My 'Brick' story.........McColloch PM610 addition to the CAD collection

[XPLRN]

It's closing in on 4 years since I posted this up in another thread;

Same sorta deal...........

Congrats on your $20 saw score!!

I had basically the same thing happen to me last week. My friend that lives in a Northwestern Arizona town picked a $25 PM610 up for me and will be delivering it sometime in the future. I know the starter recoil mechanism is screwed up/broken but the saw looks to be in well taken care of shape.........it was the seller's dad's casual usage saw that he inherited and didn't have any use for it. My friend took some documentation pictures to illustrate the condition;

Where my work on the saw will start;

Sorta like checking out the condition of a dirt bike by looking at the skidplate and frame bottom tubes...........check out the bottom of the saw for usage evidence.....this one looks pretty darn clean!!

I've been consumed with numerous things other than chainsaws and have not posted on this forum for quite some time. I recently had some chainsaw usage and also received a saw that has been in "transition" as a long term CAD addition. For my non chainsaw lingo fluent friend(s) that might receive a link to this thread the CAD = Chainsaw Acquisition Disorder !!!

The above post and pictures was posted up on August 4th, 2012 in this thread; http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/scored-a-cheap-timber-bear.204936/#post-3771832 . My friend that lived in Kingman at the time ended up retiring and moving up to Henderson, Nevada as the tax situation is better there than Arizona. He did tote my PM610 that he'd bought for me up to his new place but we never were able to cross paths to make the exchange. In fact he even teased me with a picture of the saw when he sent me a cool PDF picture collection of his new man cave/garage!!


Finally in January 2016 he ended up wrangling a motorcycle trade deal with a guy from Phoenix and we were able to facilitate getting the PM610 back down to me here in the Phoenix area. That transfer was facilitated by my now new friend John on January 31st, 2016!!

I was happy, after almost 3 1/2 years of waiting, to finally have this saw as part of my CAD. I have another PM610 that should be a runner but it has the well known PM610 starter recoil spindle issue. Anyways this 'new' to me saw has just collected dust sitting in storage. Last week I needed a b/c for another project and pulled this saw out, hoping that it's excellent condition b/c would be interchangeable with the other saw project, it wasn't. After removing the b/c I decided to tinker with it as I had some time and Av-gas pre-mix available. I first had to address the recoil starter rope issue as seen in the first picture of the post above. The rope was tangled around the pulley and not seated down in the rope groove. That was easily fixed and I pulled the plug and cleaned it off even though it was in pretty decent shape. I then dribbled some pre-mix down the carb and pulled on the starter rope...... amazingly enough it did pop off for a short burst so I knew that the ignition was functional I then keep doing the dribbling/priming deal and after about 3-4 short run bursts it actually started pulling fuel from the tank and running.........not that well but after a short while the engine cleared up and ran strong and idled nicely!! I was really happy as I'd not touched the carb adjustments or anything........just checked that the fuel line felt pliable and that there was a felt filter in the gas tank.

I did a AS search on the PM610 and read thru the McCulloch PM610 threads/posts that came up. I already knew that it's not a real desirable saw due to it's power to weight ratio being a bit on the heavy side but I'm still looking forward to sinking this original bar setup into some wood as it does sound strong/good compression.

When I was looking thru my e-mail for the picture of the saw at my friend's garage I also located the name and phone number of the guy that was selling the saw. I will be giving him a call and letting him know I was finally able to get the saw operational. IIRC he had told me that it was his recently deceased dad's saw and that his dad hadn't used it much ........I guess so because it still has the original McCulloch bar on it!!

Just a little renewed interest in the CAD aspect of my world!!

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Nothing wrong with the 610, I've had several of them. Trouble is, someone else always wanted them more than I did and I had to sell them. I would still pick up another if the price was right. <50

 

[XPLRN]

A interesting follow up to this story!! Today I talked with both my friend who lived in Kingman at the time that went and checked out/purchased the saw and the guy that was selling the saw and found out a very interesting and positive twist to this scenario.
When my friend went over to pick up the saw he noticed a bike cover over a motorcycle and ask the saw seller what was under the cover. Well the seller was kind of leery and was asking my friend why he wanted to know. Incidentally at that time my friend was managing a motorcycle durability testing facility so he was naturally interested in what the story was on the bike under the cover. Long story short he offered him a test rider position but the seller wasn't interested in that position as he felt it would diminish his love of riding by doing it for a daily job. However they continued to talk and the seller mentioned what his background was and what kind of work he would be interested in. My friend told him who to talk with and he went and put in an application. A couple weeks/month?? he got a call and ended up getting hired and has now worked there almost four years this coming November IIRC what he told me!!

The seller had a interesting spin on it........that his pops was still looking out for him as the sale of his pops chainsaw lead him to his current job!! He also told me that his pops was a big burly guy and that PM610 weight was absolutely not problem for him to handle before he got sick with the cancer.

This seller's employment story was truly a very cool by-product of the CAD and the searching it leads one to do!!

 

[Chris-PA]

I still like mine (55cc). I know it's heavy, but for firewood use it doesn't matter. People trash them, but for the time it was a decent design. What else of similar capability had A/V and a chain brake at that time? The engines have stones - the McCulloch engine designers knew how to get power - and I find the rest of the saw to work very well. The ignitions are getting pretty old now and suffer failures, and while the pulse oilers can fail they are quite capable when functioning.

My saw is very reliable and easily pulls a 24" bar in hardwood, which is impressive at 55cc. I've removed the spark screen and it has a 19mm HDB-1 carb on it.

 

[XPLRN]

I still like mine (55cc). I know it's heavy, but for firewood use it doesn't matter. People trash them, but for the time it was a decent design. What else of similar capability had A/V and a chain brake at that time? The engines have stones - the McCulloch engine designers knew how to get power - and I find the rest of the saw to work very well. The ignitions are getting pretty old now and suffer failures, and while the pulse oilers can fail they are quite capable when functioning.

My saw is very reliable and easily pulls a 24" bar in hardwood, which is impressive at 55cc. I've removed the spark screen and it has a 19mm HDB-1 carb on it.

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Thanks for the great pictures of your saw.....how long have you had yours and is it a Timberwolf model?? I looked all over the Acres website for the 3420 model with no luck but did find the Timberwolf ; http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...1918b2fc251a6ffb88256c3b004fe4ad?OpenDocument

Thanks for sharing your assessment of your 55 c.c. version, that's great that it pulls the 24" b/c well. I can agree with your comment; "- the McCulloch engine designers knew how to get power -" ....... I've noticed that about some other McCulloch saws I've had..... they do seem to have nads and run pretty strong for what they are!!
http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...564ff25e56449e8c88256c2f001cd723?OpenDocument
I don't know that 5 c.c.'s make much difference but I am looking forward to seeing how the PM610 pulls..........it's got whatever bar came with the saw new, looks to be a 20" ....I'll have to go measure it.

I still want to find two more McCulloch saws which were ones that my dad had when I was growing up. The very first chainsaw I can remember was my dad's model 35 or possibly a 33........the picture here brings back memories;
http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...7e0630b1c9171fef88256b0000653812?OpenDocument
Then as my dad got older he switched over to a small McCulloch which I think was this model;
http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...8e38d20063009e5488256b620015979a?OpenDocument
I know that somewhere I've got the original owners manual and will be able to get the correct model figured out then. I've heard they were kind of a PIA to deal with but all I know is my dad cut *a lot* of firewood with that little saw!! I'll find some pictures and post them up sometime............he filled up the barn, top and bottom, with wood as he was worried in his older years that he would not be able to get out and make firewood.