mac 610

[flashy]

A guy I know has a McColluch Pro Mac 610 that has worked well, but recently became hard to start. I was thinking of offering to sell him one of my extra saws and taking his Mac as a partial trade. My guess is that it needs a carb kit and gas tubes.
I once did a carb kit for a 310 Pro Mac. The 310 was very hard to work on and turned out to be a waste of time, although the carb kit DID help. Is the 610 just as bad as the 310? The 310 was never a good saw, but the 610 has worked well for him for a long time. If anyone has any real experience with a Pro MAc 610, any advice would be appreciated.
AS is great.

 

[GASoline71]

I have never used or worked on a 310. But I have a Pro Mac 610. Runs like a scalded dog. It is a big, ugly, heavy, old saw, with a good amount of tourqe. Mine has a 24" Oregon Powermatch bar on it. It has no problem pullin' that.

I got mine for free from my grandpa. I got a new carb and oiler for it off of ebay... I lucked out and got a new carb for the price of a song. The oiler cost more than the carb.

From what I have read here... the 610 can develope ignition issues. But I have not had (knock on wood) any problems with mine.

It's a decent saw. Fun to use, and just might be worth the effort, if it isn't beat to hell.

Gary

 

[Al Smith]

A . If anyone has any real experience with a Pro MAc 610, any advice would be appreciated.
AS is great.

Well,that would be me.I wouldn't even try and guess how many hours I've ran one,a bunch.

Several things might happen to the saw.They sometimes develop the bad habit of not staring after they have been ran hard and shut down.The electronic coil overheats.The remedy is to blow the chips out of that thing and prior to shutiing down allow the saw a little cool down period.Replacements coils are around 25 bucks.

The oiler is an impulse operated diaphragm type.Over time they wear out,develop leaks.This is turn sucks a little lube into the engine which in turn plugs the muffler screen.This may or may not carbon up the exhaust side of the piston up,not good.

Because of the age fuel lines are in question,they get stiff, develop tiny little cracks.

The carbs for some reason are almost bullit proof.On my personal 610 which I've had since about 1980 ,I've never had the carb off for any reason.That old saw is on it's fifth bar I believe and has used up at least a five bucket full of chain loops and still starts on no more than half a dozen pulls after setting perhaps 6 or more months at a time.

I have rebuilt carbs on other 610's,the kits are under 10 dollars.

They aren't a bad saw maybe a tad outdated but still get the job done for a 60 cc saw.Mac must have made zillions of them.

 

[romeo]

The last Mac

It is definitely worth fixing, my dad still has and uses his. It is the saw I learned with more than 20 years ago. If I were you I would stock up on parts while they are still out there. They are all over ebay and dirt cheap.

My little brother stripped a bunch of them down at his saw shop and set my dad up with a lifetime supply of bits and pieces.

 

[BryanH]

Overheating Coil

Several things might happen to the saw.They sometimes develop the bad habit of not staring after they have been ran hard and shut down.The electronic coil overheats.The remedy is to blow the chips out of that thing and prior to shutiing down allow the saw a little cool down period.Replacements coils are around 25 bucks.

A number of people I know that have 605,610's have trouble starting them (wont start till cool) if they run out of gas. Problem doesn't seem to occur is it's refueled before empty. Have you experienced this? What's the reason?

 

[Log Splitter]

I ran a 610 for a number of years. It was a heavy brute, but did a good job cutting firewood for me. I can't remember it ever being hard to start, it ran fine until the day the crankshaft broke.

 

[doc874]

Just got my own 610 for 20 bucks minus bar and chain. Haven't tried to start it yet but will let you know later. Thing looks to be in great shape for the age.

 

[Butch(OH)]

I bought a 610 new sometime around 1976 and I still own it. They get kicked around on the site for being what they are, a 1970s design and thats fine but on a percentage basis how many 30 year sold HuskaStihleRedes are still being used today Vs 610? I'll take the 610 on that bet, at least in this locality. They are no fun to lug around when your stumbling through the limbs on the small end of a downed tree but are nice saws to run when you start needing about 10" of that 20" bar right up until it is buried. As Al said there was at least a zillion made and must be half of that zillion still around, so many that we pick them up at farm sales for $5-20 and they show up at the doorstep while we are gone, LOL. Anyway yes, it is worth putting some time into and they are pretty easy to work on. Tips? If it hasn't been run for a long time a little gas dribbled on the air filter sure beats yanking on the starter to get the fuel system primed up. Have fun with it.

 

[Al Smith]

A number of people I know that have 605,610's have trouble starting them (wont start till cool) if they run out of gas. Problem doesn't seem to occur is it's refueled before empty. Have you experienced this? What's the reason?

Yes I have.That is that over heating of the coil I mentioned.

After setting in the woods with my thumb in my butt waiting for the saw to cool down it finally dawned on me what the problem was.

Kind of odd though,my 610 would do that but my dads would not.What ever the case I now have both saws in the shed.My pappy kind of souped his up a tad bit as was his nature and most likely where I get my tweaking urge from.

That part is kind of amusing.We were doing a lot of cutting at the time and the old man twisted the crank off on his Roper,also souped up.He trotted off to K-mart and bought himself a PM 610 Mac,on sale of course.Well,his shiny new saw couldn't keep up with mine.That didn't last long,the old boy went to work on that thing and soon left the rest of us in the dust.Fact is he had it out cutting an 042 Stihl owned by my brother in law.

 

[Tazman1602]

If anyone has any real experience with a Pro MAc 610, any advice would be appreciated.
AS is great.

EXCELLENT SAW...............for its day. I've still got my original firewood saw that's now around 27 years old. Still runs like a scalded cat and will pull through whatever you put it on..........

.......problem is it's a damn site heavier in my 50's that it was in my 20's......they were good saws, just heavy as heck compared to todays saws.

 

[PES+]

I believe

You guys mean the 6-10......not a 610

 

[Tazman1602]

You guys mean the 6-10......not a 610

Uh-Uh. Pro-Mac 610 man. I can post a pic if you want to see. Thanks to this thread I found there is a huge following on ebay for this antique/obsolete saw.

Follow this link

and you can see the exact saw. Mine dates from 1980 when I was first married and couldn't afford to heat with anything but wood.

You guys are a bad influence on me. Now I'm looking at every dang ole' chainsaw I come across........................<GRIN>

 

[djmercer1]

Uh-Uh. Pro-Mac 610 man. I can post a pic if you want to see. Thanks to this thread I found there is a huge following on ebay for this antique/obsolete saw.

Follow this link

and you can see the exact saw. Mine dates from 1980 when I was first married and couldn't afford to heat with anything but wood.

You guys are a bad influence on me. Now I'm looking at every dang ole' chainsaw I come across........................<GRIN>

looks to be the same saw as the timberbear and the promac 605....

 

[Tazman1602]

looks to be the same saw as the timberbear and the promac 605....

Could be -- I really don't know. Didn't have enough money in those days to to have more than one saw, one chain, and one files...........<grin>