Stihl 880

[Stihlman441]

Fun factor is high playing with an 880 and 36'' bar for sure,nothing does it better in rock hard dry Redgum over here.
I use all 3/8 .063 chain even with the 50'' bar.
With the 36'' full or skip chain not much difference speed wise but less filing with the skip.:biggrin:

 

[Locust Cutter]

It will suck with the stock coil and that short of bar. It'll constantly be bouncing off the rev limiter. If a 361 coil will work, that would completely remove the limiter. But, no one has tested this yet. At a minimum, a 441 coilwill raise it to 13,000-13,500. IMHO, this is a must have mod.

Is that a fairly straight-forward swap? I would assume I would have to mod the muffler as well to make way for the increased exhaust volume associated with higher revs,... I got to run Hal's and didn't know at the time that it had been to see you. I guess the one I will be buying will have to come see you as well. His is the reason that I'm buying mine, (that and I burned up my 660 and 346 and 55 and 039,...).

 

[Roll Tide]

If I ordered one today I could have it Tuesday

 

[Roll Tide]

Check out " mastermind meets 880 " it's pretty impressive how much they respond to porting.

 

[MCW]

Using big saws are certainly fun but get back to me after running one for a week straight (or even a day)
Dropping them into logs and letting gravity take over is the easy part. Using saws of this size for any length of time is pretty punishing and you also need to take shares out in a fuel company to boot.
Yeah I know that the older loggers etc used heavier saws etc etc. If we had to cut wood with big saws or starve to death we could all do it but you're buying it for fun, not to put food on the table

 

[john taliaferro]

Using big saws are certainly fun but get back to me after running one for a week straight (or even a day)
Dropping them into logs and letting gravity take over is the easy part. Using saws of this size for any length of time is pretty punishing and you also need to take shares out in a fuel company to boot.
Yeah I know that the older loggers etc used heavier saws etc etc. If we had to cut wood with big saws or starve to death we could all do it but you're buying it for fun, not to put food on the table

. 1000 advill is a good investment and don't play to hard the first few days tell you become friendlier with it .

 

[D&B Mack]

My dealer stocks them.

After a day of felling, your forearms will go on disability.

 

[Alex D]

They're very disappointing in their stock configuration. At a minimum, you want to mod the muffler and install a 441 coil. Once ported, they're an animal! I certainly wouldn't get a 25" bar with it. Your 441 would probably be faster. They balance very nicely with a 36" bar. If you don't intend to use at least a 36" bar, then you're wasting your money, unless just collecting. BTW, you can take any of the sprocket nosed .404 bars and put a 3/8 nose on it.

A ported 088 with a 25" bar screams. And it isn't pointless at all use a 088 with a 25" bar to cut up a 40" or so maple or oak and ill guarantee the 088 will outperform the 441. You don't have to cut through the log in one go.

Not to mention a 25" bar is much easier to pack around with and use quicker to pull out of the cut when falling as well. A 36" bar works great if you get into really large cuts eg a 5 foot diameter plus tree but how many trees that big do you cut?? Very rare at least around here. 25" works wonders in 30-40" hardwoods, which in terms of big trees, is the most common here.

 

[MCW]

i dont know what a cutter gets over seas or the rest of AU but here he can make $300 to drop 1 good size log and yes less as the logs go down in size but you can get them down even faster ,nothing cuts as fast in our hard wood as a 880 running a 25in with 404 RS im talking stock saw ,ive never even seen a cutter run 3/8 here in QLD on a 880 or 3120 but yes a good cutter can fall alot of logs in one day he does not have time to stuff about with long bars like cutting the head off with 2ft of bar sticking out in the air you see that alot on you tube lol.. he needs to get as many logs down in the day as he can and that set up lets him do that ,and he is not doing it for fun he is doing it to make good money...as for the skidder driver well he is poor to a cutter gets about $790 a week lol...running a 880 for fun here and there would not kill ya might get a sweat up and a pain in the back but it will pass in time, you have to be fit to get the best out of an 880....

How many fallers do you know that run 880's and 3120's all day? I'm betting not many and I know a few. They tend to get pulled out only in the ultra large wood which is getting harder and harder to find (legally) nowadays in Australia.
In saying that a lot of people think that in smaller timber the smaller saws will keep up with the big boys. Not in my experience and my stock 3120 will give my ported 390XP a serious touch up in anything over 18" with the exact same bar and chain combo.
I'm a .404" fan too on the big saws even though I ran a 42" bar today on my 3120 with 3/8"

 

[boutselis]

3/8 25" bar be ok? Stihl Rsc chain.

