDED FUEL OCTANE:
Regular
MIX OIL SPECIFICATION:
Homelite chain saw mix oil
CHAIN PITCH:
3/8 in.
CHAIN TYPE:
Homelite38 Raker III and Oregon 72
BAR MOUNT PATTERN:
14 link
SHORTEST GUIDE BAR SUPPLIED:
16 in. (40 cm)
LONGEST GUIDE BAR SUPPLIED:
24 in. (61 cm)
COLOUR SCHEME:
Homelite Red enamel
PAINT CODES:

ILLUSTRATED PARTS LIST:

SERVICE MANUAL:

 

[Bigken462]

Carb Rebuild

Today I picked up a carburetor kit for a Homelite superXL AO. And got a few questions regarding some parts that I can’t seem to find the location for. I’ve never been inside one of these before and flying by the seat of my pants. For the most part, I seem to find the location for most everything except for a small screen and two round disks.

To get started, does these two silver disks in this picture replace the similar shaped ones located at the Hi and Lo seats?
View attachment 270029
View attachment 270028

If so, how the crap do you get those out? And why are the new ones dome shaped compared to the flat ones showed in the housing?

I think I’ve found the location for the larger screen, but can’t seem to find the location for the smaller one to fit in to. Where does it go?
View attachment 270030

There are two other gaskets that appear to go to the reed valve. One looks like it will be ok that seats between the carb and the reed, but the thicker one that goes between the reed and the engine housing will not work. The part feller gave me the part number #59274 for this item. Any suggestions on where to buy it.
View attachment 270031
View attachment 270032

I'll have to continue in a follow up post since I can only link to 5 pictures.

After further reading I see the small plugs are called Welch Plugs and it seems like the vast majority of folks wish to leave them alone. I've uploaded several pictures to my photo site. If possible can some of you take a look at them and give me your opinion giving the age and condition of the saw if you would bother trying to pull the plugs.

If I were to pull them, what is underneath them to replace or clean?

 

[Bigken462]

Here is where the thicker gasket was that tore when I removed the reed. There was no gaskets in the kit large enough to go over the reed.
View attachment 270033

The two smaller ones shown in one of the above pictures is what was included in the kit.

The last two things I need help with is how to locate a new choke pull and grommets.
View attachment 270034

I think the grommet part number is #58362

Any suggestions on where to buy the proper reed gaskets and choke pull?

Thanks much,

Ken