The journey from Trash to Treasure - top handle nirvana

[Definitive Dave]

My hoarding had gotten to a tipping point on my favorite top handle saw.
I reached out to LoneWolf who had rebuilt some carbs for me with great success in the past.
He may not have understood the scope of the boxes of nonsense I was planning to send him



He was amazing to deal with, we talked at least a half dozen times and he is a vault of knowledge on the Cadillac of top handle masterpieces

He would send me lists of part numbers and between my dealer here in Columbus and his local dealer in Jersey we made Stihl very happy I am sure

Totally amazing guy and the work speaks for itself.
I plan to keep one to send to Mastermind who says he has a recipe to make great gains in the MS200T
LoneWolf can keep whatever he wants from the batch and the rest will end up in the hands of local arborists here in Columbus.
I sell them at a discount if they bring me their dead, mostly complete 200Ts to rebuild for the next time they kill one

LW tested out some of the newer AM parts on a few of the saws and provided some great insight on them.
If people have questions I encourage you to post them up, he is friggin wealth of knowledge.

He measured the play on the AM crankcase bearings to determine they have a lot more play than the OEM bearings and isn't a big fan of the AM oil seals.
I sent him an OEM Stihl seal puller with the special jaws for the MS200T and he said it was too slow

 

[Definitive Dave]

 

[lone wolf]

Now all we need to do is get your saws to Ohio

 

[Definitive Dave]

Blue Box is shipping you a stack of shipping boxes and a few cases of bubble wrap today

 

[lone wolf]

Blue Box is shipping you a stack of shipping boxes and a few cases of bubble wrap today

 

[67L36Driver]

Drop victims is what is mostly seen around here. The tree service people won't part with nothing.

About time the AM stepped up.

 

[lone wolf]

Drop victims is what is mostly seen around here. The tree service people won't part with nothing.

About time the AM stepped up.

Lots of broken handles that's for sure.

 

[Hinerman]

View attachment 501436

That is amazing. Any of them available or all going back to Columbus?

 

[blsnelling]

Wow! That's a LOT of 200T!

 

[Definitive Dave]

so far the handles are OEM only, though it looks like some of the little bits that go inside are starting to be available AM.
Stuff that is available and decent to use so far in my opinion, others are welcome to chime in.

rubber AV mounts
split style fuel line
clutch
sprocket
recoil as long as you redo the not in the pull rope so it doesnt untie on the first pull
complete clutch cover/brake handle assembly - I try to test every one before it goes out, we had two out of the last 150 or so that would not engage they just moved forward and back without the snap
brake handle
brake band
I like the oil seals, Steve thinks they are rubbish
air filter is pretty decent better than the early ones that were a total mess, the glue job isn't perfect but acceptable for 1/5 the price of oem
Zama carburetor 020T style without accelerator pump - the Hunai are pretty crappy had about 10% reported as not tuning properly, up against a new $100.00 OEM accelerator carb you barely notice any difference. For a guy trying to replace a crappy bogging carb on his work saw I imagine 95% will love the AM Zama for 1/4 the price of the OEM.
Obviously the Caber rings and the Farmertec and Meteor cylinder and piston kits are 99.9% as good as OEM at much less $$$.
The gasket sets are pretty nice and customers like them but I don't think I sent any to Steve because he preferred the OEM oil seals and the complete OEM gasket and seal kit is about a dollar less than just a pair of oem seals.
The AM felling spikes are fine, hard to mess up those
I am a big fan of the AM muffler.
I have AM crankcases and cranks that are really nice, though I haven't sent Steve any to play with, I will someday, the guys who use them swear they are equal to oem.

the big dollar stuff that is only OEM so far is the tank and the top handle assembly those together new will set you back about $225 or more so if you are looking at builder saws be sure those parts are intact
there are also a lot of fasteners for this model that are OEM only, so beware of a dismantled saw in a box, the little bits can really add up
those parts will be coming down the Aftermarket channel soon, but getting them perfect is really important for this model

 

[Definitive Dave]

Wow! That's a LOT of 200T!

3001T by my math

 

[heyduke]

Lots of broken handles that's for sure.

gravity... it's the law.

 

[juttree]

Wow, I thought I had a lot with a dozen or so.

 

[lone wolf]

Wow, I thought I had a lot with a dozen or so.

A dozen is a lot dont fool your self.

 

[tbone75]

Dave I knew you had a problem , ............. BUT !!! LMAO !!!

