Nik's Poulan Thread

[zogger]

Thanks Zogger. I've taken the pully apart, cleaned the rope and cover plate, re-wound the spring. Have done this 3 times and it still won't fully retract. With the running issues, i thought I had the mixture right a month ago nut when i tried to use it over the weekend, it would idle but not run under 1/2 or full throttle, in or out of wood. I put a new fuel filter and fuel line on it. Agree that it's impossible to find that displacement nowdays but if the saw gives me trouble every time i use it, and we just had a nasty snow/ice storm up here in CT where i needed it fast, it's not worth the stress. I appreciate you taking the time to respond though.

Had the carb apart? most saws under one of the two plates that unscrew first, have a final little tiny screen inside. these get plugged with dirt particles and congealed laquered out fuel mix. I'd try a carb kit first, and when you got the carb off, take the muffler off as well, then take it to a shop for a leak/vacuum test. (plus you can then inspect the piston from both sides, see if it is scored or maybe needs new rings) A leak in any of the seals anyplace will make it run weird or not at all, etc. Not sure around you, where I am a leak test if the saw is nice and clean and the carb and muffler is already off is 14$. I don't own a vacuum tester yet, it is on my "I need some more dang tools list".

Rebuilding a generic carb takes about fifteen minutes, at least for me. Just lay out the parts carefully so you know which gasket etc goes which way. clean the body out good once it is apart, go outside and blast it all out with carb cleaner using the little straw thing. Watch for getting it in the face (don't ask me how I know this...)

I have found just about every used saw I have touched has that little teeny screen inside plugged up, have found several now that is all it took to get a saw back running again. I real careful like with a sharp knife filet off the gaskets to keep them intact, clean, reassemble if the diaphragm still looks good and is flexible. I'm cheap, (well, semi retired real lowball poverty level fixed income, call me "frugal") I do the real cheap no new parts needed repair things first before I chunk money at used saws..but..yours is an exceptional *nice* one once running well. I've used mine now to do a lot of firewood this early fall so far. Still needs a bit more work, but she pulls...pulls well. If you wind up having to drop a benjamin total on the thing for parts and labor it is still worth it to get it "right". You just ain't gonna get a saw that powerful and easy to use and work on for less than that. Well, not too often anyway, I am sure some of the old saw hands here have gotten free saws that good or better, but you know what I am saying.

No probs on the reply, tons of guys here on tons of subjects have educated me on this or that. I spent a few months reading and lurking but finally registered to see the pictures, well worth it, made some nice friends here so far (online only so far) and only whizzed off a few dozen I think... Shoot, haven't even got any death threats yet or "gonna kik yore azz" messages.

On that spring, seems like one more turn around tightening before you clamp it down and let the string get taken back up. (or however much it takes). Still too long, but yanks out far enough and starts the saw, heck, trim it off....or *maybe* someone replaced it with too thick of string and the reel gets filled up early? It could be the correct length but if too thick it won't take up all the way.

Hard to tell much without pics. Post tons of pics on saws, the real smart guys here can help you more. (well, the ones who ain't whizzed at me encouraging you to keep the saw...hahaaha) heheheheh

Or, if you really don't want to dork around with it anymore, offer it for a straight swap for a decent runner, something else, sorta close to what you need. I would think at least 50ccs or so for a decent name brand not clapped out runner, it would be a fair enough swap. You want something beefy enough to handle at least an 18 and some larger wood I would think, for the work you describe.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I have a Poulan 245A that i would like to sell. It runs but can be temperamental. Also, starter rope wont rewind fully. Don't know what it's worth. New Oregon bar and chain.

You can always offer it up on ebay. They're paying decent prices for the big saws right now. Personally, I'd keep it and learn how to fix it right and in the meantime just buy a newer saw to use until you get it fixed. I'm sure that when it's running right and everything is fixed you'll like it better than the newer saw.

 

[mjcibor]

Thank you both. Wonder if the mixture was off from 16:1 would cause it to lose power like that at 1/2 or w-o-t BTW, I did check that screen and it was clean.

 

[blsnelling]

Dump that fuel! Replace it with fresh 40:1. Use a good quality full synthetic oil.

 

[mjcibor]

How can you run it so lean when it calls for 16:1?

