Nik's Poulan Thread

[OhioGregg]

Thanks for all the info from an insiders view point Ronnie. Its great to hear what went on at Poulan back in those days.
I'v got a question for ya Ron. Since you were on the line that built the 3400, 3700, 4000 saws. Which are my favorites by the way, At least the ones Im most familiar with.

When the color and name change came with the Poulan Pro line. Why were the 375 & 395 and I guess the 385, although I have never seen one, all built with what are common 4000 parts? Like the air filter setup, muffler with the side outlet, heavier starter engagement pawls etc? I just assumed that they just must have had an abundance of those parts, so continued with them till the production of those models closed down.


Gregg,

 

[joe25DA]

Welcome Ron, Great to have another source of Poulan info and a fan. Like mark said, its a shame to hear Poulan is going to China. Whenever Id talk of the new Poulans I always made it a point to say, "They are still made here." Unlike the Homelites and new Macs. So my next saw will be a last of the Made in the USA Poulans.

 

[stubnail67]

Welcome Ron, Great to have another source of Poulan info and a fan. Like mark said, its a shame to hear Poulan is going to China. Whenever Id talk of the new Poulans I always made it a point to say, "They are still made here." Unlike the Homelites and new Macs. So my next saw will be a last of the Made in the USA Poulans.

Whats your next saw? you getting a new poulan?

 

[OhioGregg]

WOW! I see some Poulans are starting to get some respect on Ebay. A 4000 just sold for $350 and a 5200 for $406.
Good if your selling I suppose, not so good if your buying. Times, they are a changing.


Gregg,

 

[joe25DA]

Whats your next saw? you getting a new poulan?

Yup. Probably a 3314. Im not buying it from Walmart tho!

 

[Modifiedmark]

Thanks for all the info from an insiders view point Ronnie. Its great to hear what went on at Poulan back in those days.
I'v got a question for ya Ron. Since you were on the line that built the 3400, 3700, 4000 saws. Which are my favorites by the way, At least the ones Im most familiar with.

When the color and name change came with the Poulan Pro line. Why were the 375 & 395 and I guess the 385, although I have never seen one, all built with what are common 4000 parts? Like the air filter setup, muffler with the side outlet, heavier starter engagement pawls etc? I just assumed that they just must have had an abundance of those parts, so continued with them till the production of those models closed down.


Gregg,

Gregg/ thats a good question and it goes along with what I was asking about the "why" of the Poulan Pro line. Those saws were sold along side the relabled ones I spoke of, but I get fuzzy with numbers and years. Also how did the Poulan Pro 330 make it as far as 2007 if its such a dirty emmissions saw?

 

[rms61moparman]

WOW! I see some Poulans are starting to get some respect on Ebay. A 4000 just sold for $350 and a 5200 for $406.
Good if your selling I suppose, not so good if your buying. Times, they are a changing.


Gregg,

Andyshine77 got one a LOT cheaper than that last night!


Mike

 

[joe25DA]

Gregg/ thats a good question and it goes along with what I was asking about the "why" of the Poulan Pro line. Those saws were sold along side the relabled ones I spoke of, but I get fuzzy with numbers and years. Also how did the Poulan Pro 330 make it as far as 2007 if its such a dirty emmissions saw?

Good point Mark. Ron did mention the reed valve saws as not passing emissions, the last of them being the PPS25 and Micros, although not sure what year. I would think the first of Poulans to use the Piston Port was the 3400 in '79.

 

[Modifiedmark]

WOW! I see some Poulans are starting to get some respect on Ebay. A 4000 just sold for $350 and a 5200 for $406.
Good if your selling I suppose, not so good if your buying. Times, they are a changing.


Gregg,

To think, that 5200 when I seen it on CL was like $225 or such. It brought more then a completly rebuilt and restored one did.

Actually compared to what other brands can bring, I won't say that it was out of line at\ $400

The 4000 did surprise me though. A AS member was the seller and I just bought a couple of saws from him. They were in the shape promised so I'm confident the 4000 buyer did get a nice saw anyway.

