McCulloch Chain Saws

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Every once in a while I'll run across a 54cc that just sings and really surprises me. One was my 20 over bore. Most are just very reliable good cutters. Ive had an electric chip change a 10-10 surprisingly well too.
I'm gonna do a 30 over later this year also, I had the plug hole rewelded and a little bit of the combustion chamber filled in, should be a ripper.
Yep. One of my favorite firewood saws is still a 10-10 lightweight. She gets mad at me when I neglect her for too long and will fuss on that first start, but after that, Katie bar the the door. That saw is like an Energizer bunny. Just keeps going and going and going. Great saw. Great power to weight ratio.
 
Love the 70cc macs. Great engines. Im not a big fan of the 54cc engine. Ive got a 3 and they just dont have the same response. Nice saws just not my favs. I do have a couple 57cc and they do much better. A pm55 and 10-10s. They will run well but those 70cc engines will rip. Ive got lots of those and love hearing them run. Ive got fixed jet carbs and adjustable carbs on them ive got a 125 carb on my 6-10. They seem to be very forgiving and love the throttle!!!
I never understood why 3ccs made that much difference but it does Vinny. I flipped lots of 10-10 saws for the years to feed my 82cc saw habit. guys around here love them.
 
The noise.... Well they sound like what I grew up thinking a saw should sound like....

Don't get me wrong, that's basically what's at the root of my particular Mac affliction.

My personal favorite is a raw 10-10 auto because it's so bombastic. And it was my first McCulloch experience many years ago.

Haven't told this story for awhile, but my first Mac experience occurred when the proprietor of a roadside produce stand my wife I and used to frequent got to chatting with me one day about heating with wood, which obviously led to chainsaws. I mentioned that I dabbled a bit in repairs and such and he asked if I had a few minutes to spare. Of course I did. LOL

So he trots next door to his house and comes back with a 10-10 Auto in one hand and the starter with the rope hanging out in the other.

"Do you think you can fix this?" "Uhhh...., sure?"
"Great! Do you have another minute?" (Oh boy.) "Sure."

He jogs back over to his house and comes back with another one -- with the starter attached this time, but the entire rope hanging out.

"They both ran the last time I started em!" (Yep, they all did.) He offers me a deal. "If you can fix one you can have the other one and a box full of parts for em."
"Uhhh...., OK?" So I grab the saws and some fresh veggies and off I go wondering what the hell did I just get myself into?

Fast forward to claiming my first Mac...

As we all know, the three main issues most 10 series saws present are leaky tank seams, shrunken fuel lines..., and starter problems. Oh yeah, and 40 years of caked on funk like most neglected saws.

Step one was obviously some cleaning before taking things apart enough to see if I even had half a chance at success with the starters. Didn't look like it, but what the hell. Let's take it apart and see how it's supposed to work. Boiyoiyoiyoiyoing!!! Oops. Needless to say, I spent the next hour trying to get the spring rewound and back in place quite cluelessly. Thought I had it and put things back together just to have the damned rope pull all the way out and not rewind. Hmmm. Take it apart and the spring goes Boing again and I'm back to square one. Spent another half hour (I was gettin' good at it by now) winding the spring again but had a revelation this time. It was broken at the end and I was winding it backassward -- (probably the rope too!) Ok. So let's see if the spring in the other starter is good and I can get it wound correctly. Yay! Good spring.

The next try, success! Spring worked. Rope rewound, though sluggish for the normal reasons I would later learn. I could at least pull the saw over. Cool!

It started on like the second or third pull! YIKES!!! Scared the $hit outta me. I thought it was blowing up right then and there. Stuck on fast idle and the kill switch didn't work. Finally had the presence of mind to choke it down and check my underwear. Damn. Badass saw right there!!! Took a few minutes to gather my wits, then I fired it up again. Wow. Just absolutely awesome to me.

Now I'm all excited to see if the other one runs. Pulled the starter off the running one without springing the spring and put it on. Wham! Started right up! The only thing left was which one to keep and what was in the box of parts the guy still had. Turned out to be a whole other 10-10 that I've yet to put together.

He was happy. I was hooked.

First Mac.jpg
 
Don't get me wrong, that's basically what's at the root of my particular Mac affliction.

My personal favorite is a raw 10-10 auto because it's so bombastic. And it was my first McCulloch experience many years ago.

Haven't told this story for awhile, but my first Mac experience occurred when the proprietor of a roadside produce stand my wife I and used to frequent got to chatting with me one day about heating with wood, which obviously led to chainsaws. I mentioned that I dabbled a bit in repairs and such and he asked if I had a few minutes to spare. Of course I did. LOL

So he trots next door to his house and comes back with a 10-10 Auto in one hand and the starter with the rope hanging out in the other.

