Saw life?

[user 122190]

My father in law cuts timber. He has a jonsered 2172 and he cut full time with it for a little over 3 years. That felling and bucking plus cutting firewood. It was starting to get weak so I put a new top on it and he is still using it. Its absolutely amazing how these little engines hold up the cold and hot weather. A key to make it last is using good gas, good oil and keeping the air filter clean.

And keep the saw clean. Clean metal dissipates heat well. If the engine is packed with oil, grease, wood chips, dirt, etc. then the saw can experience detrimental heat and slowly destroy itself.

 

[Stihl User]

To bad they don't make Deloreans anymore.

View attachment 976211

If I win the Lottery, my manufacturing plant will produce the following items:

044 with 046 C&P
MS200T as is
MS201T Magnum 40cc = for those who want a heavier saw
MS261 Magnum 59cc
MS361 Magnum 70cc
MS461 Magnum 84cc
Solo 681 88cc
MS250 49cc for the bad ass homeowner

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Doing hurricane damage clean up one of our saws may run 40-50hrs that week alone ,it runs as long as the chipper is roaring away, refueling breaks for saw and operator included.
Probably one of the most reliable saws was the ms361, no drama just did its job.

 

[KASH]

Two stroke Castroll.
Kash

 

[fields_mj]

I believe this. It only takes about 10 years for certain versions of electronics to be replaced and they soon become obsolete. I feel like there should be more of this data available for high hour autotune saws, but I believe none of it is really impressive so we aren’t seeing much of it in the threads. There are lots of data for logged hours on older saws making it close to 1000 hours but for the most part it’s just a bunch of guys speculating and guesstimations.
Saws are like pocket knives. If you use them for an occasional tool they can be passed down through generations. If you use one like my father it’ll give you a couple of years.

First off, my apologies for the atrocious spelling and typos. Sometimes responding on a cell phone isn't the best idea....

Second, if you're wearing a new saw out every few years, or even before the electronics go bad, then it's making you enough money that tracking how many hours it has is a waste of time unless you are using it to plan rebuilds in the "off season".

 

[Stihl User]

Doing hurricane damage clean up one of our saws may run 40-50hrs that week alone ,it runs as long as the chipper is roaring away, refueling breaks for saw and operator included.
Probably one of the most reliable saws was the ms361, no drama just did its job.

Imagine a MS361 with a 044 C&P = would it not be one of the most versatile saws ever - for an arborist???

I have a MS361 NIB and everytime I pass by it I want to take it out but I just can't because she looks so pretty and shiny new.

 

[blades]

highpower and smallbore comp, i have note books full from every range i shot at.

 

[rupedoggy]

Imagine a MS361 with a 044 C&P = would it not be one of the most versatile saws ever - for an arborist???

Well every dream of a saw user. Weight of an 017, power of an 088, sips gas and cost almost nothing. I had a few 603 Solos and they were more power than the frame was made for. Most had cracked parts all over after hard usage.

 

[JJT]

First off, my apologies for the atrocious spelling and typos. Sometimes responding on a cell phone isn't the best idea....

Second, if you're wearing a new saw out every few years, or even before the electronics go bad, then it's making you enough money that tracking how many hours it has is a waste of time unless you are using it to plan rebuilds in the "off season".

I agree if a timber cutter can get a year out of a saw, in my opinion is pretty good. If you really think about it, a chainsaw is really an impressive machine. The tempatures from cold to hot, the abuse they take and how many times that little piston goes up and down at 9000 to 13000rpm, is impressive. And if a full time cutter figures how many trees he cuts a year and how much the saw cost, it's little to nothing per tree.

 

[Stihl User]

Well every dream of a saw user. Weight of an 017, power of an 088, sips gas and cost almost nothing. I had a few 603 Solos and they were more power than the frame was made for. Most had cracked parts all over after hard usage.

That would be the 'fantasy' of every saw user.

Dreams are what LIFE is made of = Dreams are possible.

Stihl came very close to the DREAM with the MS462 but the sticker price is a "Nightmare on SellM Street"
IMHO - the other 'fail' is computerize
Carb are inexpensive easy adjust,fix n replace

 

[JJT]

That would be the 'fantasy' of every saw user.

Dreams are what LIFE is made of = Dreams are possible.

