New piston Suggestions?

tore apart my saw last night to give the ports a polish and my dad came out there to help me. after arguing with him about where to insert the rope, i just let him do it his way and he broke off part of the piston on the bottom... yeah he put the rope in the intake port. anyways he offered to pay for it without hesitation which i figured. priced a kit on baileys for $30, metero brand i think. and then went to stihl shop and they wanted $110 lol. so i guess i'll be going with the internet route. anyways, is there a brand of piston kits that are better than others? i dont want to go the cheapest route, i beleive in you get what you pay for, and i dont want it to fail =)

so any suggestions on what brand of piston to use?

btw its an ms 361.

~brandon

In a saw like that, the only thing I would use, would be an OEM part. However, that's just my preference.

so you're saying a aftermarket part would be a bad idea? explain?

Deadwood Kid said:

so you're saying a aftermarket part would be a bad idea? explain?

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I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm, saying it would not be my preference. I've read a lot on these pages by many far more knowledgeable than I and you can do the same with the search function. The consensus of opinion was the OEM was the better choice if you are looking for the prolonged usage for which the saw was originally designed. If you are not, the aftermarket item should fit your requirements nicely. Aftermarket quality seems to be rather hit or miss, a gamble I would rather not take. Some would argue the same gamble exists with OEM. If that were the case, I thinks the likelihood of a similar failure would be minuscule by comparison, IMHO.

i see. so in otherwords, the aftermarket parts are found to have more flaws as to the OEM parts?

do you think, or know of any power differences or anything? or do you think it wouldnt make a difference as far as power go?

I just tore down a Husqvarna 51 that had had an aftermarket piston/cylinder put in a short time ago, the piston wore the polish right off the cylinder. It had 150lbs compression though. I got an OEM piston today for my 261 and the quality seems much better in the material and casting. The OEM was about $60. more than the aftermarket.

I guess it all pivots around what the application is and how long you want it to last.

Deadwood Kid said:

i see. so in otherwords, the aftermarket parts are found to have more flaws as to the OEM parts?

do you think, or know of any power differences or anything? or do you think it wouldnt make a difference as far as power go?

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Again, it seems from what has been written on this topic that there is more potential for flaws and relaxed manufacturing tolerances than with an OEM part, albeit hit or miss. I don't believe there would be a power difference one way or the other.

I once put an aftermarket piston in an 044 that I acquired. After reading a lot on the subject by the chainsaw pundits that once inhabited this site, I swapped it out with an OEM because, I intended to keep the saw. I don't mean to infer I would have installed what I thought to be an inferior product in something I intended to sell. That is not the case, I had just not known better at the time and did not wish for the saw to eventually fail from something potentially of inferior quality.

Meteor pistons are great. They are considered to be one of the best aftermarket pistons. I'd have no problem with using one.

blsnelling said:

....I'd have problem with using one.

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Me too!

blsnelling said:

Meteor pistons are great. They are considered to be one of the best aftermarket pistons. I'd have problem with using one.

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you mean you would have a problem using them or not

Deadwood Kid said:

you mean you would have a problem using them or not

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He would not, it was just a typo and I could not resist the cheap shot!

BIGBORE577 said:

He would not, it was just a typo and I could not resist the cheap shot!

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You got me I would have no problem using a Meteor piston. They are a quality product.

blsnelling said:

You got me I would have no problem using a Meteor piston. They are a quality product.

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And Bailey's has started carrying them.

blsnelling said:

You got me I would have no problem using a Meteor piston. They are a quality product.

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edisto said:

And Bailey's has started carrying them.

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+1 Two good reasons to go with the Meteor.

I have not seen a Meteor piston that I thought was of any less quality than the OEM ones. There are several aftermarket ones that are total crap. This has been debated on here a trillion times. You can search for PLENTY of results if you're interested.

the stock 361 piston is mahle piston mahle makes aftermarket pistons for the rest of the world but is locked into oem stihl contract so you cant buy them for 30 bucks wich is likly what theyd go for if they werent locked into contract with stihl



correct me if im wrong, maybe the 361 pistons arent made by mahle

i would run the metoer,

ive ran the golf aftermarket piston, it also to me seemed to be of good quality, but the rest on this site hate them

I just bought a golf piston kit for my 044 and it looks to be of pretty good quality. Plus the golf was the only "name brand" piston i could find for my 10mm 044.

yup i think the bad piston rumors are rumors.

there is no reason for aftermarket pistons to be off less quality than the stihl stamped after market pistons

I have run all sorts of aftermarket pistons, some in racers pushed well past factory spec, almost all have held up just fine. Some of the rings though are a little sketchy and I have had some failures there with high RPM and wide ports.

so instead of paying $100 for a OEM piston, i should just go with the $30 meteor?

if there just as good quality i think i'll be cheap, just this once