McCulloch Chain Saws

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I had some fun with the Super 44A today.I went to pull the carb & saw that someone else had been too cheap to go to the hardward store & buy a 29 cent fuel line clamp,they took a copper wire & wrapped it around the fuel line & twisted it tight.Now here I am,God knows how many yrs.later trying to unwind the wire.It was not an easy feat,but the carb is off the saw.I understand completely why the poor saw refused to start & run,even on a prime.I've pulled a lot of carbs apart in the 3 1/2 yrs.I've been working on saws & tearing carbs apart,but this one by far gets the Hardest Diaphragm Ever award.I could hear it crackle as I pried the cover off the carb on the fuel pump side & the same thing on the metering side.I never knew a diaphragm could get so stiff.Not to mention all the dirt & sawdust in the inlet screen.

Mark,you said the needles were on the side of the carb.I've never seen needles that were flush with the carb body on an HL carb.

I'm assuming an RK HL88 kit will do the trick?
Hey now Ed ! Copper is high right now, that fellow made an investment in that fuel line.
 
I got the carb rebuilt,not pressure tested yet.I used an 88HL kit,I hope it works.It's been about a yr.since I rebuilt an HL carb.Something I noticed with the new kit - it had an old style metering lever & a new style needle.The new needle was longer than the old one,so I didn't think it'd work & I put the old needle back in,it looked to be in good shape yet.I put the needles under a 12x magnifier to see the true condition of them.I'm knocking off early today,too dang hot to try to put the carb back in the saw.
 
Through some investigating I've found the the Super 44A should've had a flat back carb on it,not a Tilly HL.This proves that someone had been in the saw before & changed out the original carb.Bob J.mentioned that there was an accelerator pump on the side of the carb & when I told him there was none on the HL he said it wasn't right.Also,Acres' site (although not completely reliable) says that it should have the flat back cacb.
 
Interesting to hear you guys talking about and using a Cricut machine to make gaskets. My wife bought one for arts and crafts, and the first thing i thought of was making gaskets, haha
We bought the more " heavy duty" Cricut that can cut material like leather. One of these days I will need to try making a gasket.
 
Bad news with the HL carb,I can't get it to hold pressure.It leaks out of the top of the turret.On this model HL there's a little cap that fits in the bronze fuel filter over the top of a protruding hole.I can't get that miniscule little cap to seal over that hole.I've also tried a new gasket,but it's too big.I've got another identical HL carb that's in a seized 44A,I'm thinking of pulling that carb out & put the kit in it & see what happens.
 
It goes from bad to worse.I pulled the carb off the D44 & went to unscrew the screw that holds the plastic inlet piece on & the screw broke off flush with the carb fuel pump plate.Just as well,the carb must've been left out in the elements with the rest of the saw for decades.Might as well throw the saw in the corner for a few yrs.till I cool off & can figure the carb out.
 
My project was a little bit easier , I've had and cut with this 55 for a couple years and last winter it started acting up and wouldn't keep a tune. It has the fully adjustable carburetor so seals were ordered. 20210822_135154.jpg20210822_135125.jpg20210822_135143.jpg
I'll fire her up tomorrow after the sealant is cure I used on the seals outer edge.
 
It has been awhile since I checked, but I believe MAC listed seal replacement as an annual service item.

Ron
Yeah these were nice looking on the saw but rock hard!
The big seal under the flywheel is no joke that sucker put up quite a fight. I also made the points system maintenance free while I was at it AKA installed a Nova2 chip..
 
Nice looking pm55!

I worked on mine this last week. It wouldnt run right since i got it. Runs strong but hard to restart and seemed to lack compression once warmed up. Tore it down and noticed the flywheel would just barely rub the coil. 1 issue. The points were very dirty and pitted 2nd problem. The spark plug was not correct either. 3rd issue found. The carburetor i put on it didnt fit the saw. Physically yes but not the engine. It was a sdc88. I believe it was governed. 4th issue. Got the points cleaned up (out of nova chips). Gapped properly, gapped the coil correctly. Put in the new spark plug, and swapped out to a sdc 37 carb. Boy it was happy after all that!! Great runner and starts much better.
 
Nice looking pm55!

I worked on mine this last week. It wouldnt run right since i got it. Runs strong but hard to restart and seemed to lack compression once warmed up. Tore it down and noticed the flywheel would just barely rub the coil. 1 issue. The points were very dirty and pitted 2nd problem. The spark plug was not correct either. 3rd issue found. The carburetor i put on it didnt fit the saw. Physically yes but not the engine. It was a sdc88. I believe it was governed. 4th issue. Got the points cleaned up (out of nova chips). Gapped properly, gapped the coil correctly. Put in the new spark plug, and swapped out to a sdc 37 carb. Boy it was happy after all that!! Great runner and starts much better.
I have net some very good runners on points , but I also like the advance curve that they build into the chips.
I'm trying hard to make the 55s reliable saws because of there relationship with the 10-10S ,after I'm done with them I can get an idea if it'll hold its own with the S.
 
Yeah these were nice looking on the saw but rock hard!
The big seal under the flywheel is no joke that sucker put up quite a fight. I also made the points system maintenance free while I was at it AKA installed a Nova2 chip..
Don’t think for even a moment that I follow the factory recommendation.. Maintenance wise I am closer to you run it till it doesn’t. Brian can verify that if necessary. I am trying to change but old habits are hard to break.
Ron
 
I thought Don AKA sawfun might enjoy seeing the CP125 does work. The cottonwood did not require the full 48" bar but I don't think it would have made much difference to the saw.

20210821_162344.jpg

I decided to challenge the saw a bit with an ugly oak trunk someone had dropped off just to make it work. It was not quite as fast as going through the cottonwood (required more of the bar too) and the saw pulled it very nicely.

Mark
 
I think maybe sometimes Bob J.gets the models confused & once he has his mind set,there's no changing it.
The model carb that was on the Super 44A was an HL19D.I pulled the same model carb off a D44,not much difference between the 2 except for a few cc.s.
 
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