Anyone ever assemble complete MS250 from Ebay aftermarket?

[hood river]

I see lots of threads for all the Hutzl/Farmertec saws, but I haven't seen anyone put together a complete Ms 250.

Anyone have any experience with the Chinese Cylinder? I did see a nice meteor nikasil set for $130 though

I priced one today $150-175, but that changes from time to time and I might have 10% of an order too...so I might be able to get all the parts on my doorstep for less than $150 with cheap b/c to boot....

I do have a couple older, well working 250s and I also have an offer to piece together another 10 hulks in various states of disrepair.... as a favor for a outdoor charity. My thoughts are to build a complete 250 from all AF parts and see what works, what doesnt....

Eventually I am going to need to replace a few things on my own workings saws when the times comes and for this possibility of helping out this charity too...it also gives me a platform to gain a little experience....I can tune a saw carb and replace most of the ancillary components, so I feel this is a good progression.....
Haven't really ventured into 2 stroke building yet, but I have good working background in engine building in general....

Could this be fun and worthwhile or a friggin nightmare?

Thanks y'all.

 

[Mac&Homelite]

I think it could be fun, I know I had a blast with the ms361 kit. However, I would recommend if you are going through the costs of building one, do one of the 360/361 kits. For the cost difference, I personally wouldn't spend my time putting a new homeowner grade model together. The pro saws are infinitely easier and quicker to work on. The quality on the kits are usually really good, but the soft items usually end up failing prematurely such as fuel and oil lines.

 

[Khntr85]

Yep tear into them man....I have done all the above, I love it....I have a 2-car garage and have parts and saws every were in one side...it's fun, frustrating at first...

With the AM parts, you do just have to trial and error them....best way to do a rebuild is to use OEM cylinder and AM piston....I have used AM bearing last and seals.....some guys say they will blow within a tank of fuel, the ones I have used have been fine...

I have had great luck with pistons, seals, some bearing, and some cylinders....

I have used "complete" engines....they have all worked....the thing is I haven't found one yet that runs as strong as OEM....now I have "ported" and cleaned up cylinders and got as good as oem....

I am no expert, I just love running and working on saws...good luck and have fun man!!

 

[hood river]

Yep tear into them man....I have done all the above, I love it....I have a 2-car garage and have parts and saws every were in one side...it's fun, frustrating at first...

With the AM parts, you do just have to trial and error them....best way to do a rebuild is to use OEM cylinder and AM piston....I have used AM bearing last and seals.....some guys say they will blow within a tank of fuel, the ones I have used have been fine...

I have had great luck with pistons, seals, some bearing, and some cylinders....

I have used "complete" engines....they have all worked....the thing is I haven't found one yet that runs as strong as OEM....now I have "ported" and cleaned up cylinders and got as good as oem....

I am no expert, I just love running and working on saws...good luck and have fun man!!

Man, what a long week, really wanted to follow up a bit, but thats how it goes sometimes.

Thank you sharing your experiences and that is about 99% what I had figured as well.

Right now I need to replace a clutch plate for a 250 and probably rebuild the carb as well.....so I am diving in.

I just don't need a bigger saw and I can even handle porting eventually, so with my needs for a small saw that is portable, these are kicking butt imho.....

I cut just about nothing but Doug, some Maple and a little madrone [arbutus] from time and I really just don't need a bigger saw.

So thanks for stoking the fire, CAD full speed ahead....

 

[hood river]

I think it could be fun, I know I had a blast with the ms361 kit. However, I would recommend if you are going through the costs of building one, do one of the 360/361 kits. For the cost difference, I personally wouldn't spend my time putting a new homeowner grade model together. The pro saws are infinitely easier and quicker to work on. The quality on the kits are usually really good, but the soft items usually end up failing prematurely such as fuel and oil lines.

I agree on the quality, alot, although my situation is mostly cutting Doug Fir for firewood and trail clearing.
I have a mag case cuss word, a Poulan and I don't find it easier to work on myself, mainly just because I don't have time for tools and making a quick jig...

I looked over the 361 and it is right in the avenue, price-wise and for a personal build I might just build one up eventually, especially if I can make or dare I say afford [too stubborn usually] the tools, then almost definitely for the pricing alone...

But dare I say again, I just don't need a saw of this caliber, . The homeowner saw fits my wheelhouse due to all the surrounding factors, like left behind saws or rolling saws off the back of the atv or having the partner back the truck over a bar or three...lol, thats why these fit my needs a little better. But change my mind, I am always listening.

Thanks for your input!

 

[jd548esco72]

i've had pretty decent luck building china sourced saws.

some did get a few OEM parts. i think i built one 372XP that was all china. the only problem it has is the starter rope sometimes snapps! it has gobs of compression and it is a stock 50mm china cylinder. and it is still running the base gasket!!

china cylinders are sort of a grab bag , but most are serviceable . one in ten might be close to OEM quality.

if i got an assembled short block i would remove the cylinder and have a look before i finished it up.

the china kit saws are a nice deal if you are a decent chainsaw mechanic.

i would go with the 361 over the 250 -- or maybe a 261--

there is a guy on here that made a bunch of videos building china huskys , some of them really strong -- worth a look before you jump--

 

[Rockjock]

I don't know if it is cost effective to build up a MS 250. Around here they sell for 200.00 in good condition. There are quite a few people in my area that buy blown up quick cut saws and slap in a china piston/cylinder and then sell them for top dollar.. That is until the guy who buys it returns it blown up again and demands his money back. . I have talked with 1 gent that tells me you have to be very careful with the parts, he may get a good run of parts then several bad batches. Hit and miss is what he has said. Has anyone ever built up an AM saw and then given it to a tree company for a RTF/OTF ( Run To Fail / Operate Till Failure ) test?