 

[OhioGregg]

Andyshine77 got one a LOT cheaper than that last night!


Mike

Oh my!! You unloading Poulans are ya? LOL


Gregg,

 

[Modifiedmark]

Good point Mark. Ron did mention the reed valve saws as not passing emissions, the last of them being the PPS25 and Micros, although not sure what year. I would think the first of Poulans to use the Piston Port was the 3400 in '79.

I think your right Joe, the 7700/8500's would probably be the last other ones to be reed inducted.

 

[Modifiedmark]

Andyshine77 got one a LOT cheaper than that last night!


Mike

Yes and he probably got a dinner out of the deal too!

 

[tbone75]

Yup. Probably a 3314. Im not buying it from Walmart tho!

I have a new one with no box I would part with.I like trades LOL

 

[joe25DA]

I think your right Joe, the 7700/8500's would probably be the last other ones to be reed inducted.

Of course Mark has to remind me of the 7700/8500s!:yoyo:

 

[Big Dan]

PP365 duckbill question

I'm putting a new gas line and impulse line on my 365 and can't figure out how to install a new connector in the gas tank to attach the impulse line and duckbill valve. Have any of you done this on a 365?

 

[OhioGregg]

Gregg/ thats a good question and it goes along with what I was asking about the "why" of the Poulan Pro line. Those saws were sold along side the relabled ones I spoke of, but I get fuzzy with numbers and years. Also how did the Poulan Pro 330 make it as far as 2007 if its such a dirty emmissions saw?

I have enough questions that will probably scare him off! LOL He will be overloaded. I wish he could put down in writting in a post or attachment, to the best of his abilities and recollections anyway, the various years of production of some of the various models. Like what years the 6900, 7700, 8500 were made, for example. Or what years the 3400 was made, same for the 3700 & 4000. I say put it in writing, because I would never remember them .

To come across someone who was actually building these saws in the factory, is a dream come true for us here on the Poulan forum.


Gregg,

 

[rms61moparman]

Oh my!! You unloading Poulans are ya? LOL


Gregg,

Only to VERY special people!!!
Do you need any?


Mike

 

[Modifiedmark]

I'm putting a new gas line and impulse line on my 365 and can't figure out how to install a new connector in the gas tank to attach the impulse line and duckbill valve. Have any of you done this on a 365?

Dan, the 365 vent is basically the same as the 3400. This should help you. http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/156629.htm

 

[hogron]

No doubt about the S25 putting Poulan on the map, I would love to see the total production numbers on those. They have to be one of the most rebadege saws ever and might just be the most total ever produced if rebadged are included.

The 219 saws as you called them seemed to be a real good step for Poulan, they to me are better then the countervibe series they replaced. The 2.8 and 3.0 sizes were a welcome size that they had been missing in there lineup although they were a bit pudgy for the 2.8. The 3.3 and 3.6 sizes were very good and it looks like it would have been a good platform to upsize to 70-80cc.

When the emmisons standards started to get stiffer most of the reed saws were already gone or on the way out though were they not?

Poulan knew in advance what the standards were going to and had been putting efforts into meeting standards with existing products but they decided to go into different directions and maybe they were given the directions to head into, during that time I was not privy to the why's and wherefores just the aftermath. I knew there was a big push to get something into production that would meet EPA regs. Once they did get those into the system then they could sell other units on credits that did not meet the spec.

I had heard that story before about Elux wanting to have Husqvarna as there premire Pro saw and that maybe so but I have a hard time figuring why they kept a Pro series at all then with a mix of there own saws, (PP335) rebadged Partners (pp325), and Jonsereds (PP415-505). Even more confusing is the fact the PP335 and PP325 were sold at the same time as there so close in size etc. At that time (89?) every thing in the Poulan Pro lineup was on par or even better then what Husqvarna seemed to have, so not wanting compition don't make much sense to me.

