Pioneer chainsaws

[BIGBORE577]

Try out some Gibsons Sterling when your next up Lot nicer than the "Club",IMO. Crown Royal used to be the mainstay, but they changed the recipe, now not so good.

I agree, Hats off to Jerry(and all the others here!!), but Jerry has had a lot of patience with my constant questions with regards to the old IEL's and paint.

:greenchainsaw:

You're no slouch either! I have to get a picture of the new dog on my Clinton D-35.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Here is the Tillotson carb from the IEL mod HC that I am stripping and rebuilding and at 51 years old it still ran quite well. This carb had never been apart, the screws were painted with the saw on the carb bottom and they had never been broken free of the paint that was applied at the factory in Vancouver B.C.

 

[WesternSaw]

Cleaning a Pioneer

Hi Fellas
Just had a thought last night.Yea I know it could be dangerous LOL.My MIL bought a small handheld steamer a while back ,you know the kind that you can use to clean bathroom tiles and the like,household use.If you have a saw that is intact when you get it, but real dirty,combination bar oil,dust,dirt,oily sawdust.What are your thoughts that I could use it to give the outside of the saw a quick clean up to let the crap run off ?I know most of you give them a blast with compressed air, which I do not have.Lately I have been using a tooth brush with Simple Green,dental picks,wooden chopsticks with small cloth patches to get between the cylinder fins.I would not use it to clean off the plastic air covers which seem to be extinct without being cracked ,marred or broken.
Lawrence

 

[FATGUY]

I never considered using steam. I think it'd be fine as long as you didn't hold it on too long. When you're done, i'd put the hose on the exhaust side of the shop-vac and try to get as much of the condensation off as possible. (maybe spray a little wd-40 on it afterwards, not too much or you'll defeat the purpose of cleaning it)

 

[pioneerguy600]

Hi Fellas
Just had a thought last night.Yea I know it could be dangerous LOL.My MIL bought a small handheld steamer a while back ,you know the kind that you can use to clean bathroom tiles and the like,household use.If you have a saw that is intact when you get it, but real dirty,combination bar oil,dust,dirt,oily sawdust.What are your thoughts that I could use it to give the outside of the saw a quick clean up to let the crap run off ?I know most of you give them a blast with compressed air, which I do not have.Lately I have been using a tooth brush with Simple Green,dental picks,wooden chopsticks with small cloth patches to get between the cylinder fins.I would not use it to clean off the plastic air covers which seem to be extinct without being cracked ,marred or broken.I have used Jerry's meathod of a shop vac and suck the stuff up,but I think one of these days maybe some stray fuel fumes would be ignited by the vaccum motor.
Lawrence

Lawrence I don`t use a shop vac to clean complete running chainsaws, only time I use an old shop vac is to clean out crankcases of saws that have had lean seizures or other P&C damage like broken rings, circlips and the such when there is a lot of grindings in the base. Only use a vac on stuff like purple cleaner and degreasers, never on gasoline or other explosive solvents. I have 3 compressors in the shop , the largest is an Ingersol Rand 8hp dual stage twin cyl capable of delivering 150 lbs. , its wired 230 v and does the majority of the shop work. Also have two portable compressors to take out on the trucks to do on site work so I just go the comp air route to do the quick cleanups after a days work, just blow off everything you can see. Once a week all saws that have been run are opened up and blown out,recoil,top,air filter and clutch side taken off and blown out then washed in a spray gun cleaning cabinet with varsol as a solvent, blow dry and reassemble, clean bar grooves, debur if necessary and check for straightness and trueness of the rails, grease the sprocket tip and reassemble bar and chain, adjust the chain and there ready to refuel and add bar oil. Takes about 15 mins for each saw X10 to 15 saws so its easy to accomplish in a morning at the shop.
Pioneerguy600

 

[WesternSaw]

Error on my part

Hello Fellas
Anyone who read my last post about using a small handheld steamer for saw cleanup,let me know what you think please.BUT I DO NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO PIONEERGUY600 JERRY for a statement that I made regarding the use of a shop vac for sucking up greasy debris from the exterior of the saw.JERRY does not do this with flammable substances of any kind and Do not think he uses a shop vac for cleaning saws at all except for what he responded with in his last post.SORRY JERRY,AGAIN MY APOLOGIZES.I have edited that item
Lawrence

 

[artie__bc]

I use a hot water pressure washer to clean saws prior to working on them. If you blow them off right after you wash them, they are dry when your done, as the metal is still hot. With high pressure or steam, you have to prepared to lose some paint, though. I wouldn't do it to a saw that was a collector's item.

 

[Jacob J.]

Most of the older saws are stout enough that a little pressure washing isn't going to hurt. Just make sure you got a baggy over the muffler and air filter cover and the spark plug is in tight.

I had a kid on one of my fire crews years ago when I ran crews for the state here that would get a little crazy with the pressure washer on saws. He took the clutch off an 044 once and managed to blow that seal out and fill the crankcase with hot, soapy water.

 

[Jacob J.]

Here is the Tillotson carb from the IEL mod HC that I am stripping and rebuilding and at 51 years old it still ran quite well. This carb had never been apart, the screws were painted with the saw on the carb bottom and they had never been broken free of the paint that was applied at the factory in Vancouver B.C.

Hey Jerry- that old carb looks pretty good. I would imagine most of the wear and tear on it came during the days long ago when we were still running 'good' gas. The carb on my 750 looked almost that good when I got it. I'm converting it over to a more modern Tillotson HL though.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Hey Jerry- that old carb looks pretty good. I would imagine most of the wear and tear on it came during the days long ago when we were still running 'good' gas. The carb on my 750 looked almost that good when I got it. I'm converting it over to a more modern Tillotson HL though.

