Milling saw upgrade

[GMC]

Morning
I have been running a Stihl ms441 with a 36” bar on a mill. It works fine if I am slabbing pine but if I get into anything else it just doesn’t have the power. I don’t want to hurt this great saw. I am thinking of upgrading to Stihl ms880 or Husqvarna 3120. Looking for advice on either one or possible alternatives. I just figured that I would go big so that I don’t have to worry about the power. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks

 

[BobL]

I've run both saws on chainsaw mills and my experience is, if everything else is equal, they perform about the same.

Then it comes down to small things like chain adjustment and oiling.
The 3120 has superior oil output but my experience is that this extra oil just gets flung off the nose so an aux oiler is needed on both saws.
When the saw is im/on a conventional alaskan mill the 880 has easier chains adjustment . To get around this with the 3120 a hole level with the chain tension adjusting screw can be drilled into the inboard bar clamp and a long screw driver inserted thru that hole. The other way is ti use a mill that doesn't use an inboard bar clamp. This can be done by drilling the bar on the inboard side and bolting the bar direct to the mill. The other way his to build a cushion mill that bolts to teh bar bolts which also provides about 1.5" wider cut.

There are differences with carby jets and tuning but this inly comes into play of you are going to seriously fiddle with the exhuast or porting.
I ended up with an 880 because I found a one year old never used saw for half the RRP, but I lstill ove using my mates 3120.


If you are buying new and live some distance away from dealers then buying from the closest dealer has some merit.

 

[GMC]

Thanks for the input. I will definitely go with an aux oiler to get more oil at the far end. I was considering a ported exhaust as well but I wasn’t sure of the best configuration to reduce the stress on the saw as much as possible. I have also noticed that there seems to be quite a few Stihl clones out there and I have read that they are not that good. Hard to find a good used saw so I may have to go new.

 

[BobL]

The simplest way to reduce power head stress is to slightly richen up the air/mix ratio (NOT the oil/gas ratio) and to reduce the max rpm and keep the chain sharp.

 

[motolife313]

Love my 3120. Was using it tonight. Bought it from Dave off here. He has great customer service that’s why everyone likes to bring him up on here. Has tons of torque and sounds great. I mill with all my saws. Stuff bigger the 18” or so I’d prefer the 3120. The 064 can handle 24” but it’s slow at that diameter. 362 about 18 is the max I’d go on it. Really 16” is ideal log for it.

 

[GMC]

Someone told me to run the saw at 40:1 for milling to reduce the stress. Do you suggest a dual port muffler?

 

[BobL]

Someone told me to run the saw at 40:1 for milling to reduce the stress. Do you suggest a dual port muffler?

That won't do much - what's important, is to run the engine a tad rich to reduce the max RPMs by a few hundred. By rich I don't mean the gas/oilgas ratio but the MIX/AIR ratio so its carb tuning that's required. The unburnt gas that provides a bit of extra cooling. The extra oil won't do anything.

Opening up the muffler can help run cooler but make sure you re-tune.

That aside I also run 40:1 mainly because I also have an 076 which is what it requires and I don't want to have different mixes around so I tune all my saws for 40:1. The )&^ is about to be retired so then I will use 50:1 and tuned saws according.

I've tried milling using as low as 25:1 but I got a headache from the exhaust. and didn't like the way my chaps. clothes, skin and hair became covered in an oily film.

 

[GMC]

Good to know. Thanks so much.

Does anyone know how I can get in touch with Dave the chainsaw guy to see if he has any large saws available???

 

[homedad]

I've been running a 3120 for 25 years. I works great on a CSM or just for huge trees. The biggest downside I've experienced is that it's a gas guzzler and it's heavy.

 

[GMC]

Thanks for the info. I will be using it mostly for milling. Just looking for the power and reliability. Looks like I found a good option. I will post pics and my personal review after I start milling with it. Thanks