Sears Craftsman 3.7PS Vintage Chainsaw

[cybin]

I'm new here so please bear with me:

I picked this up from a garage sale hoping it would be worth the time to fix up. Turns out this chain saw is much older than I expected, circa 1974.

Sears Craftsman 917.351482

I'm wondering if I could get some advice? Should I fix it up, Sell it on Ebay or junk it?

I managed to get it to turn over and run on some starting fluid. Tried a little gas in the tank, but it looks like there is a leak somewhere. Probably a broken line. The pull feels good with a lot of compression.

Looks like it needs a cleaning, muffler section and a sharpened chain.

Any suggestions on what to do? If I used it, it would be very limited use.

Thanks!

 

[David Y.]

Nice!

I picked one up off CL a couple months ago for $35. Can I ask what you gave for yours?

 

[cybin]

$20 escaped my wallet.

-Oliver

 

[cybin]

I just found one on ebay still in the box.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220171309495

Looks nice brand new...

-Oliver

 

[epicklein22]

I just sold one a few months ago. Mine was very clean and ran well. I was suprised how fast it cut. I tried to sell it on here for 50 bucks and nobody was interested, so it went to ebay and I got around 60 for it.

You could just sell it on ebay and get your 20 bucks back or you could try replacing the fuel lines and maybe a carb kit. I personally wouldn't put too much more money in to it though but it's up to you.

If you want a saw to use occasionally, you can get a nice Stihl 015 for about 50 to 60 bucks on ebay.

I have two right now and paid just 15 for one of them and 20 for the other. They are good runners and a nice saw to use occasionally.

 

[epicklein22]

That saw on ebay is very nice. That would be a cool saw to have. It will be interesting to see what it goes for.

 

[cybin]

Thanks for the replys guys,

I think I'm going to wrench on it for an hour or two and then maybe part it out or sell it on ebay.

I can't seem to get a spark out of it consistently and the compression builds up so much it gets hard to pull the starting cord.

Should be a new experience,
-Oliver

 

[Kogafortwo]

muffler cover missing?

It looks like you are missing the muffler cover. If so, you won't have enough back pressure for it to run properly.

I would put in a Saturday afternoon and 2-3 beer's worth of clean up time, maybe the fuel lines, tank pickup, and spark plug. If it runs good after that, it was a good investment.

I have put a lot of time and replacement parts $$ into equipment that started out to be "free".

 

[Cannon51]

Craftsman 3.7

There seems to be two different types of the Craftsman/Roper 3.7 saws. I have the other type (917.353731) that is squarer looking. I have looked on the Sears parts site for parts and there seem to be none available. If you come up with a parts source for the Roper made saws let me know.
Cannon

 

[belgian]

I have put a lot of time and replacement parts $$ into equipment that started out to be "free".

most newbee collectors find out the hard way that restoring old saws can be a costly business. That's why one should always be careful for not offering too much money on saws that don't run or are in a bad shape. That's why I practically never buy on ebay.

I have quite a few saws and for every "good" saw I bought, there's at least one that does need parts (minimum is a carb kit, but there's the sprocket, fuel lines, filters, chain, covers, clutch, etc.)

so, controlling your emotions sometimes is good for the wallet.

 

[Chris J.]

most newbee collectors find out the hard way that restoring old saws can be a costly business. That's why one should always be careful for not offering too much money on saws that don't run or are in a bad shape. That's why I practically never buy on ebay. ...

Been there, done that, didn't have enough money left to buy the t-shirt.

 

[cybin]

After playing around with it, I'm pretty sure it's seen better days and without any parts available it hardly seems worth the time or effort.

If anyone needs some parts please let me know, it's going into the trash on Sunday.

-Oliver