When I was in high school (late 90's) my dad and I use to cut firewood with a Partner S55. He stopped using it and bought a Stihl MS250 when he said the bar on the Partner was getting really worn and he was told replacement bars were very hard to find.
The S55 sat in the corner of the shop until about 5 years ago he said he was going to take it to a pawn shop because he wanted the shop cleaned out. I told him a pawn shop would likely only give him $20 for an old saw with a worn out bar and that I would store it in my garage if he really wanted the clean space that bad.
Now I am cutting firewood for my current house which has caused him to comeback out in the woods with me. He has stated a few times that he thought the MS250 would have been a comparable saw to the S55, but he was never happy that it didn't have the power. My GF found the S55 in the barn a couple months ago and was slightly upset because she thought I was trying to hide "another chainsaw" from her. I told her the story and that I had it because I was planning on getting it running someday. That didn't help her mood very much because now instead of "another chainsaw", I had "another project".
With all of that in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to get the old S55 running and give it back to my dad at Christmas this year. I started on the project this weekend, and surprisingly the saw appears to be in great shape!
The bar is an old Windsor bar and it looks like the rails started to spread apart. It looks like my dad ground on the outside because the rails had gotten wider than the chain. I also found that one of chains is a .050 gauge instead of .058 gauge like the other chains and the bar. I ordered a new Carlton large Husky mount bar that should fit according to my research.
I also took the carb apart and put a kit in it as it's been sitting for 15-20 years. Surprisingly it didn't look very bad inside at all. I need to stop and get some new fuel line and I think I will be ready to try and fire it up.
Here are some pictures of what I started with. I forgot to take some after I spent a few hours cleaning it.
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