Mcculloch Super 550

[JNick24]

Hello everyone I have some questions about the super 550. I just picked up a really nice one from a guy whos father was a local tree guy. It has been repainted the wrong color yellow but other than that its super nice with a 36" or so roller nose bar. My main question is about starting it. Its free and the piston and cyl. look very nice to but it is very hard to pull over the compression is very high much higher than my super 250. Is there a compression release or some thing I should know about starting it. with the spark plug out it turns over very easy so I dont think anything is getting stuck. any tips to start it would really help. Thanks for any info

 

[Saw Dr.]

Check your starter, as it may be binding. My super is not terribly high on compression, but is still takes a good rift. Make sure your skirt doesn't flap up and get into the way. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[cpr]

Hello everyone I have some questions about the super 550. I just picked up a really nice one from a guy whos father was a local tree guy. It has been repainted the wrong color yellow but other than that its super nice with a 36" or so roller nose bar. My main question is about starting it. Its free and the piston and cyl. look very nice to but it is very hard to pull over the compression is very high much higher than my super 250. Is there a compression release or some thing I should know about starting it. with the spark plug out it turns over very easy so I dont think anything is getting stuck. any tips to start it would really help. Thanks for any info

Pull it slowly to feel the compression stroke, reset the handle, then all in one motion, push the saw down/away slightly with the right hand, and rip away with the left (saw sitting on a bench/log/stump method).

Got any pictures of those Supers?

 

[JNick24]

Thanks for the info I got the saw to run. I am not thrilled with the flat back carb on it. When I restored the Super 250 I own I swapped a Tillotson HL63E on it and I love it. Is an HL63 Carb suitable for the Super 550 or should I look for a bigger one. Also what should I do to change from a primer button with no lock to one that will work a choke. Can I use parts from a 250 or other series to make a flip lock style button ?

 

[cpr]

63 will work. Only bigger venturi carb that will fit is a 48890b flatback and I'm not sure you'd want that. It takes a pretty healthy saw and at least that much displacement to keep the velocity up. My 99cc MC-91b-powered 790 has one and I wouldn't go any smaller or less aggressive than that engine for that carb. It makes power, but off-idle response is a touch sluggish. I think that has more to do with the reed passage inefficiency than anything else. Plus, it GULPS fuel. Anyway...

I suppose you could retrofit the flip lock choke button, I've never tried. Either that or modify the start technique.

 

[heimannm]

Take a little time, and perhaps spend a little money to make the flat back work properly and you will not be sorry. If the primer is working, the saws are very easy to start and they cut nicely as well.

Mark

 

[Eccentric]

Thanks for the info I got the saw to run. I am not thrilled with the flat back carb on it. When I restored the Super 250 I own I swapped a Tillotson HL63E on it and I love it. Is an HL63 Carb suitable for the Super 550 or should I look for a bigger one. Also what should I do to change from a primer button with no lock to one that will work a choke. Can I use parts from a 250 or other series to make a flip lock style button ?

Try to get the flatback working right if you can. If that doesn't work, then an HL63 will work fine. I swapped an HL63E onto my non-super 550 and it works great. You'll have to make a new link for the choke. The handle casting won't work with a 'turn to lock' choke button without a little work. The primer equipped saws have a steel sleeve in the primer button bore to prevent wear. The 'turn to lock' choke button equipped saws only had the steel sleeves in the oiler button bore (as opposed to both button bores). The primer saws have oiler buttons on both sides. You can carefully notch the steel sleeve (using a dremel and/or files) to work with the roll pin of a 'turn to lock' choke button.

I'd thought about doing that, but haven't bothered so far with the two primer saws that I have converted (a 650 gear drive and a 550). I just use the trigger finger of my right hand to push and hold the choke button, while using my middle finger to pull the throttle trigger (as needed) while pulling the rope backwards with my left hand. Laying the saw over a log is a must. It's a bit tricky at first, but it works. The 550/Super 550 engines don't have a comp release, even though the cylinders do have bosses for DSP valves cast into them. The bosses are unmachined.

1-75/76, 1-85/86, and 740/840/790/890 McCullochs are also 6+ci and don't have comp releases. They are all RH start saws, and the choke button on those is much easier to push down with your left thumb while pulling the rope backwards with the right hand.

 

[tbow388]

PPPffffttttt

As always, new or not. NO PICS OR YOU DONT HAVE IT!!!

 

[Eccentric]

Well I can't speak for the OP but.............

As always, new or not. NO PICS OR YOU DONT HAVE IT!!!

Here's my McCulloch 550...

 

[heimannm]

Aaron, somehow that saw looks strangely familiar.

Mark

 

[tbow388]

I i i i i

Aaron, somehow that saw looks strangely familiar.

Mark

III want one of those to look familiar to me.

 

[RandyMac]

III want one of those to look familiar to me.

Just until you see it next time.

 

[Oliver Durand]

Hello everyone I have some questions about the super 550. I just picked up a really nice one from a guy whos father was a local tree guy. It has been repainted the wrong color yellow but other than that its super nice with a 36" or so roller nose bar. My main question is about starting it. Its free and the piston and cyl. look very nice to but it is very hard to pull over the compression is very high much higher than my super 250. Is there a compression release or some thing I should know about starting it. with the spark plug out it turns over very easy so I dont think anything is getting stuck. any tips to start it would really help. Thanks for any info

I always drop started mine, but then again I'm lucky I never got cut. Young and in a hurry in those days, safety was not top of my mind. Only saw I had, and I wound up cutting a lot of four foot pulp one winter. That's when I traded it for a lighter saw.

 

[belgian]

A Tilly is much more reliable on this saw. Here's the european version of the 550 Super, called 595.

Never have really understood what the best starting method is of these old Macs. The Mac boys who designed these models must have had 3 arms.