Biker Dude
Addicted to ArboristSite
My craftsman 2.0/12 is the same saw as my husky 23 compact except the husky has a chain brake. Both saws were actually poulans, I think.
Check the first 3 digits of the model number and then check the list below. That will tell you who made the saw for sears:
HTH
Good info Chris; but my God, I as well didn't think the list would ever end. I hope no one assumed Sears actually made its own goods? You sure have a lot of resource material and I thank you for your past help.
I have on old craftsman saw which is a rebadged Poulan 3700. Very good saw for its day. Don't sell those older craftsman saws short until you check them out.
My saw mechanic pulled out an interesting Craftsman to show me- he even loaned it to me while a couple of my saws are in the shop. It is marked Craftsman 4.3 A/VL. It is an Echo! Interesting design features include a thumbscrew Idle adjustment knob and an automatic oiler adjustment knob. Has an auxiliary manual oiler as well. It has a compression release lever-which does not automatically disengage ( the first cut I made I thought'man this thing is weak' The saw is caterpiller yellow.
Craftsman did have saws made by Homelite. I have seen some craftsman labeled Homelite 360/350 saws. I have also seen several Echo models in craftsman skin.
This forum is a wealth of information about this subject. The original sears saws were David Bradley (owned by sears) which became the Roper company. Roper made saws similar to the Homelite Super XL, and then they started making some that actually had antivibe and looked like a small Poulan Micro (but with larger displacement - 3.7 cu in). I believe that was in the 70's.
I think that in the past 10 years most of the saws have been made by Poulan or MTD (Jeng Feng - Troy Built, new Macs, etc.) - mostly Poulan. I have a poulan one with antivibe. It is a 42cc 2001 model and works fairly well. It seems to have ok power for it's weight, and it is fairly light.
That new craftsman pro saw by redmax looks ok. You can sometimes find Sears selling them refurbished on E-bay for less than $120, but I would rather buy an older used saw than a newer craftsman. Even the redmax / pro saw looks too plasticy (is that a word?).
I was recently given an OLD Echo 451 (45cc). I love it! It is heavy, but feels MUCH more solid than most of these newer saws nowdays. And it has lots of torque for such a small displacement saw. It puts my craftsman to shame. It starts easy, runs great, and has an adjustable oiler plus manual oiler. It even has a knob to adjust the idle speed right on top, instead of a screw that is deep in some dark place that is hard to turn (like newer saws). That craftsman echo is probably similar, but much larger. I think that 4.5 cu in is around 70cc. It must be a beast!
I see lots and lots of 917 numbers on stuff, Roper/AYP must have made a ton of Crapsman gear over the years.
I have a silly neighbor who insists on buying Craftsman everything, I tried explaining to him that lots of it is cheap junk and it's not made like it once was, he won't have any of it! I even showed him the Made in China tag on his new badass 1/2" drill and he didn't believe me!
I have one of these - it's a powerful (and heavy) beast with a 16" bar on it. Compression is crazy high. I don't remeber what Echo model number it is.
My craftsman 2.0/12 is the same saw as my husky 23 compact except the husky has a chain brake. Both saws were actually poulans, I think.
The Craftsnan 4.3 you speak of is a Echo CS-701VL
Mark, you amaze me with all your cross reference material! You're the man!
If you love the 451 VL, you'll really love the 452 VL.
Stihl has made saws for Craftsman? I would never have guessed that.Crapsman is subbed out to whoever can fill the assigned price point in the alloted time for the least cost. In other words, all the saw sluts have private labeled for Sears at some point.
Some people have posted the Sears number here like we are supposed to be some sort of catalog, but the best way I know is to look at the saw and identify it by what it looks like.
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