45:1 fuel/oil ratio in my chainsaw and weed eater, opinions/advise please...

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vnhill1981

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I have a Stihl 025 that I posted that is recommended to run at 50:1. I have a Hitachi Leaf Blower that is recommended to run at 50:1. Now doing some research on here I see recommendations of 40:1 to 50:1 (sometimes even 32:1) for use in peoples' chainsaws. I figured a good 45:1 would be the middle of the road so I went this route. Now I have slightly less than 2 gallons (used some of it but can;t tell how much) mixed up as follows:

2 Gallons - 93 Octance Gas (No Ethanol, luckily we still have some around)
5.7 oz - Stihl Ultra HP Synthetic
28oz Sta-Bil Red Formula

Like stated earlier this gives me a 45:1 according to the online calculators I used. My main concern was for my chainsaw as it is the most expensive power equipment item I have at the moment and I figured this combination would be good (maybe overdoing it a bit) for it. Now on to the question, I had (being the key word) a Husqvarna 128LD weed trimmer that was recommended to run at 50:1. Long story short, after 2 years it quit working today. I took it apart and saw that the piston and cylinder was scored pretty bad. Anyways after judging cost to rebuild/replace I decided to just buy another weed trimmer. I got a Troy Bilt TRB2044 XP. I will honestly admit that I didn't look at the recommendation first (figured it had to be 50:1 as well), filled it up with my current mixture and did the yard with it. After running it for say 30-40 minutes (weed trimming and edging) I put it up. It ran very good to me at least.

With that said, later on I finally got around to looking at the paperwork and saw that it recommended 40:1. There is no real way to make my current mixture 40:1 anywhere near accurately. Just wondering if y'all think the 45:1 would hurt anything as far as longevity of the weed trimmer? I know now that my next mixture can be 40:1 for all if need be (or maybe I should stick with 45:1), but I just made this mixture and it generally will last all season. Thanks and sorry it's so long.
 
No , you should be fine at 45:1 but adding just a bit more oil to the mix you already have will bring it closer to 40:1

I run 40:1 in all my saws and equipment even though they say 50:1 . That little bit extra oil is added protection .
 
No , you should be fine at 45:1 but adding just a bit more oil to the mix you already have will bring it closer to 40:1

I run 40:1 in all my saws and equipment even though they say 50:1 . That little bit extra oil is added protection .


Yup......40:1 for me. That little bit extra oil is peace of mind.
 
If you're using 28oz of Sta-bil in 2 gallons of gas you're wasting a lot of money. Also you gotta factor another 28oz, almost another 1/4 gallon of liquid into your ratio. So you're running about 50:1 not 45:1.

Sorry I meant 28ml. Anyways thanks y'all but I was able to dump it out in a 5 gallon bucket, measure it, and adjust it to 40-41 : 1.


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I have 2-stroke powered equipment that asks for fuel/oil ratios ranging from 25:1 to 50:1.
The tools that ask for 25:1 are old ones and they weren't happy with actual 25:1 ratio fuel while using nowadays 2-stroke oils - they were smoking heavily , spitting excess oil out of the muffler and getting oily spark plugs.
I got fed up with all the different ratios and (recently) switched to 40:1 on all my 2-stroke equipment!
 
I run 32:1 in my echo trimmer and all the saws. No problems for any of them oil related like that.
 
40:1 in everything.... should be good to go. Thats what I am doing and everything runs great, no issues.
 
41%2BMbyRFhBL.jpg

This is a Ratio Rite, commonly used among folks here and excellent for taking the guess work out of mixing a wide variety of ratios.
 
I have 2-stroke powered equipment that asks for fuel/oil ratios ranging from 25:1 to 50:1.
The tools that ask for 25:1 are old ones and they weren't happy with actual 25:1 ratio fuel while using nowadays 2-stroke oils - they were smoking heavily , spitting excess oil out of the muffler and getting oily spark plugs.
I got fed up with all the different ratios and (recently) switched to 40:1 on all my 2-stroke equipment!
I've found that the old equipment also doesn't like ratios as rich as they recommended back in the day... on the old stuff I found 32:1 is good, also depending on how hard you work it
 
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