MS200 rear handle... to keep or not to keep. That is the question.

[bigredd]

That's a keeper. Nice score.

 

[SEAM]

Nice saw!!
Watch for excessive radial play in the clutch-side crank bearing. These are needle roller bearings - a little play is normal, though.
Another weakness of the MS200 (when compared to the older 020) is the carburetor's accelerator piston as these show wear over time (poor engine acceleration is one of the symptoms) and need to be overhauled...

 

[Flash]

Nice saw!!
Watch for excessive radial play in the clutch-side crank bearing. These are needle roller bearings - a little play is normal, though.
Another weakness of the MS200 (when compared to the older 020) is the carburetor's accelerator piston as these show wear over time (poor engine acceleration is one of the symptoms) and need to be overhauled...

Thanks for the heads up. I haven't heard of the bearing issue yet, but knew of the accel pump on the carb being bad. That is a pretty simple fix and I have already done that for my 200t that was acting up about a year ago. Hopefully I won't have to worry about fixing this one for a while since the carb is new.

 

[sgrizz]

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/stihl-ms200-rear-handle-ec.280567/

I am glad I bought that saw from low volt. Very clean low hour saw and I have a ms200t but the rear handle saw is what I wanted for a small limbing or general use saw. I think flash should keep it and then think about getting it ported.

 

[hseII]

Is this the "MS200 I got from Low Volt" Thread?

Cause I also own a nice one that Rory once had.

It's not as pretty now though. [emoji41][emoji41]

 

[LowVolt]

Is this the "MS200 I got from Low Volt" Thread?

Cause I also own a nice one that Rory once had.

It's not as pretty now though. [emoji41][emoji41]

Pics?

 

[hseII]

Pics?

HaHa.

It will have to be this weekend.

I got called in to the office.

 

[zogger]

So I am new to AS (as a user anyway). I have been using AS as a saw resource for about 3 years now. In that time I contracted CAD and started work for a tree company because, let's face it, chainsaws are awesome. But enough about me, let's get to the reason for my post.

Last week I purchased an MS200 on CL sight unseen from a small town stihl dealer. I talked to the owner/operator who said he sold this saw in 2010 and just bought it back from the original owner. The owner did chainsaw carving. The dealer said he installed a new carb since it was acting up on the owner. Otherwise no work has been done by him and it shows little wear.

I know I was taking a bit of a leap of faith, but at $275, I figured if half of what he was saying was accurate, I'd be in good shape.

So I received the saw today, I discovered it was an MS200 rear handle (the post said MS200 not MS200T). I assumed I was buying a top handle because the rear is pretty rare (say that three times fast). This was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Not only that, but the shop owner's description was spot on. It is very clean with little wear. The first thing I did when I opened the box was pull the muff to look at the piston. It almost looks new.

So here in lies the dilemma. Keep a saw I don't need (I know how silly that statement sounds by the way), or try and sell for a bit of a profit since it is very clean and pretty rare.

Keep it.

 

[Flash]

Well, I tried running the saw for the first time last week and it was having issues idling. The dealer I bought the saw from said he put a new carb on it, but when it wasn't idling, I was suspicious. I put a known good carb on it and it ran perfect.
So, I proceeded to check out the accel pump. Sure enough the piston and o-ring were worn. I did the typical jb weld job and now it works great.
I was able to run it for the first time at the Iowa gtg yesterday. I had help getting it tuned and it ran real strong.

Against my better judgement, I am going to probably sell it. I would love to keep it, but I've already got a 200t that will fill the small trimming needs. Plus, this will keep the wife happy... I guess that's important...