 

[zogger]

oils

How can you run it so lean when it calls for 16:1?

--modern oils are made much better than in years past. It is fine to run a modern good quality syn or syn blend at like 40 to 1 or even 50 to 1. Back then, the oils weren't so hot, so they advised using a richer mixture..just not needed today.

Now gasoline today is worse, look around for "no ethanol" gas, but oils are just wayyyy better.

When I first started cutting we used car 30 weight for everything, for the mix, and the bar oil..I do NOT miss the "bad old days" of doing that. You can cut today and not gas yourself out standing in a petrochemical thick fog. Loads better. Won't hurt your saw at all, and make it run better right off the bat.

As to what brand, what ratio, etc, got to be lebenty hundred threads on that here..it don't matter, any good quality modern oil with the recommended ratio on the bottle will work OK. 40 to 1 is fine for your purposes. I tend to run between 40 and 50 to one, I'll go ahead and call it 45 to 1. I mix 50 to one for 2.5 gallons, but only put in 2 gallons and whatever change it takes to round it off to the nearest buck. Because I like the extra space in the jug for shaking it up/ mixing it up purposes.

this is more important, IMO:

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

If you can do it, don't run that ethanol crap gas in your small engines, run just pure gas and good mix oil at a modern ratio.

 

[Snyper438]

How can you run it so lean when it calls for 16:1?

Leaner mix won't hurt, run my 245A and all the others at 40:1 or 36:1 with no problems at all, have run 50:1 when helping friends cut (mix 2.5 gallons and share). Tried 16:1 a while ago and they wouldn't right (the 245 or 306, didn't try it in the newer ones). I'm with Zogger and A. Palmer. Rebuild the carb (it's pretty easy) and keep it. If you need any help with anything, the guys on here are a great resource. As for the recoil, does the spring jump or does it just start binding?

Ed

 

[sac]

Hello,

I have some more newbie questions. Looking at a gray Craftsman 358.356,that I think is a 3700.
The owner stats it has 125 to 130 compression which I don't think bothers me as it doesn't sound hard to replace the rings if needed. The thing that I am woundering is that it was a model that had an automatic chain sharpener, and the unit has been removed. would that make any differance in the performance of the saw ? I have the bug bad. I would like to have a few runners before I start on builders.

Thanks Scott

 

[Snyper438]

Hello,

I have some more newbie questions. Looking at a gray Craftsman 358.356,that I think is a 3700.
The owner stats it has 125 to 130 compression which I don't think bothers me as it doesn't sound hard to replace the rings if needed. The thing that I am woundering is that it was a model that had an automatic chain sharpener, and the unit has been removed. would that make any differance in the performance of the saw ? I have the bug bad. I would like to have a few runners before I start on builders.

Thanks Scott

Won't hurt a thing, most I see have been disabled/removed.

Ed

 

[dave76]

Hello,

I have some more newbie questions. Looking at a gray Craftsman 358.356,that I think is a 3700.
The owner stats it has 125 to 130 compression which I don't think bothers me as it doesn't sound hard to replace the rings if needed. The thing that I am woundering is that it was a model that had an automatic chain sharpener, and the unit has been removed. would that make any differance in the performance of the saw ? I have the bug bad. I would like to have a few runners before I start on builders.

Thanks Scott

Hey Scott, welcome. What you have there is a Poulan 3800, it is 3.7 cu in, or 61cc same as the old red Craftsman 3.7 and 3700, however you have the unplated cylinder with the chromed piston and thick rings, Nothing at all wrong with them, I had both the 3800 and the Craftsman Grey 3.7. Compression seems normal. On the power sharp models most people did just remove them, especially since Oregon doesn't make the PS chains anymore. A good muffler mod is in order to make these saws really come to life. See below.

 

[dave76]

3400-4000 Muff mod

Lately I've been modding the muffs with just the simple slit, and since most people ask how to mod a muffler, I snapped a few shots of how I do mine. Enjoy
I usually put the body on a solid piece of steel, and sharpen my chisle up and wack it until she cuts.

I used a 3/8s bit to open the holes up more.

And somtimes I get in the mood to pull the welder out and do em like this. Bit more work though.

 

[Chris J.]

Lately I've been modding the muffs with just the simple slit...

