Sears 917.353750 Chainsaw Help!

[Lukeduk1980]

Hey Guys-

My father has a neighbors who said that he was throwing out this old chainsaw and asked if he wanted it. Dad, being the mechanic that he is, jumped on it. He cleaned it out, put in a new spark plug. Runs great. It is a Sears (Roper) 917.353750. Is it the solid state setup; which by the forums on here is a late 70's chainsaw and a good one too. Here is our question:

There is something on there called a control. It's on the top near the handle that you can turn that has a (+) sign and a (-) on it. Does this control the idle or what exactly does it do?

Next question is in regards to the plunger near the handle. We are testing it to see if it works. Pa said that he filled the reservoir with bar oil and use it but it doesn't pump out where the adjuster for the chain is. When I looked at it, I stuck my finger on the bottom of the plunger to see if there was any vacuum and there was a little but not a lot. The plunger was sticking at first but pa cleaned it up. Pa is asking how the chain gets oiled? Is it from this plunger or something else?

It is a great runner and we were curious what the value of this chainsaw might be as well.

Thanks.

Lucas:help:

 

[Pointman]

3.7/18 ... Have one, was my first saw and a tank.

Knob on the right side, on top? That was an attempt at a built in sharpener.

(edited wrong side)

 

[Pointman]

Lucas, here is a picture of the label next to the sharpener showing the operation.. took a sec to run and snap a pic. :smile2:

 

[Pointman]

Lucas I have a picture of the instruction sticker off my saw... when I have enough posts I'll throw it up for you.

 

[Pointman]

OK give this a try... Figure being able to see it was important so its a big picture of the label..

The knob adjusts the stones (how many have saws with stones, eh?) and the plunger works it.

 

[Roanoker494]

It that knob is on the clutch cover it would be the sharpening system mentioned. If the knob is on the recoil side then your saw has a automatic chain oiler and that is the control for it.

I have several of those old saws and they are quite lite to be a 65cc saw. I have a couple of the Sears/Craftsman branded versions and one that it actually branded as a Roper.

 

[redneck51587]

It sounds like an oiler adjuster....

 

[Opihi59]

Sears (Roper) 3.7

To some people, they wouldn't give this saw a second glance. To folks like me and Roanoker and 67L36Driver, they are very desirable saws. Practically all saws have a following. This saw was my Dad's first saw, I used it as a young adolescent, and I just worked it over with a rebuild. I'll post in the link later. The dial you describe controls the volume of flow to the bar, the pump is that plunger thing you push up and down with your thumb while sawing. No thumb pumpage, no bar lube-age. You need to pull off the bar, look at the oiler hole to make sure oil is coming out when you pump, pretty sure that you have to have the throttle pressed in as well to open up the system. These pumps can go bad, just like anything else. Problem can be that the wrong bar is on it, and noting is making past the lube hole, so vigorously test it with the bar off.

Your saw is a Roper built-for-craftsman 3.7 and it is a fine saw.

Read these thru: http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/180262.htm

http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/179586.htm

They will answer a lot of questions and have a ton of photos.

 

[Pointman]

Nice looking saw Opihi59

 

[Opihi59]

Welcome to the site

This is the little control that (I'm pretty sure) needs to be pulled out by squeezing down the throttle so that the lube system will work when you thumb pump it. It's inside the air box on top of the saw.

And sorry for forgetting earlier. Welcome to the site. As far as I'm concerned, that saw is worth a lot--I'd never sell mine, but then again, I've been using it for around 40 years.

Make sure you read thru those threads I posted before you try to do any disassembly work on it, and ask a ton of questions. If I don't answer them, someone will--you see that Roanoker has already seen your thread and posted in while I was typing up my first reply. He knows a ton about these saws as do numerous other notable experts here. They'll show up in a while.

 

[Pointman]

Let's see if a link will post now...

I have put up a pic of the sharpener and the (amazingly still intact) instruction label here

 

[Lukeduk1980]

View attachment 209174

Looking at the picture you provided me, The Control here is what I was referring to. So does this sharpen the blades or is it the oil adjuster? And is there a good way to test this?

 

[Opihi59]

That adjusts volume of oil. The chain sharpener thing is on the opposite side, on the clutch cover. I really don't believe anyone ever felt the Powersharp thing was any benefit. As far as I remember even when it was new, this didn't work at all, or well. Most people just disengaged this feature.