"Do you think you can fix this?" "Uhhh...., sure?"
"Great! Do you have another minute?" (Oh boy.) "Sure."

He jogs back over to his house and comes back with another one -- with the starter attached this time, but the entire rope hanging out.

"They both ran the last time I started em!" (Yep, they all did.) He offers me a deal. "If you can fix one you can have the other one and a box full of parts for em."
"Uhhh...., OK?" So I grab the saws and some fresh veggies and off I go wondering what the hell did I just get myself into?

Fast forward to claiming my first Mac...

As we all know, the three main issues most 10 series saws present are leaky tank seams, shrunken fuel lines..., and starter problems. Oh yeah, and 40 years of caked on funk like most neglected saws.

Step one was obviously some cleaning before taking things apart enough to see if I even had half a chance at success with the starters. Didn't look like it, but what the hell. Let's take it apart and see how it's supposed to work. Boiyoiyoiyoiyoing!!! Oops. Needless to say, I spent the next hour trying to get the spring rewound and back in place quite cluelessly. Thought I had it and put things back together just to have the damned rope pull all the way out and not rewind. Hmmm. Take it apart and the spring goes Boing again and I'm back to square one. Spent another half hour (I was gettin' good at it by now) winding the spring again but had a revelation this time. It was broken at the end and I was winding it backassward -- (probably the rope too!) Ok. So let's see if the spring in the other starter is good and I can get it wound correctly. Yay! Good spring.

The next try, success! Spring worked. Rope rewound, though sluggish for the normal reasons I would later learn. I could at least pull the saw over. Cool!

It started on like the second or third pull! YIKES!!! Scared the $hit outta me. I thought it was blowing up right then and there. Stuck on fast idle and the kill switch didn't work. Finally had the presence of mind to choke it down and check my underwear. Damn. Badass saw right there!!! Took a few minutes to gather my wits, then I fired it up again. Wow. Just absolutely awesome to me.

Now I'm all excited to see if the other one runs. Pulled the starter off the running one without springing the spring and put it on. Wham! Started right up! The only thing left was which one to keep and what was in the box of parts the guy still had. Turned out to be a whole other 10-10 that I've yet to put together.

He was happy. I was hooked.

View attachment 1061799
Great story. Love my 10-10's .I remember being completely blown away
( and partially deaf )after making the first few cuts with my first one. Wow what a feeling and yes instantly hooked.
 
It's the porting rather than the 3ccs. It's pretty much an over bored and ported 54. Loves to rev can really get stingy on the hi jet and rev to the moon n still the pop pop of safety. Not just revs too though it's got a heap of bottom end as well
I always wondered that (if it was porting). Never paid as close attention to the cylinder differences as I should have in the 54 and 57cc saws. I usually just grab a 7-10 for midsize work. But I have ran the PM 55's and 10-10S's from time time. they are spunky beside a 10-10.
 
Don't get me wrong, that's basically what's at the root of my particular Mac affliction.

My personal favorite is a raw 10-10 auto because it's so bombastic. And it was my first McCulloch experience many years ago.

Haven't told this story for awhile, but my first Mac experience occurred when the proprietor of a roadside produce stand my wife I and used to frequent got to chatting with me one day about heating with wood, which obviously led to chainsaws. I mentioned that I dabbled a bit in repairs and such and he asked if I had a few minutes to spare. Of course I did. LOL

So he trots next door to his house and comes back with a 10-10 Auto in one hand and the starter with the rope hanging out in the other.

"Do you think you can fix this?" "Uhhh...., sure?"
"Great! Do you have another minute?" (Oh boy.) "Sure."

He jogs back over to his house and comes back with another one -- with the starter attached this time, but the entire rope hanging out.

"They both ran the last time I started em!" (Yep, they all did.) He offers me a deal. "If you can fix one you can have the other one and a box full of parts for em."
"Uhhh...., OK?" So I grab the saws and some fresh veggies and off I go wondering what the hell did I just get myself into?

Fast forward to claiming my first Mac...

As we all know, the three main issues most 10 series saws present are leaky tank seams, shrunken fuel lines..., and starter problems. Oh yeah, and 40 years of caked on funk like most neglected saws.

Step one was obviously some cleaning before taking things apart enough to see if I even had half a chance at success with the starters. Didn't look like it, but what the hell. Let's take it apart and see how it's supposed to work. Boiyoiyoiyoiyoing!!! Oops. Needless to say, I spent the next hour trying to get the spring rewound and back in place quite cluelessly. Thought I had it and put things back together just to have the damned rope pull all the way out and not rewind. Hmmm. Take it apart and the spring goes Boing again and I'm back to square one. Spent another half hour (I was gettin' good at it by now) winding the spring again but had a revelation this time. It was broken at the end and I was winding it backassward -- (probably the rope too!) Ok. So let's see if the spring in the other starter is good and I can get it wound correctly. Yay! Good spring.

