Homelite XL-12 - My CAD is helping a good friend's family stay warm this fall/winter

[XPLRN]

In the 50-55cc range of chainsaws the Homelite XL-12 seems to have the longevity of a SBC/ Small Block Chevy with a production run of almost a 1/4 of a century !!!

Soo that is what I told my long-term friend that lives in Flagstaff, Arizona when I gifted him a fairly clean but not running Homelite XL-12.. He's a long time fan of the SBC sooo that was a great relatability factor when I told him about the longevity of the XL-12.

He's a very skilled longtime mechanic and dug into the XL-12 to figure out what it would take to get it running. He took the muffler off and inspected the piston/bore condition and found it to be acceptable. Although showing some wear the piston and cylinder were still creating good compression!!

He ended up doing a few simple things; a sparkplug and cleaned up the very dirty magneto area. He was able to get it running well enough to do some test cutting of firewood and felt it was certainly adequate for his firewood needs. He knows that a carb kit is needed and just ordered one along with a new chain.

I didn't really remember the saw except that I thought it had potential to be a good project and possible good runner. I didn't have one red cent invested in the saw as it had been a junk pile pick to save some cool old magnesium!!

I'm telling you AS folks the absolute happiness I felt when he told me I'm his family's hero for giving him a saw that will help keep them warm this winter is something that far out-shawdows any other CAD experience I've had to date. It's sorta like the giving of that saw to my friend created A LOT of positive forward Karma as there have been quite a few great saws come my way since I gave that saw to him........even another Hommie XL-12 and a re-badged Craftsman XL-12.

Things are a bit financially ruff for his family(as they are for A LOT of folks thru-out the USA!!) and the fall/winter time is fast approaching in Northern Arizona. Sooo after talking with him and learning about how much he/his family appreciated the XL-12 project saw I've decided to donate a couple other saws to him sooo he'll have backup saws in case the XL-12 gives him any problems.

In a very direct way AS is a big component in this situation as I really got hooked into the CAD after finding this website and meeting up(cyberly) with some great people. Thanks to all that are behind the functioning of this great website.....it really has a positive presence in my reality!!

I'm just sooo thrilled to finally be able to give back something meaningful to a great friend who's given sooo much to me over the past years!!

 

[mattinky]

You couldn't have given him a a better saw, those old XLs may be a little slow but they're as reliable as a hammer! I own several of them and they're great saws. Hat's off to you for helping a friend out, that rocks!

 

[greg409]

My xl-12 is a super xl-AO made in 1970, the XL-12 model preceded that by a few years.

The red ones were later than the orig. blue ones,

Late 60's was over 40yrs ago.

Still an awful lot in use - Mine's getting base gasket yanked & new rings this week - still runs well,tho'

LUV those old homelites.


luck,greg

 

[rdtreewalker]

Rep for you for a good deed done for your friend

 

[Eccentric]

Good for you Myron. I've tried to get some 'good' out of this hobby by doing volunteer cutting in a local park, and giving firewood to folks who need it. Others do the same, or do storm cleanup or other 'giving' work. Feels good.

The XL-12/SXL series was made from late 1963 through 1994 BTW. Over 30 years. A few ones were even made with John Deere colors right at the end (as JD had recently bought Homelite). They'll be running for decades to come. The first XL-Automatics and Super XL-Automatics were made in 1965. The series was made in two displacements (55 and 58 cc), with manual oilers, automatic oilers, flat single reed blocks, 4-petal pyramid reed blocks, points ignitions, two different solid state ignitions, three different carburetors, and a host of minor changes (including color changes).

There were also two 'super sized' versions of these saws that didn't fare as well. First was the 74cc XL500A. They were sold briefly due to reliability problems. A few years later, Homelite tried again with the 65cc XL400A. They were also produced for a brief period, and also have a rep for not holding together. They share many parts with the successful XL-12, XL-Automatic, and SXL series saws. These saws are EXTREMELY reliable at 55-58cc, but apparantly not at 65-74cc. Maybe with modern oils they'd have been fine. Who knows.....

There was also an XL-15 gear drive saw, as well as an XL-Auto Gear Drive. These have a planetary gearbox in a special clutch cover, and are hard to find. I have an XL-15, but unfortunately for me somebody swapped on 'regular' XL-12 direct drive clutch parts and an NOS SXL clutch cover sometime before I got the saw. It's a nice clean runner too. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and find a geardrive clutch cover and related parts for it. Heck, the parts that came off my saw have to be somewhere.....

 

[diggers_dad]

In the 50-55cc range of chainsaws the Homelite XL-12 seems to have the longevity of a SBC/ Small Block Chevy with a production run of almost a 1/4 of a century !!!

Soo that is what I told my long-term friend that lives in Flagstaff, Arizona when I gifted him a fairly clean but not running Homelite XL-12.. He's a long time fan of the SBC sooo that was a great relatability factor when I told him about the longevity of the XL-12.