Stihl came very close to the DREAM with the MS462 but the sticker price is a "Nightmare on SellM Street"
IMHO - the other 'fail' is computerize
Carb are inexpensive easy adjust,fix n replace

My father in law had a ms462 and it was a nice running saw. Awesome power to weight. I thought the antivibe could be better. He had problems with mtronic in the heat. Same as the husky 562xp and jonsered 2260. He had problems with those as well. I know my 550xp doesn't like the heat at all. So I agree with you on the computerized carbs. They are nice in a way but I would rather not have one. One day they run good, the next they run half ass. That is just my experience as well as my father in laws in the Missouri humid heat. Oh, and the poor ms462 got in the way of the skidder. Wasn't much that was salvageable after that. It was expensive oops. So now he is just gonna stick with the simple jonsered 2172, 2188 and echo 7310. Simple carb saws are hard to beat

 

[Stihl User]

My father in law had a ms462 and it was a nice running saw. Awesome power to weight. I thought the antivibe could be better. He had problems with mtronic in the heat. Same as the husky 562xp and jonsered 2260. He had problems with those as well. I know my 550xp doesn't like the heat at all. So I agree with you on the computerized carbs. They are nice in a way but I would rather not have one. One day they run good, the next they run half ass. That is just my experience as well as my father in laws in the Missouri humid heat. Oh, and the poor ms462 got in the way of the skidder. Wasn't much that was salvageable after that. It was expensive oops. So now he is just gonna stick with the simple jonsered 2172, 2188 and echo 7310. Simple carb saws are hard to beat

For $1200 that MS462 should have a ALARM system on it for Collision/Impact - lol

 

[LuDookie]

First off, my apologies for the atrocious spelling and typos. Sometimes responding on a cell phone isn't the best idea....

Second, if you're wearing a new saw out every few years, or even before the electronics go bad, then it's making you enough money that tracking how many hours it has is a waste of time unless you are using it to plan rebuilds in the "off season".

Yep. That’s what I meant when I said the typical arborist doesn’t care how long a saw lasts after it’s paid for itself. Nor do they maintain it the way a discerning homeowner with a lot of wood to cut will, and has just dropped $1000+ on a pro saw.

 

[KASH]

Saws are cheap to buy now days.
1979 I bought my Husqvarna 162 I was making 8.00 an hour for CN rail the saw was 735.00 dollars so Before taxes I worked 92 hours to buy it.
Now say a similar saw today is 1200.00 dollars railroad worker is making 35.00 dollars an hour so he only has to work 34 hours to buy the saw.
Kash

 

[bwalker]

highpower and smallbore comp, i have note books full from every range i shot at.

I record all my load data as well as keep an accurate round count. But I'm just a varmint shooter and hunter.

 

[LuDookie]

Saws are cheap to buy now days.
1979 I bought my Husqvarna 162 I was making 8.00 an hour for CN rail the saw was 735.00 dollars so Before taxes I worked 92 hours to buy it.
Now say a similar saw today is 1200.00 dollars railroad worker is making 35.00 dollars an hour so he only has to work 34 hours to buy the saw.
Kash

When you’ve got 3 kids and the saw doesn’t pay the bills, which can often be close to $1200 a week, it can be a stretch. That’s why there are cheap saw options. I need my saws and I don’t think they are cheap. I use them to their capacity but it’s important to me to make them last.

 

[Abbeville TSI]

Back when the loggers we sold and serviced with Stihl were happy with 18 months service in the bush. 044, 064 and 066 were popular. After 12 months they would agree to a top end but no more. And no, I don't know what they did with their dead saws nor am I interested. I want a current enough product to easily get OEM parts.

 

[LuDookie]

Back when the loggers we sold and serviced with Stihl were happy with 18 months service in the bush. 044, 064 and 066 were popular. After 12 months they would agree to a top end but no more. And no, I don't know what they did with their dead saws nor am I interested. I want a current enough product to easily get OEM parts.

Yep, and most likely those saws saw a couple thousand hours. A lifetime of use for a normal guy like me.

 

[CJ1]

Well lets see, Figuring 200 work days a year and that is considering time off for holidays and below zero days around here. Each cutter had 2 saws and figuring 3 hours a day run time from fuel use that gives us 600 hours. We rotated them out every 2 years so 1200 hours of use per saw. That is not counting tree removals and firewood. So 1500 hours would be a good estimate on use. They were noticeably "looser" than the new saw but still ran good and most were sold to friends that were waiting on us to change them out. Very few ever went back to the dealer. We did have a saw or two that ended up under the dozer tracks when they were fussy and unfixable after a time or 2 of going back to the dealer. but most of them were not Huskies or stihls. CJ

 

[oldfortyfive]

As an interesting side note I think everyone worries too much about the electronics. Last factory I worked they did a lot of machining. It was a hot dirty place with coolant oil all over. I don't recall any of the desktop PC's all over the shop floor failing. Also last weekend I fired up three old computer hard drives that had been in storage for 12 years. All three worked fine.