I thought it looked pretty good also, most of them have been apart and kitted many times by the time they are this old. This saw was still being used by one of the brothers of the original owner. The only other HC that I know of that is in better shape overall is the one I have and its been in my family since new, never kitted,or any repairs ever until this past summer the spark plug threads finally gave up and I timeserted it and sealed the insert with Devcon. I run it at least once a month to keep it lubed, it still has very good compression at around 150 and will start up on a couple of pulls anytime. They are one tough old chainsaw and really heavy for their size.
Pioneerguy600

 

[pioneerguy600]

This is a pict of my HC, its in pretty good condition for the age of it, I am not sure if I posted a pict of it earlier in the thread but some talk about them has piqued my interest in it .

 

[crane]

Piston ring end gap

Does anyone know the specs for ring gap on a NU-17? Piston is 2.25". My rings measure .064" thick, 0.104" deep. The ring end gap is .026" (around the cylinder skirt), and .028" near the top of the cylinder(Spark plug). This seems well above the .010-.020" tolerance range I found thru the search. Will these rings work. Would like to know before I put the cylinder back together for a compression check.

Drew

 

[porky616]

got my nu17 running yesterday. wow was there some smoke come out of it. after some tuning she ran beautifully. must say it sure is loud ears were ringing big time but i loved it. mate just bought a mcculloch super pro 125 and was telling me how loud it is, he changed his opinion after two minutes with the nu17

 

[RedShift42]

I have a few Pioneer chainsaws and do a fair amount of restoration work on them. The saw you have is not considered a valuable collector and there is no scarcity of them out there. I know of a lot of them still in use for firewood cutting and can be picked up for little bit of pocket change. The most I personally seen paid for one recently was $ 50. for a near perfect one that ran like new, top air filter cover in perfect condition as that is the scarcest part to find for these saws. IMO.
Pioneerguy600

Thanx, Jerry! That's exactly the sort of info I was looking for. Very much appreciated.
-Eric.

 

[WesternSaw]

Jerry's IEL's

Hello Jerry
That is a nice looking HC. STOUT is the word that comes to mind when I looked at it.I am in the process of putting all my printed Pioneer literature that are loose pages into protective sleeves and into a binder.I seem to have more on the IEL's now than on the later Pioneers.
Lawrence

 

[crane]

Does anyone know the specs for ring gap on a NU-17? Piston is 2.25". My rings measure .064" thick, 0.104" deep. The ring end gap is .026" (around the cylinder skirt), and .028" near the top of the cylinder(Spark plug). This seems well above the .010-.020" tolerance range I found thru the search. Will these rings work. Would like to know before I put the cylinder back together for a compression check.

Drew

Put the cylinder back together and rebuilt the recoil system. Vacum tested the saw and it will hold 10 on the vac gauge indefinitely. Replaced the recoil assembly and did a compression check.............30psi is all I can get
Guess I will be getting a set of rings. A local shop can get me rings made. I got a test set for another saw. I have to cut the appropriate ring end gap tho. I imagine that ring steel is pretty hard and pretty brittle, any suggestions on how to file/cut the ring? Also, there is no ring locator pin on the NU-17 piston. Any idea where the end gap is to be located? Forgot to make note when I pulled the piston.

Drew

 

[pioneerguy600]

Put the cylinder back together and rebuilt the recoil system. Vacum tested the saw and it will hold 10 on the vac gauge indefinitely. Replaced the recoil assembly and did a compression check.............30psi is all I can get
Guess I will be getting a set of rings. A local shop can get me rings made. I got a test set for another saw. I have to cut the appropriate ring end gap tho. I imagine that ring steel is pretty hard and pretty brittle, any suggestions on how to file/cut the ring? Also, there is no ring locator pin on the NU-17 piston. Any idea where the end gap is to be located? Forgot to make note when I pulled the piston.

Drew

When there is no pin in the ring land or groove then the end gap can go anyplace but I locate them where there is the greatest width between intake or exhaust and any transfer ports. The preferred ring end gap is 0.008 to 0.0014 according to Pioneer service manual. Rings are ductile iron mostly and will file with a ignition file to achieve ring gap, if stock 57 mm rings are used in a stock used bore then you won`t have to worry about the ring gap as I have never found a tighter than specified set but if you are adapting another set from aftermarket or having some made by surface grinding some thicker ones down then check all fits closely.
Pioneerguy600

 

[crane]

thanks Jerry,

The shop has a distributer that cuts rings for them(they won't tell me who), I send in a piston, rings and cylinder and they cut rings to fit. Costs about $18 for a set. The end gap was not cut right and the rings contacts the ring stop on both sides. Need to take a fraction off the the end of the ring to get it right. With the bare ring in the cylinder, the end gap is zero. Like I said, this is a test set, if I get these installed in the other saw, and they work, I'll order a set for the Pioneer. Will take your advice and scrutinize the fit of the rings.

Drew

 

[pioneerguy600]

That is a really good price for a set of rings, the NOS rings for the 57 mm Pioneer pistons are getting harder to find and can run from $20 -$40 a set if you can find them. They can cost even more to have a thick set from a B&S engine ground down at a machine shop.
Pioneerguy600

 

[FATGUY]

That is a really good price for a set of rings, the NOS rings for the 57 mm Pioneer pistons are getting harder to find and can run from $20 -$40 a set if you can find them. They can cost even more to have a thick set from a B&S engine ground down at a machine shop.
Pioneerguy600

unless you know a friendly machinist...