McCulloch Chain Saws

[Alaskan Stihl]

All: Here is what I tried so far....

I put my PSI/Vac gauge on the impulse line and put in on "PSI" (didn't want to Vac anything into my gauge gun). Next, I pumped it up some, and it actually pressured up a little bit...then freed up. My guess was that it was some of the Residual Bar Oil that was in the Crankcase (that is where this whole thing started...the guy I bought it from said he loaned out the saw to a friend...who let his wife use it to limb trees. When it was low on gas, she popped open the Gascap and filled it up with Bar Oil).

Anyway, I then hooked the impulse line back up, primed the carb and tried to start it. It actually seemed to stay running a little longer than before...but still wouldn't stay running. Next, step is that I am going to try the "grease trick" and put a dab on the end and turn pull the ripcord and see if there is any activity. I guess that will tell the tale? As mentioned, I have a carb kit on the way...an, although I cleaned out the carburetor (had Bar Oil sucked in it), it did appear that the diaphragm was shaped awkward... I am hoping that is the issue...fingers crossed.

Since I do have a PSI/Vac Kit, it the Carb Rebuild fails...that will be my final Hail Mary play. Guess it wouldn't hurt to check it anyway though...maybe I will give that a shot later on this evening (gotta go split some firewood...go figure)

 

[Goinwheelin]

Friend of mine is cleaning up his property in preparation to sell, so I helped him out today with a dead piss elm in the back pasture. Brought the rat rod 7-10a out for the bigger stuff and let the off brand saws do the dirty work. Nasty dusty wood but we got her knocked out.

 

[vinnywv]

70cc macs are second only to 82cc macs. Nice job. Im also a big fan of echo equipment. Their weedeaters are fantastic. The first real saw my dad ever got for the farm was an echo cs400evl. Good little saw. I cut a lot of firewood growing up with that saw. Still runs fine. I remember how big it was as a youngster. Lol.

 

[Alaskan Stihl]

Wildcat Back to Life!

Well, I got to thinking (brace yourself) that just maybe…since the whole saw was saturated with Bar Oil in the fuel system…it wouldn’t do any harm to try and lean it out some and see what happens? After carb adjustments (noticed the HL screws were pretty stuck…probably due to Bar Oil in the Carb), it actually started to idle more than a few seconds…BINGO…I at least concluded one thing, “the Impulse Line was now clear and trying to work”.

I kept giving it a little more throttle and goosing it enough to rev it up a little before it started to choke …then let off…so on and so forth. This went on for about 10-15 minutes if finessing.

And once things started to raise in temperature…everything turned BLUE!

I mean to tell you, I had the whole yard choked in heavy blue smoke! I was thinking I might have cooked a piston ring or something…but the saw kept running (sort of)….and I kept goading it back to life!

Anyway, I kept minor adjustments to the carb, and finessing the throttle…and it finally started to clear up….and run a lot better!

And by George, it finally smoothed out! Revs up pretty good! I readjusted the H&L to about 1-1/4 to make a final setting.

Obviously, now it is going to need to go out and cut some wood and everything flushed and burned out. I may still do a Carburetor overall (since the carb kit is on the way).

But…Not bad for $20 though…?

Much thanks for everyones suggestions and tips…! It Lives!

 

[vinnywv]

Great job. Good to hear success stories. Plus you got rid of all the bugs for awhile in the yard...win win

 

[heimannm]

Perseverance

 

[PogoInTheWoods]

Much thanks for everyones suggestions and tips…! It Lives!

Congratulations.

I may still do a Carburetor overall (since the carb kit is on the way).

You may also want to check the plug after burning off all that oil. Same for the exhaust port and muffler/muffler screen (if it has one) for any carbon buildup.

BTW, the vac setting on your tester will indeed draw liquids if you're not careful. Most folks discover that the hard way making a mess out of their test setup. When (if?) in doubt, using a clear test hose about 18" long will usually alert you to any snot being drawn into the gauge.

 

[vinnywv]