Well take a long look back and who is building pro saws now and who isn't. and after the late 80's even though a product had the Poulan Pro name tag on it did not mean that it was specified for the Pro market. For a saw to be assigned for the pro market it has to meet several assigned criteria such as durability testing in the field for 300 hours minimum and another set for rack testing in the lab. It wasn't just about horsepower, torque and displacement.I have also heard the story that the Poulan Pro line was introduced to appease there stocking servicing dealers.

It was, but when Poulan started making deals with Sears and Wal-Mart etc... then that was the death knell for the dealer network.

I have heard about the labor troubles in Shreveport and thats not surprising as the south seemed to generally anti union states but then again, its lots of money to build new plants, move equipment etc. Who knows what all the truth is as most of us have no concept of the the kind of money that goes through these big corperations. Lower taxes, lower workmans comp payments etc could have all played into it.

Poulan got HUGE tax breaks for coming here. not to mention utilities, land, allowances, the list goes on and on. A friend of mine started working for Poulan in 1967 and retired in 2009 and he told me that when they started building the Nashville plant that they were told that it was for overflow production.

One other question that comes to mind is the Pioneer based Poulan Pros. I at first thought that all the tooling etc from when Elux closed the Peterbrough plant went to Poulan but later found that the Pioneer/Partner saws and the Pioneer based Poluan Pros were produced in the Canadian EMAB plant. From what I have been told, the tooling did later on go to Poulan. Do you remember any Pioneer based Poulan Pros produced in the Poulan plant?

They were built in Canada and there is a friend of mine that if I can get ahold of him that is very knowledgeable of all things Pioneer. I seem to remember some powerheads that were repurposed and packaged in different configurations.

I sure could have gone all day without you telling me about moving any Poulan production to China. I guess it really don't surprise me though. I guess the clamshell Husky will be made in Arkansas now.

Husqvarna is moving alot of their production to Arkansas, whose experience and efficiency at building these products are second to none. there is a reason that they are still the largest manufacturer of chainsaws in the world. Husqvarna's CEO said in a newsletter about 2 years ago that the future of the company lay in developing production in China. Stihl tried and left, it still remains to be seen that china can actually do it.

Thanks for what you can share Ron.

No problem

ron

 

[hogron]

Gregg/ thats a good question and it goes along with what I was asking about the "why" of the Poulan Pro line. Those saws were sold along side the relabled ones I spoke of, but I get fuzzy with numbers and years. Also how did the Poulan Pro 330 make it as far as 2007 if its such a dirty emmissions saw?

Poulan was able to sell units that did not meet emissions standards for anumber of years because they had enough models that did meet the standard so that the EPA would issue them credits to sell those products only not in the state of California which has it's own set of emission standards. In 1985 ANSI released a standard that if companies wanting to wear the UL label would have to adhere to it was ANSI B175.1 1985 and it was a safety standard for occasional users, noise output, kickback, vibration analysis etc.. That would probably mean that alot of muffler configurations that would not meet sound standards would be used up and some of those old saws were so unwieldy and unbalanced that they could not meet some of these standards. Kicback testing was a bear and long bars, bow bars etc could only be used on pro saws that did not fall under the guidelines of this standard but if a product could not meet the specifications for what was considered a "pro" saw then it fell under these guidelines. I believe that one of the criteria was for durability testing for min. 300 hours without major mechanical failure. Can you see where the dilemma started coming in with production of the pro line? Another one of the problems with these saws was the USDA standard for muffler exhaust gasses. Which states that at a plane of contact with the engine running at optimum performance on a dyno and with the contact plane specified by a wire frame there can be no point on that plane to exceed a temp of 480 degrees. That does away with all front exhaust mufflers and let the detuning begin. no more can you just build a hoss and throw it out there and watch the chips fly. Sweden and the US government were responsible for alot of what went on back then and the demise of some good old saws.
I was in the production machining department in 1991 when we ran our last batch of 1000 midsize crankcases for service.

ron