Saw for about an acre

[7jx7]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Looking for some feedback:

Homeowner. Construction business owner (I appreciate good tools). One acre. A 25' pine that fell in the last storm, 2 20' oaks that need to be taken down to the trunk. Rather than pay my landscaper to cut up the pine and clear a ton of large branches that fell, I could spend some more and get a saw. Had a 42cc troy bilt that actually served me well, but it broke.

Having a construction business, I appreciate the worth of good tools but I do not see myself using the saw a ton (however, I have more than a little cutting required).

Looking at an echo 400 for $230 or a 490 for $295....both new. Am I on the money for what I'm going to use it for? Drop it to a poulan or similar?

Thanks for the input

 

[pioneerguy600]

Buy the 490, they get rave reviews.

 

[ericm979]

The important factor is not the tree height but it's diameter. From that you determine the length of the bar you'll need, and from that the size of the saw. Keep in mind that you don't need a bar that's longer than the diameter of the tree, though that makes things a little easier. 60% will do. Having a longer bar than you need means you're carrying around a saw that's larger than you need. A larger saw not only costs more to buy and run but the weight tires you out faster and the longer bar makes it more difficult to handle.

Just guessing but a 45cc saw and 16" bar is probably in the ballpark. Besides the Echos, which are fine, there's also the Stihl MS250.

The #1 problem with infrequently used saws is stale gas in the tank and in the carb. You can avoid that by draining the tank and running the engine at low rpms until the carb is out of fuel. Do that when you're done for the day. When your container of premix is more than 6 weeks old put it in the truck. Also use a fuel stabilizer in the premix.

Partially fallen trees can be even more dangerous than standing trees to take down. I suggest reading "To Fell a Tree" by Jeff Jepsen. It's an easy read and has a lot of good into. You can look at youtube videos but there's a lot of cowboys who are willing to share their lack of knowledge. Terry Hale's videos are good. Budget for safety gear- chaps, steel toe boots, helmet, hearing protection.

 

[RandyinTN]

As a 490 owner I highly recommend one. Easiest saw to start I ever owned, cuts great, reasonable power, does well on fuel, etc. Pick up a couple of extra chains and you can cut all day.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

Buy the 490, they get rave reviews.

+1

Get a 490 and muffler mod and retune the carb. There are tons of posts on this board (and on screwtube) for how to do both.

 

[7jx7]

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

 

[7jx7]

The important factor is not the tree height but it's diameter. .

Common sense advice which is the best. I suck it up and buy the ethanol free pre mix for my blower and run it dry. Will do the same with saw. I've seen the accident vids so if i attempt to fell the oaks it will be with a ton of research and a ton of safety gear. Thanks

 

[NvrDwn]

I can tell you i bought 87 ethanol free gas and used it all last year and ran it dry in october. Last Friday my mower wouldn't run right. Even though there was no ethanol and i ran it dry there was still junk in the carb, got a shot of break cleaner in the eye when i found the clogged hole. I haven't used the trufuel yet, but will be buying it and from what i have read you can leave the stuff in there over winter and it wont bother the machine one bit.

 

[RandyinTN]

I use only non ethanol fuel in all my gas equipment, saws, trimmers, generators, mowers, boat, etc. I never drain anything and in some cases a year goes by when they are not used. No stabilizer, and never had any issues.

 

[s sidewall]

May want to also change your fuel filter

Steve

 

[holeycow]

My stuff gets filled to the brim with non-ethanol premium and a conditioner and sits for months... no issues

And don’t overlook a Dolmar 421 (makita ea4300). Nice, nice little saw.

 

[foeke]

+1 for the Dolmar Makita. The makita color might look nice with your regular powertools ; ). Same bullet proof quality also.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Ed Crawford]

I think it'll be hard to beat the 490. The MS250 Stihl would be worth looking at too. You may like one better than the other.

 

[7jx7]

Some visual aids to give an idea of what I'm tackling

 

[ericm979]

Gas was going stale long before they started putting ethanol in it. I cleaned out a lot of gummed up motorcycle carbs back in the day.

 

[ericm979]

Be extra careful cutting dead trees. Limbs can break off while you're cutting and the interior can be rotten or break more easily than a live tree.

 

[holeycow]

Gas was going stale long before they started putting ethanol in it. I cleaned out a lot of gummed up motorcycle carbs back in the day.

absolutely, but if you leave the petcock "on" to keep the floatbowl full (and fill the gas tank to the brim) carbs gum-up a lot less. It's mostly the pilot jet that gets restricted due to deposits created after fuel evaporates out of the floatbowl.

IMO.

 

[blades]

Ethanol attacks the diaphragms as well as fuel lines, even after you run it dry

 

[ericm979]

My experience is otherwise- my 20 year old 025 and 20 year old lawn tractor are on their original fuel lines. I haven't had to replace any carb diaphrams ever.

Ethanol was hard on rubber components when it was introduced. But that was a long time ago and manufacturers have switched to parts that can cope with ethanol.

Leaving the petcock on causes other problems- gas leaks into the engine. One time I started a Montesa that'd been sitting for a while and unknown to me had a cup or so of gas in the crankcase. It blew nasty black crap all over the Ducati behind it. That wasn't fun to clean up.

On my generator (also 20 years old and on it's original fuel lines) I close the petcock and run the carb dry. It sits for 8 months every summer and starts up in two pulls when I need it for the next winter power outage. It gets 87 octane E-10 gas and fuel stabilizer.

 

[holeycow]

Apparently both approaches work.