Ive been tinkering with little devils this week....mini macs!!
So i have 4 of these guys. A 2.0, 2-110's, and a pm155. The 2.0 was a flea market 5 dollar purchase. I dont think it had ever been run. It has electronic ignition in it. It ran great then just not at all. It got put aside for a year. Recently i decided to see whats wrong with it. I took it apart and found the fuel line was not in the channel but pinched a bit by the coil. So i put a new fuel line on it and checked spark while it was apart. Good to go so i put it back together and it fired right up. 1 down. Next was a 110 that was given to me. Cheaper yet, lol. It fired when i got it but never ran. So i took it apart and found some dirty points. Oily mess, wrong spark plug and short rope. Got that taken care of then tried to pull it over. It was locked up. But not frozen. Took the pkug out and foubd it FULL of bar oil in the cylinder. So i pulled it over alot with no plug in it. Then when i thought it was clear gave it a good shot of ether and it lit off. Smoked like you can imagine for about 10 minutes. Cleared up and now ive got 2 mini macs running!!! Today i took on the pm155. This is an antivibe 110 basically. Pretty cool saw. Not common to see. So, apart it came today. Somebody was in there before...had a drywall scew holding the wires to the points box. Got that remedied. Cleaned and adjusted points. Back together. Had spark but no juice. Id forgotten i had a carb kit for the zama carb. Took the carburetor off and rebuilt it. Back together and still no go. Back apart for the last time. Rechecked everything. It all looked great but its not firing off. Rewind a bit, i watched a guy on utube put one of these in a vice and start it with a drill so i said i can do that!! So i put the engine with a bar on only in a vice, got a drill and tried it out. Used a long piece of fuel line and had that covered....turned it over and noticed blue spark coming all around the ceramic on the new spark plug. Eureka!! Grabbed another plug and repeat. Filled the garage up fast with fumes!!!! So back together 3rd time today and now ive got 3 running mini mac saws. Fun little things that are a devil to work on. The 4th one runs but is need of a carb kit so itll have to wait for another day. My hands hurt. Lol

Just thought id share a story.

 

[Goinwheelin]

Weird I was just in the garage looking at my mini mac30 thinking I need to get it running right lol

 

[Syncop8r]

Don't forget there's a Mini Mac thread too! https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/mcculloch-mini-and-small-cc-chainsaws.218770/page-59

 

[vinnywv]

Yea i thought bout the mini mac thread but i like to hang out here. You guys are special. Lol This is the only social media type thing i do. I watch youtube and have some saw videos myself but no faceplant, tweeter, or anything like that for me.

 

[heimannm]

Someone alerted me to the availability of a McCulloch 99 in good condition so I made arrangements to have a look. After we came to an agreement the seller took me to a local implement dealer to see about getting a diaphragm. They did not have any diaphragms...but the owner was ready to sell off all of their remaining McCulloch & chainsaw stuff as they have been out of the saw business for a few years. I was so excited when I got home I forgot to take any photos of the saw.



I will be a few days getting it all sorted out and put away.

Mark

 

[PogoInTheWoods]

Good Mini-Mac story, Vinny. BTW, coupla real good guys and some good info over in the MM thread. If anyone would appreciate your post, it would be them.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Someone alerted me to the availability of a McCulloch 99 in good condition so I made arrangements to have a look. After we came to an agreement the seller took me to a local implement dealer to see about getting a diaphragm. They did not have any diaphragms...but the owner was ready to sell off all of their remaining McCulloch & chainsaw stuff as they have been out of the saw business for a few years. I was so excited when I got home I forgot to take any photos of the saw.

View attachment 935124

I will be a few days getting it all sorted out and put away.

Mark

Holy Smokes! Nice score with the old parts drawers.

 

[heimannm]

I agreed to take the bins back once I have them unloaded but it seemed a shame to just throw all of the parts in a box when they were all sorted out by part numbers in the drawers. That should make sorting and documenting the parts a bit easier.

Mark

 

[knightmax]

Someone alerted me to the availability of a McCulloch 99 in good condition so I made arrangements to have a look. After we came to an agreement the seller took me to a local implement dealer to see about getting a diaphragm. They did not have any diaphragms...but the owner was ready to sell off all of their remaining McCulloch & chainsaw stuff as they have been out of the saw business for a few years. I was so excited when I got home I forgot to take any photos of the saw.

View attachment 935124

I will be a few days getting it all sorted out and put away.

Mark

selling anything?

 

[heimannm]

Let me know what you are looking for and I will see if I can help you out.

Mark

 

[knightmax]

Let me know what you are looking for and I will see if I can help you out.

Mark

Always on the look out for 10 series 82CC stuff. I hoard it lol

 

[Alaskan Stihl]

Welp, before the snow flew…I thought I’d get one more firewood haul in. This time, I used the Wildcat for my limber and it performed magnificent!

It does struggle a little to get started (I think a carb kit might fix that). Also, I actually thought about the Vac issue when tested to make sure the impulse line was clear. Instead of using the Vac, Inswitched my gun to PSI. I kind of worried about suddenly vacuuming ina bunch of Bar Oil into my new Test gun haha!

back to the next project (Mac 110 fuel issue). Wish me luck!!

 

[Alaskan Stihl]

Homelight question: What do you think this saw is worth? It is for sale locally. Were these good saws? Any idea what vintage it might be? (70’s, 80’s)??