I bought the wrong saw (ms250) Now what??

[Matt Schmitt]

Bought @cuinrearview’s 036 today so that should be plenty of saw and under my budget which kept the wife happy.

As far as the sprocket goes. So really long story. Saw stopped cutting with a new chain on it (1 day old) Everything looked fine except the bar was over heating. Called Stihl and explained the issue and over the phone they diagnosed a sprocket issue and I told them I would take it in come Monday when dealers were open. So took it in and the dealer said oh no that’s crazy your chain is just a little too tight. Took it home same issue. Called Stihl again and they decided it was a faulty Oiler. Took it back to a different dealer and he said no your Oiler is fine, you just have a dull chain and he explained it was only dull from hitting something hard ie. Something other than just wood in the tree like a nail or staple etc. he sharpened the chain for free for me and sent me on my way. Well that’s all it was. But I don’t feel completely dumb because delealer one checked the chain out and said it looks great and sharp and that’s definitely not the issue. But yeah saw was running great and I was keeping the chain sharp well best I could up until this incident Sunday so everything is back to normal on that saw again. Thankfully.

That being said @SteveSr I was already thinking about dropping down to a 16” bar and running a thinner chain just makes sense as well. Less mass to move on both ends. What specific bar would I need to get to accomplish that? The same one that comes on the 210? Thanks

Look at the numbers on your current bar make sure you get the right rim. It’s probably a 325 maybe 3/8.

 

[farmer steve]

@W321shark this is what I run on my 250.

 

[SteveSr]

Saw stopped cutting with a new chain on it (1 day old)

Age has absolutely NOTHING to do with how sharp a chain is. As you learned you can dull a chain in a heartbeat!

Everything looked fine except the bar was over heating.

You need to learn how to inspect a chain for sharpness and signs of problems. If your eyes have a few years on them get some cheap drugstore reading glasses. A sharp chain should put out nothing but big chips and self feed into the wood. If the chain is putting out a lot of fine dust and no longer self feeding it is WELL past the point of needing sharpened.

That being said @SteveSr I was already thinking about dropping down to a 16” bar and running a thinner chain just makes sense as well. Less mass to move on both ends. What specific bar would I need to get to accomplish that? The same one that comes on the 210? Thanks

Yes, Stihl calls this their Pico Micro (PM) bar but is really just 3/8" .050 gauge.

Stihl P/Ns:
63 PM3 55 chain
3005-00x-4813 bar

Oregon P/Ns:
91VXL055 chain
160SDEA074 bar

Send a PM to @fordf150 and he can set you up with the Oregon parts. Keep in mind that you MUST change out the clutch drum/sprocket from .325 to 3/8" to match the new B&C. For sprockets you have multiple options. If you are doing a lot of cutting rim drive would be the way to go as you only need to replace the rim and not the whole clutch drum. It would also allow easy switching back to the .325 if you ever wanted to. FordF150 can also get you the sprocket/conversion kit probably cheaper than your local dealer.

 

[W321shark]

@SteveSr yeah I’ve noticed chains dulling but this one incident was new to me. Going from a hot knife through butter to not being able to cut through small pines just through some red flags and I didn’t want to keep running the saw if there was a more serious issue. But moving forward ill know now. There is lots to learn and ok I’ll shoot him a message thanks.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I think 3/8 picco or lo-pro (same thing just different words) is a great choice on those saws. I prefer filing it versus .325 as well.

 

[SteveSr]

IMHO, Stihl should have never put a .325 18" bar on this saw. a 16" 3/8" lo-pro works MUCH better and would probably out cut a MS260 with a .325 setup... which may be why they did it!

 

[Rick Stephens]

I put an Oregon Speedcut bar and narrow kerf chain on my MS250 and love it. Inexpensive. Bought it new off eBay for cheaps. Narrow kerf is tits.

 

[boltonranger]

Glad to hear about your 036. Good solid saw. Would really like to hear how your first time out cutting with it goes.
Let us know!

 

[W321shark]

Thanks to @cuinrearview getting the saw in the mail so fast, I’ll have it on Thursday.