One time I had 8 of them , and not one together in the pile ! No idea now how many made it out alive ? LOL I thought I was nuts for having so many ! LOL

Some how I stihl have 2 I will get to some day ? Really no idea how Dave didn't get them ? LOL

 

[tbone75]

I used a lot of the AM seals , no problems at all , saws stihl running after 2 yrs even . I check on my babies now and then . More like I talk to who bought them , I don't member who got what till they tell me . LOL One I know of got tossed across a guys yard cause the flippy cap came off and dumped oil right down the front of him ! Some how that saw survived ? LOL Guy is a hot head all the time , use to work with him , err stay back when he was doing anything ! LOL
Gonna need more of them caps Dave , next size smaller too ?

 

[lone wolf]

I used a lot of the AM seals , no problems at all , saws stihl running after 2 yrs even . I check on my babies now and then . More like I talk to who bought them , I don't member who got what till they tell me . LOL One I know of got tossed across a guys yard cause the flippy cap came off and dumped oil right down the front of him ! Some how that saw survived ? LOL Guy is a hot head all the time , use to work with him , err stay back when he was doing anything ! LOL
Gonna need more of them caps Dave , next size smaller too ?

The aftermarket works alright. But I find the OEM easy to install and remove plus they reduce some friction. Them aftermarket seals on a 200T aint fun to pop out.

 

[tbone75]

The aftermarket works alright. But I find the OEM easy to install and remove plus they reduce some friction. Them aftermarket seals on a 200T aint fun to pop out.

They can be a little harder to put in , but not really bad I didn't think ? Haven't pulled any out so far ?

 

[Mattyo]

so far the handles are OEM only, though it looks like some of the little bits that go inside are starting to be available AM.
Stuff that is available and decent to use so far in my opinion, others are welcome to chime in.

rubber AV mounts
split style fuel line
clutch
sprocket
recoil as long as you redo the not in the pull rope so it doesnt untie on the first pull
complete clutch cover/brake handle assembly - I try to test every one before it goes out, we had two out of the last 150 or so that would not engage they just moved forward and back without the snap
brake handle
brake band
I like the oil seals, Steve thinks they are rubbish
air filter is pretty decent better than the early ones that were a total mess, the glue job isn't perfect but acceptable for 1/5 the price of oem
Zama carburetor 020T style without accelerator pump - the Hunai are pretty crappy had about 10% reported as not tuning properly, up against a new $100.00 OEM accelerator carb you barely notice any difference. For a guy trying to replace a crappy bogging carb on his work saw I imagine 95% will love the AM Zama for 1/4 the price of the OEM.
Obviously the Caber rings and the Farmertec and Meteor cylinder and piston kits are 99.9% as good as OEM at much less $$$.
The gasket sets are pretty nice and customers like them but I don't think I sent any to Steve because he preferred the OEM oil seals and the complete OEM gasket and seal kit is about a dollar less than just a pair of oem seals.
The AM felling spikes are fine, hard to mess up those
I am a big fan of the AM muffler.
I have AM crankcases and cranks that are really nice, though I haven't sent Steve any to play with, I will someday, the guys who use them swear they are equal to oem.

the big dollar stuff that is only OEM so far is the tank and the top handle assembly those together new will set you back about $225 or more so if you are looking at builder saws be sure those parts are intact
there are also a lot of fasteners for this model that are OEM only, so beware of a dismantled saw in a box, the little bits can really add up
those parts will be coming down the Aftermarket channel soon, but getting them perfect is really important for this model

I like the AM oil seals, they make a lot more sense to me.

BUT WOW!!!! LW..... I thought I was cool for rebuilding 3.... you did 15?????????????????????? WOW!!! clearly you are king of the 200's man!

DD, great meeting you the other day, hope out paths cross again!

in case you hadn't seen it, this is my vid on 200t seals...

 

[tbone75]

Seems the OEM seals I pulled out have all been made of bakealite , I think what it was called ? They suck getting out for me ? Always breaks up into tiny pieces for me . Then I get scared if I don't split the case and clean it out good .
Can't say I ever even used OEM seals in one ? LOL So I am no help with that . I can see it must make some type of double lip when OEM ones are used ? Small hole just folds the edge back for a better seal maybe ?
I won't be using any OEM seals on 200Ts , stihl have least 10 sets . LOL If I can find them ? Having many problems finding anything from the move .