Today's finds

[fearofpavement]

Well, didn't buy much ope but this is what is out there. The usual Poulan and Homelite junk, got an almost complete Weedeater brand leaf blower for $3 that I just want the nozzle from. It is missing the spark plug and fuel cap but is supposedly in running condition. Umm, yeah, maybe...

I grabbed a very large Mac torque wrench for $30. Hope it works, if not I'll weld it solid and have an expensive breaker bar. It is 26" long and has a torque range of 50 to 250 foot lbs. I can use it for a head I'll install on a 1963 6 cyl Ford this week. I got him to throw in a big box ratchet wrench 1 7/16". Have no idea where that'll be used but if I need it...

At one Pawn shop I saw a Poulan 3400 Countervibe. Had bad isolators but seemed good other than that (new Oregon bar) I had seen it before. They were willing to come down to $90 on it. Compression seemed good from pulling it and it appeared stock. Left it there, don't need one.

At a different pawn shop they STILL have a Poulan 5400 countervibe with a missing rope handle with a price of $200 on it. Last inquiry I made they were willing to come down to $175. I indicated they would probably have it a long time. (it has been there several months as it is) Don't really need that saw either. I had offered them $60 bucks as is a couple months ago and the guy said he could have a rope put in it for $30 and then I could try it out. (I'm confident it was running when they brought it in as they wouldn't have acquired it otherwise) The first time I saw it there was a rope in place.

The largest purchase at the flea market was shovels, purchased 5 of them from 3 different vendors. (sending those to Africa)

Well, at least the weather was nice.

 

[Saw Dr.]

Well, didn't buy much ope but this is what is out there. The usual Poulan and Homelite junk, got an almost complete Weedeater brand leaf blower for $3 that I just want the nozzle from. It is missing the spark plug and fuel cap but is supposedly in running condition. Umm, yeah, maybe...

I grabbed a very large Mac torque wrench for $30. Hope it works, if not I'll weld it solid and have an expensive breaker bar. It is 26" long and has a torque range of 50 to 250 foot lbs. I can use it for a head I'll install on a 1963 6 cyl Ford this week. I got him to throw in a big box ratchet wrench 1 7/16". Have no idea where that'll be used but if I need it...

At one Pawn shop I saw a Poulan 3400 Countervibe. Had bad isolators but seemed good other than that (new Oregon bar) I had seen it before. They were willing to come down to $90 on it. Compression seemed good from pulling it and it appeared stock. Left it there, don't need one.

At a different pawn shop they STILL have a Poulan 5400 countervibe with a missing rope handle with a price of $200 on it. Last inquiry I made they were willing to come down to $175. I indicated they would probably have it a long time. (it has been there several months as it is) Don't really need that saw either. I had offered them $60 bucks as is a couple months ago and the guy said he could have a rope put in it for $30 and then I could try it out. (I'm confident it was running when they brought it in as they wouldn't have acquired it otherwise) The first time I saw it there was a rope in place.

The largest purchase at the flea market was shovels, purchased 5 of them from 3 different vendors. (sending those to Africa)

Well, at least the weather was nice.

If the 3400 had what seemed to be good compression, you probably should have grabbed it. Most of them seem to have bad compression when they are actually just fine.

 

[Eccentric]

You're not including the 3400 and 5400 in "the usual Poulan and Homelite junk" are you? That 5400 wouldn't be a bad deal at $150 or so.................so long as the P/C are good. See if they'll let you pull the muffler. The rope is probably missing because somebody pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled in a effort to get it lit. That could just be because of bad fuel lines and/or a bunged up carb. If it's more, then that changes the whole deal drastically......

 

[fearofpavement]

The Poulans referenced were not the "usual junk". I didn't look closely at any of those. The 5400 is one I had made a previous post on and posted some photos of. It has a muffler mod with a welded cover over the bolts so I think the muffler would have to be destroyed to get it off. (at least it would have to have the end cut off).

Every Pawn shop I have dealt with checks saws before they'll pawn them or buy them and when the shop says it was running when it came in, I believe it. It probably just needs a rope (and maybe hoses and a carb kit) to run but without KNOWING that, I wouldn't spend much on it. Essentially, I don't want or need the saw but posted about it because I know that series has a following. I have a red one (Craftsman 3.7) but it isn't running right now.

If I could have purchased it cheap enough I would have repaired and flipped it but I'm not going to invest that much coin in a saw that is an unknown qty.

The 3400 I could probably run but what are they worth in good running condition? Maybe about as much as I would have in it by the time it got some isolators and a bit of other tlc.

One pawn shop has a junk bin where they toss junk ope and anything in there is $10. I took a look through that, couple throw away Homelites (seized and chain on backwards), hedge clippers with bent bars, mini-mac missing pull rope but with good bar, a micro xxv or something like that in pretty rough shape (top handle).

There is another pawn shop that I rarely go to because almost all of their stuff is priced more than new prices. I can't believe people are so stupid they wouldn't comparison shop. I stop in once in while just to see what they have because I'm not shy to make any offer and I don't care what the posted price is. If they say no I'm not offended and I figure my cash offer gives them a starting point for determining its street value.

Sometimes my son goes with me on our Saturday flea market run but he was taking the SAT exams. Better him than me.