 

[drf255]

Thanks to @cuinrearview getting the saw in the mail so fast, I’ll have it on Thursday.

Good move. The majority of the members here are honest great people who like saws and truly want to help out.

Tim is one of them. Not sure if he has modded the 036 he has sold you at all, but opening the muffler and advancing the timing a drop will help the saw be more fun and make more power.

And yes, if you are supplying wood, your neighbors better be contributing in some way. Charity gets old fast when it’s unappreciated.

Some day you’ll purchase a modified saw from a member here and sell that 036, likely for the same price you bought it for.

An MS250 is a great little saw, but like all tools, it has an intended purpose. You won’t be cutting 30 cords a year with it. Last I saw, it was a clearance special to make room for the newer models and listed at $299. My bet is that you could get $200 here for it if it’s clean, but I would mod the muffler and keep it around for limbing personally.

One word of advice, mix good oil at 32:1. The 50:1 recommendations are for the EPA, not the saw. The saw will last longer at 32:1.

 

[cuinrearview]

Good move. The majority of the members here are honest great people who like saws and truly want to help out.

Tim is one of them. Not sure if he has modded the 036 he has sold you at all, but opening the muffler and advancing the timing a drop will help the saw be more fun and make more power.

And yes, if you are supplying wood, your neighbors better be contributing in some way. Charity gets old fast when it’s unappreciated.

Some day you’ll purchase a modified saw from a member here and sell that 036, likely for the same price you bought it for.

An MS250 is a great little saw, but like all tools, it has an intended purpose. You won’t be cutting 30 cords a year with it. Last I saw, it was a clearance special to make room for the newer models and listed at $299. My bet is that you could get $200 here for it if it’s clean, but I would mod the muffler and keep it around for limbing personally.

One word of advice, mix good oil at 32:1. The 50:1 recommendations are for the EPA, not the saw. The saw will last longer at 32:1.

Thanks Al. The saw has squish of .021 with no base gasket and ~4° of advance. I had someone complain about noise with a saw I MM'd once so I don't do it unless they ask. Will(OP) was looking for a 20" bar saw, this one will pull a 20 just fine.

 

[SteveSr]

One word of advice, mix good oil at 32:1. The 50:1 recommendations are for the EPA, not the saw. The saw will last longer at 32:1.

Be careful with this... More oil leans out the mixture and the saw is already lean to begin with so could cause seizure and engine failure. If you change the oil ratio you need to get the saw properly re-tuned.

Another good way to kill this saw in a hurry is to operate it as to cause the clutch to slip thereby dumping the excess friction heat into and burning the plastic main housing as follows:
1. Leaving the saw in start position (part throttle) with the chain brake on.
2. Forcing saw to cut with a dull chain.
3. Trying to cut with an incorrectly sharpened (overly aggressive) chain.

If you see smoke coming from the clutch area... Stop immediately... you are doing something WRONG! The Stihl dealers call this a Chernobyl Meltdown Stihl! I have seen and worked on several of these. 100% user error and easily preventable.

 

[Matt Schmitt]

Good move. The majority of the members here are honest great people who like saws and truly want to help out.

Tim is one of them. Not sure if he has modded the 036 he has sold you at all, but opening the muffler and advancing the timing a drop will help the saw be more fun and make more power.

And yes, if you are supplying wood, your neighbors better be contributing in some way. Charity gets old fast when it’s unappreciated.

Some day you’ll purchase a modified saw from a member here and sell that 036, likely for the same price you bought it for.

An MS250 is a great little saw, but like all tools, it has an intended purpose. You won’t be cutting 30 cords a year with it. Last I saw, it was a clearance special to make room for the newer models and listed at $299. My bet is that you could get $200 here for it if it’s clean, but I would mod the muffler and keep it around for limbing personally.

One word of advice, mix good oil at 32:1. The 50:1 recommendations are for the EPA, not the saw. The saw will last longer at 32:1.

Be careful with this... More oil leans out the mixture and the saw is already lean to begin with so could cause seizure and engine failure. If you change the oil ratio you need to get the saw properly re-tuned.

