385xp carb questions

[OhioGregg]

I recently found that my 385xp, bought new in Nov. 08 has a Walbro carb, but in the ownwers manual, says Tilloston. I use this saw ocasionaly for milling. When I started milling with it, I tried to richen it a little to be on the safe side. Well, I could get very little, if any adjustment to the rich side, from where it was set at the factory.

Someone said to remove the limiter caps, adjust and put them back on. The Walbro seems to have some kind of sleeves around the needles. Can these be removed? They don't look easy to get ahold of without damaging them.

If you can get them off and adjust, do you put them back on? I'm thinking I just might leave well enough alone, unless somebody tells me otherwise.

Does anybody know why they switched to the Walbro carb? Are they better or they got a better deal price wise from the supplier? The latter would be my guess. Or, to meet EPA requirements.

Thanks for any opinions! Here is a pic of the Walbro carb setup.

Gregg,

 

[drkptt]

As it is right now you've got about 1/2 turn of adjustment, stop to stop, right? Those sleeves push down into the carb body far enough to disengage the splines on the screw head and they spring back to re-engage the splines when released. Easiest thing to do (with saw off) is to back the screw out to the stop, depress the sleeve with a second small screwdriver (or similar) and back the screw out a half turn or so. You'll still have the 1/2 turn limits but the range will be richer than you have now.

I can't remember exactly how the limiters are assembled, so you're on your own if you want to fully remove them. I believe the sleeves are trapped under the screw heads, so you need to disengage the splines and run the screw all the way out to remove the sleeve. They're probably necessary to keep the screw from moving under vibration, so proceed cautiously if you do.