Newbie and a Stihl 090

[Eddy_t]

Your saw is dated around the early 70's, in fact I believe it may be '72 to '74, leaning towards the prior (there's a date stamped on the clutch side of the muffler).

You can also retrofit the new type AV mounts to the saw. You need to make a bracket for the lower AV mount. Should you choose to do this, I would be very interested in the little mounting bracket on the clutch side for the wrap!

The difference mainly between the red tops and orange tops as far as I can make out, is crankshaft, the red's all have the replaceable big end.


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[WheresWally]

If it comes here, he won't get it back

hahaha, 090? what 090? I never seen any 090!!!

 

[Brian VT]

I just ordered a 404 rip chain...

Your "short" bar looks to be hard-nosed but does the milling bar have a sprocket or just a roller ?
If a sprocket then you'll need .404 sprockets for saw and milling bar.

 

[Brad_bb]

Helper handle has a roller, not a sprocket. That 36" bar that came with this looks like a good one, but I'd like to get it serviced. there is a deformation -slight rolled over on both sides just before the nose. I know that it's fixable. I also want the groove checked to see if it's spread such that it needs to be closed back up. The 3 nose rivets are a little loose, but I know I could peen them to tighten up. I just don't know any place that has the knowledge and experience to work on bars locally. I'm not exactly in timber country. Firewood country maybe.

 

[Full Chisel]

Amazing find. But I second selling it off to a collector and getting a modern milling saw, like an 880 or 3120. That 090 is a whole lot of saw for a "newbie"...and if it breaks down, good luck finding parts.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your ventures!

 

[WidowMaker_1]

Why give it to a collector ? So it can sit on s shelf ? Crazy talk! Use it and love it for your own enjoyment I say , shelfs are for china wear and books

 

[Full Chisel]

They can do with it what they want, while he enjoys running a brand spanking new, modern milling saw with money to spare. To each his own, but from what I've heard these are beasts to run and guzzle fuel like no other. Not that a modern 100cc+ saw doesn't drink lots of fuel, especially when milling. But at some point you have to consider reliability, cost of operation and availability of parts, ya know?

 

[Brad_bb]

Just out of curiosity, I tried looking up the cost of those new power heads- Husquavarna 3120XP MSRP $1800, Stihl MS880 Magnum DSRP $1830.
I don't think I could sell the 090 and afford one of those saws NEW. You must be talking used.
As I said, I paid $1600 for the 090 including the 56" Alaskan Mill (new cost $950 plus shipping). By the way, talking to Granberg I found that it's a 56 inch bar and actuall cutting width is 51".
Full Chisel, there seems to be parts available for these saws through Baileysonline, ebay, the web, and the Stihl dealer. I am less than a block from a Stihl dealer. I went over there the other day and ordered sprockets for this saw.

 

[Full Chisel]

I missed the part about the mill being included in the purchase. Great deal. I think you could do better than $1800+ on one of those saws. Maybe I'm wrong there.

Everything else is hearsay, I have no knowledge of 090s, but it's hard to believe parts would be widely available for a 70s era saw like that.

 

[rich450es]

i want to try to drop start that saw without my arm coming out of the socket

 

[Full Chisel]

It's a manly man's saw for sure.

 

[Brad_bb]

I think that's why they have a compression button. I'm not for sure, but I think it removes compression for a second so when you pull the cord, it doesn't rip on your arm.
These 090 saws seem to be much more common on the west coast of the US and Canada, and seem to be popular in Australia and the UK and New Zeland from what I've seen. Check those sites I mentioned like Baileysonline and you'll see what I mean.

FYI, I'll post a video here next week when I fire it up.

 

[WheresWally]

i want to try to drop start that saw without my arm coming out of the socket

That's the only way to start one son, unless you have 4 arms and three legs to use the useless spring loaded de-comp...

 

[sawfun]

A lot of parts are still available from Gemany if you have a decent Stihl dealer.

The spring loaded decomp is easy. Just use one hand on the handle while pushing in the decomp and pull with the other. They are not the monster to start that some would make them out to be.

These saws are very heavy but were designed for very long bars where the wood should hold the saw & bar, not the operator. Long bars bend so a pilot saw is generally used. Once the pilot cut is made, the heavy 090's bar gets placed into the wood and then the powerhead is started. These ain't firewood saws.

 

[WheresWally]

A lot of parts are still available from Gemany if you have a decent Stihl dealer.

A decent bankroll...

 

[Eddy_t]

Amazing find. But I second selling it off to a collector and getting a modern milling saw, like an 880 or 3120. That 090 is a whole lot of saw for a "newbie"...and if it breaks down, good luck finding parts.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your ventures!

The 090, despite the series being 55 years old, has a very wide part availability, easy access to manuals, and 99% pattern parts availability too. Hans Stihl set forth the EPA and safety stuff to get the saw banned, due to the design's fixability, the proof of that is that thousands of contras, 090/070's still run around the world, with only a handful still able to buy new. Likewise, the parts are relatively cheap in comparison to others, in fact, parts break-down suggests to rebuild would be no more expensive than an ms660


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[Full Chisel]

The 090, despite the series being 55 years old, has a very wide part availability, easy access to manuals, and 99% pattern parts availability too. Hans Stihl set forth the EPA and safety stuff to get the saw banned, due to the design's fixability, the proof of that is that thousands of contras, 090/070's still run around the world, with only a handful still able to buy new. Likewise, the parts are relatively cheap in comparison to others, in fact, parts break-down suggests to rebuild would be no more expensive than an ms660


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Interesting, I didn't realize 090s were so "common" and still widely in use. A lot of what I've heard about them makes them sound like a mystical creature.

 

[Eddy_t]

Yes, there are a fair few around, unfortunately most are converted away by collectors and won't see the light of day until the owner snuffs it. Most in the UK are used to power the Alaskan saw mills, as there are big trees (4ft+) but most are covered with so much legislation that sneezing near it could land a court hearing.
The saws are heavy and unwieldy and non-collectors don't wave them around much.
Within 10 miles of my home, I know of one other 090 owner, although he unfortunately is the collector type, and won't sell me one of his THREE husky 242's


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[sheepsmoke]

Use it...love it. I personally carry an s10 or 08s both red tops into the woods. Also have an 090g that I use to fell/buck the big ones. If vibration or weight or cost wind up bothering you later let one of the collectors here throw out a bid. Great saw, enjoy it.

 

[Brad_bb]

A new friend and I got it started this week after I put a new sprocket on to match the bar and chain we put on it (1/2" to 404). I didn't film it as we were too focused on the saw. It didn't like the cold temperature so we went in the heated shop. It had been dry for a few months, to it took some priming to get all the air out of the fuel line. Finally got it running. At first it wanted to run a little bit and then die, especially if we goosed the throttle. When we thought it was finally warmed up sufficiently, we tried cutting, but the saw didn't want to rev up to full power with any load and started not wanting to RPM up. We cam to the conclusion that it was running too rich. It was probably tuned for a much higher altitude, coming from Washington State and I'm right 600 feet above sea level only. So I need to read and understand how to tune the carb and try again.