The next try, success! Spring worked. Rope rewound, though sluggish for the normal reasons I would later learn. I could at least pull the saw over. Cool!

It started on like the second or third pull! YIKES!!! Scared the $hit outta me. I thought it was blowing up right then and there. Stuck on fast idle and the kill switch didn't work. Finally had the presence of mind to choke it down and check my underwear. Damn. Badass saw right there!!! Took a few minutes to gather my wits, then I fired it up again. Wow. Just absolutely awesome to me.

Now I'm all excited to see if the other one runs. Pulled the starter off the running one without springing the spring and put it on. Wham! Started right up! The only thing left was which one to keep and what was in the box of parts the guy still had. Turned out to be a whole other 10-10 that I've yet to put together.

He was happy. I was hooked.

View attachment 1061799
Trust me I get it... I caught Yellow fever long ago.
 
Its pretty easy for most of us in the forums to ignore the vast amount of work that has been done with saws like the 10-10, I know older guys that this was the only saw they ever owned, for a whole lifetime!
Practically did everything they needed to do, that's a good investment in my opinion.
 
Its pretty easy for most of us in the forums to ignore the vast amount of work that has been done with saws like the 10-10, I know older guys that this was the only saw they ever owned, for a whole lifetime!
Practically did everything they needed to do, that's a good investment in my opinion.
I know I am guilty of that. First saw I ever ran was a 10-10 Auto. Because Dad and Uncle were running 81s and 850s and they referred to the 10-10 as a "little saw" I never took the 10-10's as a serious saw (which they are). One gets an idea in their head and sometimes it's hard to change. The first mini mac I ever saw was on the back of a buddies truck at school. I gave him crap about it being a fancy toothpick maker. LOL. Again the era in my life when the world was much smaller and the men in my life were all knowing. What Dad and Uncle said about something I took as gospel. Today, well I am a bit more worldly, hopefully a touch wiser too.
 
First saw i ever ran was a mini mac 35. I loved that little thing. Made me feel like a big guy. I was likely 8ys old. Then dad got an echo to cut firewood. Such a big saw that cs400 evl. Lol. He still has that echo. The mm35 disappeared. Likely thrown away many moons ago. Not the end of the world i might have one to run if need be.
 
Starting on the mud dauber special today. ( A 10-10 I picked up that had a mud dauber nest in the combustion chamber)
I'm of course taking it all the way down to rinse the dirt out of the cylinder.
I'm hoping the ol boy pulled the rope once and it stopped due to the nest and then he pitched it assuming it was locked up. It would stink if that piston went up and down in there with all that dirt scarring things up along the way.
 
Well crud. Had that 10-10 nearly apart minus one stubborn 1/4" bolt and couldn't get it with the tools I had. Really wanted to see the whole cylinder / piston.
I did spy some carbon scratch once the muffler was off but it wasn't too bad. Hoping that was it.
 
My first Mac was a Timber Bear that I bought in 1995.I used that saw extensively for over 10 yrs.The dang automatic oiler only worked for the first 2 weeks I owned it.I was first getting into saw repair about 5-6 yrs.ago & took the saw to my local saw shop to see about having the crank seals replaced & they flatly refused me.I thought to myself "what a bunch of pussies".I vowed that one day I'd know how to replace crank seals & make those fools look stupid.I replaced the FW side seal last spring & the saw came back to life again after laying dormant for about 5 yrs.That saw still has a lot of grunt for only having 135 psi.
My first 10-10 was an early 10-10A that gave me fits with the ignition system.One time I'd pull it over & it had spark,the next time it didn't.I finally figured out what was going on - the coil wire was run through the cylinder fins & the insulation had worn through & was shorting out.It had a chip on it which I removed & put points & condenser back on it.I rebuilt the carb & had myself a great running 10-10.The first time I took it out back to cut down an old pear tree I thought I'd go deaf.It had no baffle in it & was it ever LOUD!
 
Got the last bolt out. Things don't look too horrible. Will check bearing and such after cleaning thing up a bit. Hope to stick new seals in afterwards and see what kind of compression it has.
Anyone have seals they would want to sell?View attachment 1062268View attachment 1062269View attachment 1062270
The FW side seal is a real pup trying to find as there were no aftermarket seals made.The PTO side is a fairly common seal - 6119 (can't remember the mfgr.)EBay has the seals as a set from Proline for $19.95 + shipping.Every now & then a seller has a few of the FW side seals.
 
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