Another good way to kill this saw in a hurry is to operate it as to cause the clutch to slip thereby dumping the excess friction heat into and burning the plastic main housing as follows:
1. Leaving the saw in start position (part throttle) with the chain brake on.
2. Forcing saw to cut with a dull chain.
3. Trying to cut with an incorrectly sharpened (overly aggressive) chain.

If you see smoke coming from the clutch area... Stop immediately... you are doing something WRONG! The Stihl dealers call this a Chernobyl Meltdown Stihl! I have seen and worked on several of these. 100% user error and easily preventable.

I agree on the oil I know some people are going to say I’m crazy but Ive been using amsoil saber at 80:1 the last three years with no issues. I just picked up a 661 that a guy was running at 50:1 with cheap oil and it was already wearing a grove in the cylinder and down to 130psi compression. I’m waiting on a new top end in the mail and will run it at the 80:1 amsoil.

 

[W321shark]

Oh boy some conflicting suggestions. Is there a Consensus on which mix I should run? Also any suggestions on best bang for the buck fuel oil and bar oil?

 

[Matt Schmitt]

Your going to have a million lol. A mech told me oil is used for lubricating the bearings not the piston. Using to much oil can cause the engine to run hotter making the piston wear faster. I was very scared T first but so far so good. They say you can use it at 100:1 I just haven’t got the balls to try it. For instance there is an older guy at my work that bought a new truck it takes 0w20. He said no way am I running that I’m going to run 10w30. I explained how new motors have tight tolerances and he may be doing more harm than good he didn’t care and was going to run the thicker oil. But then again I’m not running manufactures recommendations either so we shall see.

 

[cuinrearview]

Oh boy some conflicting suggestions. Is there a Consensus on which mix I should run?

Lol you don't want to open Pandora's box here do ya? It seems that everyone has their magic "recipe". I think quality is more important than ratio. I won't tell you my non-ethanol with Dolmar(now Makita) synthetic at 40:1 is the best, but it works for me.

 

[W321shark]

Yeah spending a hair more on decent oil certainly saves money in the long run. For fuel, my closest gas station has a ethanol free pump so that’s convenient. We also keep ~100 gallons of pure gas at the house ,that we rotate out, for the generator for emergencies. Never loosing power for 3+ weeks again after hurricane fran. There’s no heat compared to that of no ac and 100% humidity in the south.

Any brand recommendations? I’ve been using Kinetix

 

[Matt_Ellerbee]

Thanks to @cuinrearview getting the saw in the mail so fast, I’ll have it on Thursday.

Tim is a good dude and easy to deal with. Hopefully he tossed a few beers in that box too!

 

[cuinrearview]

Tim is a good dude and easy to deal with. Hopefully he tossed a few beers in that box too!

I did not! SC has some great breweries too. I'm still pretty jealous of your Tropicalia hook up down there Matt. Maybe it's time for us to do another swap? Hopslam did just drop...

 

[SteveSr]

Yeah spending a hair more on decent oil certainly saves money in the long run. For fuel, my closest gas station has a ethanol free pump so that’s convenient. We also keep ~100 gallons of pure gas at the house ,that we rotate out, for the generator for emergencies. Never loosing power for 3+ weeks again after hurricane fran. There’s no heat compared to that of no ac and 100% humidity in the south.

Watch out with stored (i.e. old) gas and 2-strokes. 2-strokes are basically fuel cooled engines with the high volatiles doing most of the cooling. Well, the first thing to leave stored gas due to evaporation are the high volatiles! My general recommendation for fuel mix is 4-6 weeks if using porous plastic storage containers and 8-12 weeks if using tightly sealed metal containers. These storage times are from the pump. Also try to avoid buying old E-free from a station that doesn't sell very much, i.e. a marina in winter. Ask the station manager (when the last was) and how often they get E-free deliveries to get an idea of how long the product was in the underground tank before you bought it. I also don't put much faith in fuel stabilizers. You can't fix old gas!

BTW, the only stable fuels are the alkylated fuels like Moto-Mix and True Fuel. Properly stored they will last for several years.