RoncaliVineyard
ArboristSite Lurker
Hello Fellow Arborists,
This is quite a long story and I thought that I would get some advice from the people in this forum, as I have been quite successful with the information provided here. Anyways, my Dad had been using a McCulloch Timberbear 650 for about 20 year so and it was beginning to show its age with numerous broken parts, striped fasteners and warn bar and chain. He is a Millwright at a wood treatment facility here in town and has extensive knowledge mechanics. It was my Mom's idea to purchase him a new chainsaw for Christmas last year. We live in Eugene, Oregon and she decided to talk to the people at Mr. Chainsaw. She went in there and told them the situation with the McCulloch. They told here that they couldn't get parts anymore for them since they were out of business. This is only remotely true because we all know there are always parts out there online. They told her that the Husqvarna 350 was a good choice because we are on a farm and we only occasionally use for sawing up a tree or two a year. In our area we mostly have Douglas Fir, so it isn't too difficult to saw up, not like oak or maple. My Mom had them set the saw up, adjust the carburetor and set the bar and chain. We figured that we should let them do it because they are supposed to know quite a lot about chainsaws.
We used the saw last winter around Christmas and spring. As the weather turned my Dad used it more and more, limbing up many trees without climbing gear. It was painful to watch him climb the stobs. He is like a monkey though. Regardless, it performed well, it was light and powerful for its size.
We didn't use it for about 2 months or so during late-fall, early summer. We then used it to cut two stumps out and a small tree. When we were cutting the small tree the exhaust started rattling. We turned it off immediately. We found that one of the fasteners that holds the exhaust on had fell out and the other one was striped. We took it down to Mr. Chainsaw, where my Mom had purchased it, and they installed a new bolt and helicoiled the other bolt hole. They also installed lock-washers (futile). We also installed a 3/8" sprocket, windsor bar, and a 72V/72 Vanguard chain. The chain that came on it was very small and stretched out so badly that we had to throw the bar and chain away.
Our neighbor fell a dead tree behind our property with his Husqvarna saw and pushed it over with his Fiat-Allis crawler. It was very easy, no wedging. So we attempted to saw the tree up with the 350. We used it for about an hour and the exhaust fell completely off. This suprised and irritated my Dad, whom is a workaholic. His famous words are, "I just can't get anything done around here." My Dad takes the saw into Mr. Chainsaw and is very irritated with them and the saw, as it is only 10 months old. Considering his other saw is almost 30 years old. Regardless, they fix the other fastener and install new gaskets. They also tell us that the cylinder is scored and it has been running lean. They correct the lean issue. My Dad informs them that they set up the saw and we have always mixed the correct fuel in it. Granted my Dad is a millwright and works machinery all the time. They seem unfazed and my Dad takes the saw back unhappy with their words. We get it out there and it wont cut, it just has no power. It is shot. I think the exhaust falling off when running it ran it even "leaner".
So I figure we have a warranty issue here, Maybe not? In the manual it states that we need to watch the fasteners. Yet, they should be responsible for making sure the saw is not running lean. It is a young saw in pitiful condition.
There was also another strange occurence with this saw. I called Husqvarna customer service to see if I could make a warranty claim. Anyways, they claim that Mr.Chainsaw is not an authorized service center and having them work on it could void my warranty.They claimed that the authorized service center was Jerry's Home Improvement, which is like a Home Depot. It is strange because Jerry's has no service center. So I called Mr. Chainsaw and asked them if they were authorized service center and they told me, "Yes." So I don't know who to believe or trust. I am thinking about just selling this piece of #### on ebay. Pardon my language.
I was thinking that it might have been better to buy one of those crappy Poulan Wild Things instead. But I did the next best thing and bought a elderly McCulloch 10-10A.
This is quite a long story and I thought that I would get some advice from the people in this forum, as I have been quite successful with the information provided here. Anyways, my Dad had been using a McCulloch Timberbear 650 for about 20 year so and it was beginning to show its age with numerous broken parts, striped fasteners and warn bar and chain. He is a Millwright at a wood treatment facility here in town and has extensive knowledge mechanics. It was my Mom's idea to purchase him a new chainsaw for Christmas last year. We live in Eugene, Oregon and she decided to talk to the people at Mr. Chainsaw. She went in there and told them the situation with the McCulloch. They told here that they couldn't get parts anymore for them since they were out of business. This is only remotely true because we all know there are always parts out there online. They told her that the Husqvarna 350 was a good choice because we are on a farm and we only occasionally use for sawing up a tree or two a year. In our area we mostly have Douglas Fir, so it isn't too difficult to saw up, not like oak or maple. My Mom had them set the saw up, adjust the carburetor and set the bar and chain. We figured that we should let them do it because they are supposed to know quite a lot about chainsaws.
We used the saw last winter around Christmas and spring. As the weather turned my Dad used it more and more, limbing up many trees without climbing gear. It was painful to watch him climb the stobs. He is like a monkey though. Regardless, it performed well, it was light and powerful for its size.
We didn't use it for about 2 months or so during late-fall, early summer. We then used it to cut two stumps out and a small tree. When we were cutting the small tree the exhaust started rattling. We turned it off immediately. We found that one of the fasteners that holds the exhaust on had fell out and the other one was striped. We took it down to Mr. Chainsaw, where my Mom had purchased it, and they installed a new bolt and helicoiled the other bolt hole. They also installed lock-washers (futile). We also installed a 3/8" sprocket, windsor bar, and a 72V/72 Vanguard chain. The chain that came on it was very small and stretched out so badly that we had to throw the bar and chain away.
Our neighbor fell a dead tree behind our property with his Husqvarna saw and pushed it over with his Fiat-Allis crawler. It was very easy, no wedging. So we attempted to saw the tree up with the 350. We used it for about an hour and the exhaust fell completely off. This suprised and irritated my Dad, whom is a workaholic. His famous words are, "I just can't get anything done around here." My Dad takes the saw into Mr. Chainsaw and is very irritated with them and the saw, as it is only 10 months old. Considering his other saw is almost 30 years old. Regardless, they fix the other fastener and install new gaskets. They also tell us that the cylinder is scored and it has been running lean. They correct the lean issue. My Dad informs them that they set up the saw and we have always mixed the correct fuel in it. Granted my Dad is a millwright and works machinery all the time. They seem unfazed and my Dad takes the saw back unhappy with their words. We get it out there and it wont cut, it just has no power. It is shot. I think the exhaust falling off when running it ran it even "leaner".
So I figure we have a warranty issue here, Maybe not? In the manual it states that we need to watch the fasteners. Yet, they should be responsible for making sure the saw is not running lean. It is a young saw in pitiful condition.
There was also another strange occurence with this saw. I called Husqvarna customer service to see if I could make a warranty claim. Anyways, they claim that Mr.Chainsaw is not an authorized service center and having them work on it could void my warranty.They claimed that the authorized service center was Jerry's Home Improvement, which is like a Home Depot. It is strange because Jerry's has no service center. So I called Mr. Chainsaw and asked them if they were authorized service center and they told me, "Yes." So I don't know who to believe or trust. I am thinking about just selling this piece of #### on ebay. Pardon my language.
I was thinking that it might have been better to buy one of those crappy Poulan Wild Things instead. But I did the next best thing and bought a elderly McCulloch 10-10A.
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o they redesigned the muffler for crush resistance when the muffler bolts are tightened.