Comparable with my 441cm

Most of what I know about what to put on an 880 for bar and chain comes from stihl pamphlets as I only owned one briefly that I purchased for resale. It was pretty cool having it around briefly but I only played with it and never did any real cutting.
according to stihl

if you want a 25" bar it will have to be a .404 .063 gauge though I don't know why they say that. I am guessing it has to do with he bar stud spacing and which bars will fit on the 880 because there is a 25" 3/8 .063 and a 25" ,063 .50 gauge for the 660. I would think a 660 bar would fit on an 880 because I can't see them making on special size bar just for the 880 alone.

If you do stick with the 25" plan I would make sure its the heavier gauge.

 

[MCW]

Most of what I know about what to put on an 880 for bar and chain comes from stihl pamphlets as I only owned one briefly that I purchased for resale. It was pretty cool having it around briefly but I only played with it and never did any real cutting.
according to stihl

if you want a 25" bar it will have to be a .404 .063 gauge though I don't know why they say that. I am guessing it has to do with he bar stud spacing and which bars will fit on the 880 because there is a 25" 3/8 .063 and a 25" ,063 .50 gauge for the 660. I would think a 660 bar would fit on an 880 because I can't see them making on special size bar just for the 880 alone.

If you do stick with the 25" plan I would make sure its the heavier gauge.

Actually the Stihl 880 does have a different bar mount to the rest of Stihl's range. It has a 14mm bar slot compared to 12mm for the rest of the range down to about 50cc.
A bar that fits the 660 won't fit an 880. Quite stupid really as if you own an 880 you need to run seperate bars (or bar spacers on your smaller Stihl saws), unlike Husqvarna who's 3120 runs 9mm bars like the rest of their larger saws.

 

[Alex D]

Before the large mount bars would fit anything from 070 up to 090 but now the bars they make for the 088 only fit them and perhaps the 084.

 

[blsnelling]

A ported 088 with a 25" bar screams. And it isn't pointless at all use a 088 with a 25" bar to cut up a 40" or so maple or oak and ill guarantee the 088 will outperform the 441. You don't have to cut through the log in one go.

Not to mention a 25" bar is much easier to pack around with and use quicker to pull out of the cut when falling as well. A 36" bar works great if you get into really large cuts eg a 5 foot diameter plus tree but how many trees that big do you cut?? Very rare at least around here. 25" works wonders in 30-40" hardwoods, which in terms of big trees, is the most common here.

If you only need a 24" bar, you certainly don't need/want a 880 to pull it. Only when you get up to 36" would I consider it.

 

[zogger]

Actually the Stihl 880 does have a different bar mount to the rest of Stihl's range. It has a 14mm bar slot compared to 12mm for the rest of the range down to about 50cc.
A bar that fits the 660 won't fit an 880. Quite stupid really as if you own an 880 you need to run seperate bars (or bar spacers on your smaller Stihl saws), unlike Husqvarna who's 3120 runs 9mm bars like the rest of their larger saws.

Stihl is in business to make money and they have a fanatic brand loyal captive audience for the most part. Also, anyone buying an 880 will have the scratch to get any bar they want, because chances are high it is a tax deduction for them, making it at least a little more reasonable.

So in that sense, it isn't entirely a stupid idea, but I do agree with you the bars should swap out in the "large" range, I just think I understand why stihl did that.

 

[boutselis]

Actually the Stihl 880 does have a different bar mount to the rest of Stihl's range. It has a 14mm bar slot compared to 12mm for the rest of the range down to about 50cc.
A bar that fits the 660 won't fit an 880. Quite stupid really as if you own an 880 you need to run seperate bars (or bar spacers on your smaller Stihl saws), unlike Husqvarna who's 3120 runs 9mm bars like the rest of their larger saws.

Wow. I would have thought for sure a 660 bar would fit the 880. 14mm. thats a little over kill. Isn't it?

Then if I were the OP I would not bother getting an 880 with a small bar because it won't swap out onto any other saw. I would go at least 30" if not 36" or 41".

But he said he mostly did firewood so I can see why he wouldn't need the longer bar but as he seems to be getting the 880 as more of a collector piece it should have the big A bar to match the big A motor wether he needs the bar length or not.