 

[hood river]

I don't know if it is cost effective to build up a MS 250. Around here they sell for 200.00 in good condition. There are quite a few people in my area that buy blown up quick cut saws and slap in a china piston/cylinder and then sell them for top dollar.. That is until the guy who buys it returns it blown up again and demands his money back. . I have talked with 1 gent that tells me you have to be very careful with the parts, he may get a good run of parts then several bad batches. Hit and miss is what he has said. Has anyone ever built up an AM saw and then given it to a tree company for a RTF/OTF ( Run To Fail / Operate Till Failure ) test?

I am not looking to resell, for one thing, just testing the waters.

I only wish I could find good OEM for less than $200, even slightly used, but even around here, everyone thinks anything with a big S is gold. I just saw a used 170 on local Craigs, that was listed for higher than new, lol.

For comparison, a Meteor kit is +$100 over the Hutzl/Farmetec "motor kit", is that an argument by itself

Thanks for your input!

 

[jd548esco72]

this china 440 i built 4+ years ago has cut a lot of firewood. still no problems with it.

they can hold up quite well. we don't run saws out here like we did in the 1970s and early 80s so there is no way to quick test one by bucking a couple hundred chords of pulpwood in a short time.

i don't expect a china clone to run five years logging like we did then ,be a back up saw for a few more years and then cut firewood for another 20 years like some of those johnesreds did.

i do expect the 440 and 372 clones to have a useful life at least as good as the OEM box store special saws (made from the same parts as the clones but maybe even more cheap). i doubt they will hold up as well as say a echo 590 or a real 372 or 440 -- yet the china 440 has held up longer than two 290s FWIW.

i thing careful inspection and assembly is key to how much mileage you get out of one of the clones.

another thing to consider is a clone of a pro class saw might have a lot more going for it than a clone of a farm and ranch model.

 

[Rockjock]

I am not looking to resell, for one thing, just testing the waters.

I only wish I could find good OEM for less than $200, even slightly used, but even around here, everyone thinks anything with a big S is gold. I just saw a used 170 on local Craigs, that was listed for higher than new, lol.

For comparison, a Meteor kit is +$100 over the Hutzl/Farmetec "motor kit", is that an argument by itself

Thanks for your input!

I agree there are some jabroni's that feel their saws should be worth more then new. Parts in the US are much cheaper than here in Canada yet many will still go the OEM route. The idea is if the old saw lasted 30 years with OEM parts then it could, potentially, last another 30 years with the same OEM parts. I do not get many chainsaws in that have been bastardized but I get many quick cuts that have . All fail in a year or less. I have a mintish ms261 and it needs a piston. $ 172.00 here in Canada less then 50 in the US. And yet many buy the AM parts.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I have one that's almost complete aftermarket but still retains a few Stihl parts but not many.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I agree there are some jabroni's that feel their saws should be worth more then new. Parts in the US are much cheaper than here in Canada yet many will still go the OEM route. The idea is if the old saw lasted 30 years with OEM parts then it could, potentially, last another 30 years with the same OEM parts. I do not get many chainsaws in that have been bastardized but I get many quick cuts that have . All fail in a year or less. I have a mintish ms261 and it needs a piston. $ 172.00 here in Canada less then 50 in the US. And yet many buy the AM parts.

I've seen some of the OEM pistons fail also, depends on who is using it..

 

[Rockjock]

I've seen some of the OEM pistons fail also, depends on who is using it..

This is true! As long as you know why the piston failed and remedy that issue then you should be fine. I have just seen many AM parts that need some finessing to make them work right straight out the box

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Sometimes people don't fix what burned out the OEM piston, they just slap in a new AM piston and wonder why it didn't last as long as the original.

 

[grack]

Yep tear into them man....I have done all the above, I love it....I have a 2-car garage and have parts and saws every were in one side...it's fun, frustrating at first...

With the AM parts, you do just have to trial and error them....best way to do a rebuild is to use OEM cylinder and AM piston....I have used AM bearing last and seals.....some guys say they will blow within a tank of fuel, the ones I have used have been fine...

I have had great luck with pistons, seals, some bearing, and some cylinders....

I have used "complete" engines....they have all worked....the thing is I haven't found one yet that runs as strong as OEM....now I have "ported" and cleaned up cylinders and got as good as oem....

I am no expert, I just love running and working on saws...good luck and have fun man!!

Same here didn't get the kits.
I just bought the complete 365s and turned them into 372s.
I've got four two big bore and two 50mm really happy with them i used a mahle 50mm one one but the china saws are just as strong i did some basic porting on all the china cylinders.
I've got over 8 gallons through the first one they are fun to mod and run keeper's for me.

 

[grack]

I've used countless Chinese part's on the 025/250 saws no issue's just occasionally have to put a shorter carb spring in sometimes they are too long i just swap for the old spring.