Mike, is this shot of the chain close enough for ya?
Sure looks ugly that close up eh!
I had mis-remembered earlier, the "Pioneer 404" is stamped on every cutter link, and every driver is stamped ".404 58" to denote the pitch (some are worn off), while the tie straps just have "404".
I got a new (to me) clutch unit from my friend today so I'm going to replace the springs and see if that helps the snapping and intermittent engaging. He said it certainly shouldn't be doing that, but otherwise said it was running well (started in 3 pulls there today, cold from yesterday afternoon). The "new" springs feel about the same but look a little tighter, so hopefully they work out. He told me he's never once had to rip apart a clutch on one of these because they simply never broke, so it was a new experience for him too 50-odd years after the fact.
Little kickstand thing on the recoil side is a foot peg for the ground starters, most were removed for the drop starters like myself.
Pioneerguy600
Makes sense now that you say that, I'd just never seen anything like it before. It doesn't look like mine ever had that option. I've been trying to stand with one foot on top of the rear handle which is tricky as there isn't much flat space there for my shoe to grab. Now that it's running well, drop-starting isn't an issue, but when it was acting up it was just way too tiring.
EDIT: Mike, I just noticed that you were also asking about literature for these saws. I have the IPL which I grabbed from the RA's page over at Mike Acres' site
HERE. The link to the PDF is at the bottom of the spec list. I've been passively looking for a user/service manual too but so far haven't found anything.