He's a very skilled longtime mechanic and dug into the XL-12 to figure out what it would take to get it running. He took the muffler off and inspected the piston/bore condition and found it to be acceptable. Although showing some wear the piston and cylinder were still creating good compression!!

He ended up doing a few simple things; a sparkplug and cleaned up the very dirty magneto area. He was able to get it running well enough to do some test cutting of firewood and felt it was certainly adequate for his firewood needs. He knows that a carb kit is needed and just ordered one along with a new chain.

I didn't really remember the saw except that I thought it had potential to be a good project and possible good runner. I didn't have one red cent invested in the saw as it had been a junk pile pick to save some cool old magnesium!!

I'm telling you AS folks the absolute happiness I felt when he told me I'm his family's hero for giving him a saw that will help keep them warm this winter is something that far out-shawdows any other CAD experience I've had to date. It's sorta like the giving of that saw to my friend created A LOT of positive forward Karma as there have been quite a few great saws come my way since I gave that saw to him........even another Hommie XL-12 and a re-badged Craftsman XL-12.

Things are a bit financially ruff for his family(as they are for A LOT of folks thru-out the USA!!) and the fall/winter time is fast approaching in Northern Arizona. Sooo after talking with him and learning about how much he/his family appreciated the XL-12 project saw I've decided to donate a couple other saws to him sooo he'll have backup saws in case the XL-12 gives him any problems.

In a very direct way AS is a big component in this situation as I really got hooked into the CAD after finding this website and meeting up(cyberly) with some great people. Thanks to all that are behind the functioning of this great website.....it really has a positive presence in my reality!!

I'm just sooo thrilled to finally be able to give back something meaningful to a great friend who's given sooo much to me over the past years!!

Rep bomb for you!

 

[XPLRN]

Hommie Info Home Run!!!

Good for you Myron. I've tried to get some 'good' out of this hobby by doing volunteer cutting in a local park, and giving firewood to folks who need it. Others do the same, or do storm cleanup or other 'giving' work. Feels good.

The XL-12/SXL series was made from late 1963 through 1994 BTW. Over 30 years. A few ones were even made with John Deere colors right at the end (as JD had recently bought Homelite). They'll be running for decades to come. The first XL-Automatics and Super XL-Automatics were made in 1965. The series was made in two displacements (55 and 58 cc), with manual oilers, automatic oilers, flat single reed blocks, 4-petal pyramid reed blocks, points ignitions, two different solid state ignitions, three different carburetors, and a host of minor changes (including color changes).

There were also two 'super sized' versions of these saws that didn't fare as well. First was the 74cc XL500A. They were sold briefly due to reliability problems. A few years later, Homelite tried again with the 65cc XL400A. They were also produced for a brief period, and also have a rep for not holding together. They share many parts with the successful XL-12, XL-Automatic, and SXL series saws. These saws are EXTREMELY reliable at 55-58cc, but apparantly not at 65-74cc. Maybe with modern oils they'd have been fine. Who knows.....

There was also an XL-15 gear drive saw, as well as an XL-Auto Gear Drive. These have a planetary gearbox in a special clutch cover, and are hard to find. I have an XL-15, but unfortunately for me somebody swapped on 'regular' XL-12 direct drive clutch parts and an NOS SXL clutch cover sometime before I got the saw. It's a nice clean runner too. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and find a geardrive clutch cover and related parts for it. Heck, the parts that came off my saw have to be somewhere.....

Thanks, once again Aaron, for sharing your wealth of chainsaw knowledge. Real interesting that Homelite made some larger versions and they proved out to be unreliable. The XL-15 sure sounds like interesting engineering endeavor........tooo bad your's had the planetary gearbox swapped out of it. I bet the production numbers on those saws were low!!????

It really is neat to have someone appreciate what so many people take for granted OR thow away. The fact that my friend has ressurected the XL-12 just makes me oh soooo happy!!! Maybe my friend will sign-up on AS and catch the CAD now that I've "infected"/shared my affliction with him!???? :msp_unsure::msp_unsure:

Thanks to all who posted in this thread.......it really is neat to, as Arron said; "get some 'good' out of this hobby!!"

 

[XPLRN]

In the 50-55cc range of chainsaws the Homelite XL-12 seems to have the longevity of a SBC/ Small Block Chevy with a production run of almost a 1/4 of a century !!!


I'm telling you AS folks the absolute happiness I felt when he told me I'm his family's hero for giving him a saw that will help keep them warm this winter is something that far out-shawdows any other CAD experience I've had to date. It's sorta like the giving of that saw to my friend created A LOT of positive forward Karma as there have been quite a few great saws come my way since I gave that saw to him........even another Hommie XL-12 and a re-badged Craftsman XL-12.