 

[Lukeduk1980]

Hey Guy- Still can't get the pump to work properly but I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I removed it from the chainsaw and pumped it, I can hear air and get a little suction when I put my finger on the bottom. I re-installed it, ran it to full rpm's and pumped it but still got nothing. I am using just a regular bar oil. I noticed there is more then 1 line going to the bar port. But nothing comes out when pumped and/or running. The initial pump is sometimes sticky after it sat overnight.

Also, When you unscrew the pump, the threads seem to to catch the o-ring when trying to put it back in, is there a secret to this? I installed a new o-ring.

One last thing, the reservoir that holds the bar oil looks like it has a small rubber hose or tube. Can this be the issue? How can I get to that thing?

Thank for the Help.

Lucas

 

[Opihi59]

Straight off the top of my head, I don't have all the ins and outs of how the oiler system works on this particular saw, even though I have one and have done a re-do on that saw. The oiler system worked, so I just put it back together. That being said, consider pulling off the metal lines, make sure they are not occluded. You can spray some carb cleaner down one end with the red straw thing generally taped to the side of the can but wear goggles as you will get spray-back in your face. Make sure there are no obstructions. The hose in the oil reservoir, same thing, make sure not clogged. The oil tank is made up from 2 separate castings that are sealed and held together by two Phillips head screws--those screws can be a huge booger to get out as the sealant also gets down into the threads and fuses them in there. It may take heat, etc to get them to come free, then you have to re-seal the case with something like Yamabond/Hondabond, threebond sealant as plain RTV like at the car parts place will not hold up. If you do pull the cover side off the oil tank, make sure you do change the rubber oil line out.

I am confident that others will pitch in with suggestions.

 

[Opihi59]

Forgot to mention. The three metal lines, the short one is tank to pump, longest carries oil out to the bar like you can see in my photo above where the clutch cover and the clutch/drive sprocket are removed. The other line is a crank case pulse line. These are old saws, and the proper bar is NLA, often if a bar has been substituted, it blocks the oil exit hole. To make sure the oiler isn't working, make sure the bar is off and you can see the actual hole where the oil comes out of the case. On my saw, I have drilled out another bar to make sure the oil opening is not occluded by the bar.

 

[EZRYDER]

Anyone have a manual on the 3.7?

I recently had one given to me by my nephew. I got it to work on FAST only. Won't go slow or idle. Going to try screw adjustments, if not then I will take carb apart even though it looks real clean from the outside. Anyone know how many turns should be backed off for air/fuel screw?

 

[67L36Driver]

I recently had one given to me by my nephew. I got it to work on FAST only. Won't go slow or idle. Going to try screw adjustments, if not then I will take carb apart even though it looks real clean from the outside. Anyone know how many turns should be backed off for air/fuel screw?

On almost any chainsaw engine, 1 1/4 turns on both H and L jets CCW from seated will get you in the ballpark. Some Ropers only have an idle mix screw.

 

[RBurtcher]

If it has only one screw with an "L" (Low speed) next to the port for adjustment you may most likely have the fixed jet carb. It will be an oval shaped grommet type black rubber plug. On this version only the Low speed adjustment is adjustable. I have 1 that I believe came with both High and low speed adjustments. In all honesty I can't tell the power difference between it and the one with the fixed high speed jet.
Be very carefull if using compressed air when blowing out the carb as the fixed jet can be damaged in the proccess. There is a little micro disk made of some sort of fiber material that will eject out of the main jet.

 

[EZRYDER]

Thanks. now need help with how to drill out bar for oiler hole.

Forgot to mention. The three metal lines, the short one is tank to pump, longest carries oil out to the bar like you can see in my photo above where the clutch cover and the clutch/drive sprocket are removed. The other line is a crank case pulse line. These are old saws, and the proper bar is NLA, often if a bar has been substituted, it blocks the oil exit hole. To make sure the oiler isn't working, make sure the bar is off and you can see the actual hole where the oil comes out of the case. On my saw, I have drilled out another bar to make sure the oil opening is not occluded by the bar.

That's great! Everything else should be working on my 3.7. Waiting for epoxy to dry on bottom seam. (leaking gas). Is there a way to explain the size and location of the hole that I need to drill out on the bar for the oiler to work?