And somtimes I get in the mood to pull the welder out and do em like this. Bit more work though.

Is the muffler in the above photo yours, or is it from another Poulan model? Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't it be wiser to to have the pipe directing the exhaust away from the saw, instead on the side & cover?

 

[nick 55]

Hey Dave, thanks for the pointers you gave me for my muffler mod. This is what I did.....
I bought a new muffler, PN#530069707 from atlantic_tool_warehouse on Ebay. It was $20 with free shipping, it is a multi-piece design that, like you said, is easier to mod. I took some pics.

You can see an immediate difference in ease of dis-assembly when you look at them side by side.


I cut away the marked area on the inner baffle only on the one side as I didn't want to make it super loud, and I believe the opening will be sufficient anyways.

I like to keep factory heat shields in place where possible, so I marked where it would rub on the new muffler with a sharpie, and trimmed that small spot away.

The new muffler had 2 alignment tabs on the engine side that hit the heat shield so I gently ground those down, without going through the metal, and used some paint to touch it up. I also had to port match the inlet a little bit as this muffler sat about 2mm higher on the cylinder than the stock one.

Here you can see how it looked as I was reassembling it, I didn't touch the outlet port or add a cool exhaust tip, and put it back together. I just did a test fire on it to see how it sounded as I'm still waiting on the carb adjusting tool, and was pleased with it. It definitely sounds different and the couple times I goosed the throttle, it felt more snappy(if that's a word).

Thanks guys for the pointers, and if anyone does feel like modding these newer saws, save yourself the effort and chance of stabbing yourself with a screwdriver trying to pry open the stock muffler by buying the older one. With just about 20 minutes of work, I had it on and fitted properly using the same tools I used to open it up and install it.

Nick

 

[nick 55]

And here's the last two pics. I didn't know how to add them quite like Dave did....

Nick

 

[dave76]

And here's the last two pics. I didn't know how to add them quite like Dave did....

Nick

Yes you could do it that way, however I would of just enlarged the holes and drilled them all the way through. Actually the way you have it will make it louder because the that large opening just blows up and right out the side, if you drill it through, you'll use the whole muffler body and equalize the pressures top and bottom. But hey if it works...........

Who ever you have for picture hosting, you should have an image code link on each picture to highlight and copy, then paste it here. Thats how I do it, from Photobucket.

 

[dave76]

Is the muffler in the above photo yours, or is it from another Poulan model? Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't it be wiser to to have the pipe directing the exhaust away from the saw, instead on the side & cover?

Yes it's mine and yes your right, on the 3400 and 3700 clutch cover this exhaust clears the cover, but I had forgotten the 4000 cover is much larger. Oh well, have to make another........

 

[joe25DA]

Advertising

Found this REALLY cool sign from a guy I bought snowblowers from. Just so happened he had 3 others. I bought all 4. Ill say this Ive seen this sign on the 'bay for at least 5x what I paid for 4. Whats also nice Is I have the saw in the ad! (2 actually)

Heres the others. From the 80's Id guess
Briggs, Tecumseh and Oregon chain

 

[Stihl-Pioneer]

Found this REALLY cool sign from a guy I bought snowblowers from. Just so happened he had 3 others. I bought all 4. Ill say this Ive seen this sign on the 'bay for at least 5x what I paid for 4. Whats also nice Is I have the saw in the ad! (2 actually)

I have 2 of those signs also. One from back in the 90's when my dad and I sold Poulan Pro saws and one I picked up on the bay not long ago. One for the garage and one for the shop.:biggrin:

 

[joe25DA]

I have 2 of those signs also. One from back in the 90's when my dad and I sold Poulan Pro saws and one I picked up on the bay not long ago. One for the garage and one for the shop.:biggrin:

Yeah Im gonna put them around between the shop, shed and garage

 

[stubnail67]

Finally got a s25cv!!!!

So i finally got a S25cv that i thought was worthy... it came without a carb bar and chain and some other issues... but i got her going decent after a day or two here she is all cleaned up... replaced the carb with an old one used some ok gaskets i had on hand it needs a real rebuild but its working for today.... cleaned her drilled and modded the muffler repainted it put an old echo 52 link chain and bar on it repanted it grey till i get me a better one but here it is,,,, cant wait to rebuild the carb right so i can put it to work!!!!