 

[splitpost]

the 08s run a large mount, i reakon all stihl pro saws over 50cc should run the larger studs ,i run 3/8th on my 36 and 42" large mount bars mostly because of kerf size (milling).......works for me

 

[Alex D]

If you only need a 24" bar, you certainly don't need/want a 880 to pull it. Only when you get up to 36" would I consider it.

On the North American east coast generally speaking you don't need an 088 at all. Very few arbs around here even own one. Loggers here im almost certain don't use them.

With that being said the 088 gives you heaps of power and is also a lot more "useable", and a lot more fun than when wearing short as opposed to a long bar. Furthermore if you have the even the most basic experience with a chainsaw you can fell and buck a tree that is twice the bar's diameter. With a 25" bar minus say a dawg's grab of 2-3 inches that puts you at around 22-23" of bar which equals around a 44-46" diameter tree. Bury a ported 088 with a 25" bar into a 40" oak or maple and the thing will outcut the smaller saws. Big bars are so f**king akward yes they have their place in enormous lumber but how much of that is still around today? Now a 36" bar ain't that bad when compared to oh i dunno bars 50"+ but a 3 footer is about the biggest id consider using there ain't to many 6 foot + trees around no more and anything over 4 feet is rare at least around here.

long bars are fine running 3/8 they would not have the power to pull it in .404, in soft wood maybe but not hard wood,in ironbark and grey gum they dont like pulling .404 RS 25in bar with a 8pin they die in the ass and work to hard trying to run the bigger pin ,7pin they cut fine and will out cut a 660 in hard wood.. you may get away with running a 8pin in softer hard woods like red gum blue gum stringybark they are like butter to cut to say ironbark or grey gum now thats hard wood...in soft wood it might even run a 9pin if you can get them now that would be cutting at speed.... here is a pic of how big the 8pin in .404 is to the 8pin in 3/8.....View attachment 238815

In North America there ain't wood that hard. Hardwood here is oak,hickory,ironwood, and others but none of it is even close to being as hard as the tropical hardwoods. For example a slingerized 088 wearing a 9 tooth .404 25" bar pulls fine in oak.

 

[zogger]

On the North American east coast generally speaking you don't need an 088 at all. Very few arbs around here even own one. Loggers here im almost certain don't use them.

With that being said the 088 gives you heaps of power and is also a lot more "useable", and a lot more fun than when wearing short as opposed to a long bar. Furthermore if you have the even the most basic experience with a chainsaw you can fell and buck a tree that is twice the bar's diameter. With a 25" bar minus say a dawg's grab of 2-3 inches that puts you at around 22-23" of bar which equals around a 44-46" diameter tree. Bury a ported 088 with a 25" bar into a 40" oak or maple and the thing will outcut the smaller saws. Big bars are so f**king akward yes they have their place in enormous lumber but how much of that is still around today? Now a 36" bar ain't that bad when compared to oh i dunno bars 50"+ but a 3 footer is about the biggest id consider using there ain't to many 6 foot + trees around no more and anything over 4 feet is rare at least around here.



In North America there ain't wood that hard. Hardwood here is oak,hickory,ironwood, and others but none of it is even close to being as hard as the tropical hardwoods. For example a slingerized 088 wearing a 9 tooth .404 25" bar pulls fine in oak.

--you ever see any pics of where tornadoes hit around the midwest or south? There are zillions of real big trees, of the quite large diameter kind..that wind up sort of horizontal.

The bucket truck guys took off all the ends of the big branches on a red oak in my yard (it's most likely a gonner, but the owner wanted it trimmed because we got hit twice with tornadoes in less than a year), and I got over five cord just from those trimmings. And you see trees this size or close to it all over heck down here, five foot diameter, some even larger. We have a much longer so faster growing season, it doesn't take long from clearcut back to big trees, and within two generations they are starting to get really big, three generations they are huge.

 

[MCW]

Stihl is in business to make money and they have a fanatic brand loyal captive audience for the most part. Also, anyone buying an 880 will have the scratch to get any bar they want, because chances are high it is a tax deduction for them, making it at least a little more reasonable.

So in that sense, it isn't entirely a stupid idea, but I do agree with you the bars should swap out in the "large" range, I just think I understand why stihl did that.

I agree on the Stihl marketing perspective. Even if they had the worst saws on the planet they'd still be able to sell millions of them