Things are a bit financially ruff for his family(as they are for A LOT of folks thru-out the USA!!) and the fall/winter time is fast approaching in Northern Arizona. Sooo after talking with him and learning about how much he/his family appreciated the XL-12 project saw I've decided to donate a couple other saws to him sooo he'll have backup saws in case the XL-12 gives him any problems.

In a very direct way AS is a big component in this situation as I really got hooked into the CAD after finding this website and meeting up(cyberly) with some great people. Thanks to all that are behind the functioning of this great website.....it really has a positive presence in my reality!!

I'm just sooo thrilled to finally be able to give back something meaningful to a great friend who's given sooo much to me over the past years!!

Well it finally happened today!! My friend has been down from Flagstaff visiting his mother for the Holidaze and today/Dec 30th we were able to spend some time together catching up!! He's still sooo stoked on the previous Homelite XL-12 I'd given him as it's been working well and cut up several cord of wood for his family to keep warm with!

Sooo we went out to my place and I ended up gifting him all the saws seen in the pictures below. The duplicate Hommie XL-12 I gave him this time is in notably better shape than the one he's been using!! It even had a falling spike on it as that had been one of the things he wanted to get for the one he's been using.

The Poulan 3400 was a known runner and the Echo and the Hommie should both be runners after routine check-out and fuel system cleaning/fuel line/carb kit. Allegedly both of the Husky's(re-badged Poulans) ran but one didn't have a functioning chain oiler and the other one had a busted bar mount bolt. I had been planning on trying to make a decent loan-out saw out of the two of them.

It appears I did a good thing as he was very very happy to get some saw backup, especially now that it's darn cold up there with a big storm blowing in......the already cut wood supply will be dwindling. I'm going to get him to sign up here on AS and maybe, just maybe, he'll get more CAD'ed out..........I think I've done a pretty good job of planting the CAD seeds!!

 

[ReggieT]

AWESOME AND MORE AWESOME!

That's known in my circles as "The Law of the Harvest"...sowing & reaping!
You sowed a great seed...and now you're reaping the benefits!
Keep it up...its a powerful principal!:msp_thumbsup:

In the 50-55cc range of chainsaws the Homelite XL-12 seems to have the longevity of a SBC/ Small Block Chevy with a production run of almost a 1/4 of a century !!!

Soo that is what I told my long-term friend that lives in Flagstaff, Arizona when I gifted him a fairly clean but not running Homelite XL-12.. He's a long time fan of the SBC sooo that was a great relatability factor when I told him about the longevity of the XL-12.

He's a very skilled longtime mechanic and dug into the XL-12 to figure out what it would take to get it running. He took the muffler off and inspected the piston/bore condition and found it to be acceptable. Although showing some wear the piston and cylinder were still creating good compression!!

He ended up doing a few simple things; a sparkplug and cleaned up the very dirty magneto area. He was able to get it running well enough to do some test cutting of firewood and felt it was certainly adequate for his firewood needs. He knows that a carb kit is needed and just ordered one along with a new chain.

I didn't really remember the saw except that I thought it had potential to be a good project and possible good runner. I didn't have one red cent invested in the saw as it had been a junk pile pick to save some cool old magnesium!!

I'm telling you AS folks the absolute happiness I felt when he told me I'm his family's hero for giving him a saw that will help keep them warm this winter is something that far out-shawdows any other CAD experience I've had to date. It's sorta like the giving of that saw to my friend created A LOT of positive forward Karma as there have been quite a few great saws come my way since I gave that saw to him........even another Hommie XL-12 and a re-badged Craftsman XL-12.

Things are a bit financially ruff for his family(as they are for A LOT of folks thru-out the USA!!) and the fall/winter time is fast approaching in Northern Arizona. Sooo after talking with him and learning about how much he/his family appreciated the XL-12 project saw I've decided to donate a couple other saws to him sooo he'll have backup saws in case the XL-12 gives him any problems.

In a very direct way AS is a big component in this situation as I really got hooked into the CAD after finding this website and meeting up(cyberly) with some great people. Thanks to all that are behind the functioning of this great website.....it really has a positive presence in my reality!!

I'm just sooo thrilled to finally be able to give back something meaningful to a great friend who's given sooo much to me over the past years!!

 

[XPLRN]

New Year update........

My friend took the duplicate/better shape Hommie XL-12 and the Poulan 3400 back up North with him that night after we picked them up. With all their family stuff that is all he had room for in the trunk of their small car. He'll store the other three at his mom's house down here and pick them up on his next trip down to the Valley. He called me a couple of days into this new year and happily reported that he had both of them up and running and was extremely happy to have a couple of back-up chainsaws at his disposal!! Also the Poulan might have a bit more 'nads than the XL-12's do........I know it seemed to still have great compression!!

I'm just sooo thrilled that he will be benefiting his family with those saws in the future. It looks like there's some awesome positive forward karma shaping up in reciprocation for what has been detailed in this thread!! More on that later when the snow's gone and I can get to the item. There will be pictures later.......months from now but I AM STOKED!!