Remington Chainsaws(including Mall chainsaws)

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My first posting/question. I do apologize if I am in the wrong place. I have a US Military PL55A made by Remington made on 4-73, serial number 1582. I got the saw with the starter parts missing and after getting the necessary parts the saw when the starter cord was pulled if did pull pretty much the same as my PL5. However, after firing for the first time with fuel it become very hard to pull the starter cord and it acts as it has too much compression. Pulling hard on the cord it goes over TDC and then backfires. I have checked and read every thing that I can think off or found and I found that a decompression was available only on the PL55A but, I have not been able to find such a valve or how it was activated. I was going to take the throttle handle apart but, after coming close to losing my fingers again I thought to better ask for your help and advise. I would like to thank you all of you not only for you help but, most of all for sharing your knowledge and experience.
 
Oiler check valve long gone and filling the cylinder with oil. Pull the plug and see what comes out.

Did it smoke like crazy when it did run?

Chris B.
Thank for your answer. I have never had the saw running. It only attempted to start once and after that it had the saw has only backfired. I think both of you cbfarmall and 67L36Driver are correct because the saw was full of a black gummy oily stuff which I have seen in engines that are burning oil. I will check the oiler system/mechanism and I will keep you posted.
 
Thank for your answer. I have never had the saw running. It only attempted to start once and after that it had the saw has only backfired. I think both of you cbfarmall and 67L36Driver are correct because the saw was full of a black gummy oily stuff which I have seen in engines that are burning oil. I will check the oiler system/mechanism and I will keep you posted.
 
Gentlemen, I do not have an automatic oiler in my PL55A. It is only manual oiling system. The rings on the piston are not frozen and I see a little movement from the exhaust port when I move the piston up and down. Also, there is not any oil in the cylinder (I washed it with brake cleaner). I also placed a little dental mirror thru the exhaust port and I could not see any thing at top of the cylinder and around the spark plug hole. I know a little more about the chainsaw, the previous owner used it to get parts for another chainsaw which needed the starter parts. He also said that he did not remove the piston and never had the chainsaw running. I can not see a cylinder gasket like I can in my PL5 (including a PL5 donor chassis). Can a missing cylinder gasket be the cause of too much compression? Tomorrow I am going to attempt to start the chainsaw again and see what happens. I am including a picture of the oiling system. Once again.... thank you for your help and I will you know what happens.
 

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Why is that thing Poulan green?

[emoji848]

The auto oiler check is a fitting between the crankcase and the oil tank.

Easy fix on them but the fuel/oil tank cover has to be removed.

Be prepared to make your own gasket or cross your fingers you can re use the one on there.

Use a Poulan duckbill.
 
Definitely not Army O D green.
I know it is not Army green. I should know since spent 27 years seeing Army green. I intend to paint the chainsaw back to Army green once I get it running. It was Army green at one time, but it was painted to an ugly green color by previous owner/s. I am going to get into the oil tank to fix the valve and if I need to make a new gasket I do have gasket material to make one. Do you know what is the thickness of the cylinder gasket? It does look like it was removed/deleted and for what I have read removing this gasket will increase the compression by 10 to 15 percent. Do you know if this correct?
Thank you for the help and have a bless day.
 
Had some time to play with it today while waiting for corn to dry... here's some pictures....View attachment 767991 View attachment 767992 View attachment 767993


Got it together and poppin today! Shes got good blue spark and around 100psi compression. Does anybody have a link to that guy that did a tillotson hl rebuild/walkthrough? I got a rebuild kit in her but need a shortcut to tuning that carb. Running out of time here and hate to put the toy away before she's fine tuned.
 
FWIW: I have a NOS SL-5 cylinder here I’ll never use.

It was part of a batch of parts.

PM me an offer.

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And, a bare Bantam clutch cover.
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Plus a Fuel tank.
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If you're referring to the tutorial that was here on AS about rebuilding the HL carbs,don't even bother to read it.No one should reuse the old metering lever when rebuilding a carb.That metering lever has been hammered up & down millions of times over it's lifetime & it will not have it's original setting whatsoever.The guy who wrote that tutorial obviously had too many beers to drink (if we're talking about the same tutorial).The HL carb is very much straightforward & IMHO is easier than other carbs because of the sheer size of everything.The only "problem" you might have is getting the old needle seat out.Just go to Harbor Freight,or some other cheapo tool store & buy a mini socket set & grind the outside of the correct socket (can't remember if it's 5/16 or 3/8) till it fits around the seat,& presto! Then just rebuild the carb like any other.If you can't remember the sequence of gaskets & diaphragms,either take pics,or ask someone here.
Ed
 
Got it together and poppin today! Shes got good blue spark and around 100psi compression. Does anybody have a link to that guy that did a tillotson hl rebuild/walkthrough? I got a rebuild kit in her but need a shortcut to tuning that carb. Running out of time here and hate to put the toy away before she's fine tuned.

The manual says the start position for the mix needles is 3/4 out on the low and 1-1/4 out on the high.
 
I've heard that the compression on Remington saws wasn't that high,but I don't know if 100# is enough to even get it to pop,let alone run.I've also been told that the general rule of thumb is to have a minimum of 120# on a reed saw.
Ed
 
Gentlemen you were absolutely correct about the check valve in the oil tank being toast. I took it apart and after drilling the old one I installed a new duck bill check valve. There was not any oil in the oil tank so I do not think that was or is the reason for the high compression. I still think that the cylinder gasket was removed and that is what I intend to check next by removing the cylinder. Do you know what the thickness of the cylinder gasket is or what the squish is suppose to be? Thank you again for the help.
 
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