No wonder Stihl owners hate flippy caps!

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Rockjock said:
I have a saw from late 1997 and it has flippy caps and 17 years later no problems at all. Could it be operator error? Schmutz in between the o-ring and the mating surface? Someone posted a video of a child using one and it was no biggie? Also I thought someone was coming out with a direct replacement but that went no where... perhaps they could not find a child to demo it?
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Yeah, cause I'm that stupid. Never thought to check for debris in the way.

It's impossible to replace the idiotic Stihl cam lock design with a screw in design because the cam lock receiver in the housing won't accept a screw. The only way to counteract the Stihl design flaw is to replace the saw body with an aftermarket piece. I guess somebody could make a cam lock to screw in adapter but that would serve no purpose. The design flaw of the cam lock would still be there.
 
OnTheRoad said:
Yeah, cause I'm that stupid. Never thought to check for debris in the way.

It's impossible to replace the idiotic Stihl cam lock design with a screw in design because the cam lock receiver in the housing won't accept a screw. The only way to counteract the Stihl design flaw is to replace the saw body with an aftermarket piece. I guess somebody could make a cam lock to screw in adapter but that would serve no purpose. The design flaw of the cam lock would still be there.
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OTR no one said you were stupid, Not I or anyone else here. Do read what I wrote, I have had no issues at all with the caps. A great many people also have had no issue with them. You dislike them I get that. I and many many others do like them. To each their own.
 
OnTheRoad said:
Yeah... I am a well accomplished foreman in the field of directional drilling. I am responsible for the operation of a million dollars worth of sophisticated equipment every day and I run 3-4 crews at a time. I've done nearly every thing there is to do in my field and my reputation brings in weekly job offers, some of which are quite lucrative. I have run nearly every piece of equipment mankind builds en route to my current position, have a bachelors degree, and I am responsible for keeping those machines running, with or without support.

And yet I cannot get this idiotic Stihl flippy cap to seat.

I welcome any person who can come to Kansas City and show me how to operate this stupendous Goldberg contraption. I'll buy dinner and drinks for your whole party.
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Jeesh, Quicherbichen..... I was going to let it go, but then you go off about how great you are.

The saw, apparently, is greater than you.

For a few measly dollars, (Like, you ought to be able to afford it, big man.) you could go and get a new replacement. and likely you'd not give the product one bit of respect when it failed to leak. You're the type that would just ignore how you bitched like a jewish princess til you got your way, then pretend the rest of us didn't see you doing it.

If you're sure it aint your problem, it must be the inanimate objects problem. You're so A-1, Uber, Acme,- find a new cap, or just ****-can it, and keep ********.

I'll save you some pennies. I will give you what you paid, plus 10%, and shipping, just to get you to shut up, you're making an ass out of yourself. You obviously aren't going to be happy with it.

Lots of tired cliches' fit here, the best being- This machine has no brain, you must use your own. And since you claim yours is perfect, yet you haven't done anything other than whine, I wonder how you really do manage to sweep the floors so well, where they employ you.

Why did you buy one in the first place?

Frankly, I think you've got some serious diaper rash since you realize that eight pound saw is kicking your ass.
 
I must be really smart. I don't want to brag or anything but I have no problem operating and sealing the floppy cap on my 362. The only problem I've had to deal with is getting my finger under the flip tip with gloves on to open it. But I also have that problem when opening beers with gloves on.
 
homemade said:
I must be really smart. I don't want to brag or anything but I have no problem operating and sealing the floppy cap on my 362. The only problem I've had to deal with is getting my finger under the flip tip with gloves on to open it. But I also have that problem when opening beers with gloves on.
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That means you need to have a demonstration of how not to use a flippy cap. Somehow I can lock these down and watch them leak about three times a year.
 
Ok now I don't want to sound like a know it all because I know you all are ranting abut the damn flippy caps. I have noticed the cap is a two price design and the top and bottom rotate separately. The flip top will rotate 1/4 turn. The first 1/8 is to locks on the bottom half of the cap into the case. The second 1/8 is to pull the bottom up and make the seal. When the cap is flipped down, it create a lock to keep it from rotating back.
Now we all know how it works, we can start to learn how it goes wrong. Usually for me, the bottom part of the cap doesn't fully lower into the case. Then in my hast, I rotate the cap. Now the cap has entered the "pull up and seal to the case" faze but hasn't entered the case yet. As I spin and spin the cap trying to get the cap into the case I realize something is wrong and fix it.

I've only got a wet leg from premix because I was in conversation while fueling and picked up the saw with no cap on at all. Now, if any manufacturer can make a cap like a NASCAR fuel tank, I'll buy it regardless of brand name.
 
Rockjock said:
OTR no one said you were stupid, Not I or anyone else here. Do read what I wrote, I have had no issues at all with the caps. A great many people also have had no issue with them. You dislike them I get that. I and many many others do like them. To each their own.
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I read through this thread and realized that my sarcastic sense of humor really doesn't come across when I post on the internet. I apologize for coming across as a whiny a-hole to certain people. That's not my real life personality and is not the way I meant to portray myself in this thread.

The whole thread was a half-joking half serious discussion. My deeply sarcastic intonation obviously didn't carry through to the posts I made, at least to certain people.

My take on all of the brand loyal discussion is the same thing; I prefer orange, just because I do but I know that other brands are just as good. I make posts on this board to the contrary but it's all tongue in cheek. This stuff is so trivial in the scheme of things and I like getting a rise out of sensitive people who get their feelings hurt over words on the internet.

So anyway I apparently carried this one too far and offended some of the loyalists/crybabies. There IS a problem with my little 192T and I suspect it's the Stihl flippy caps. I ran the saw for probably 2 minutes and didn't recognize the problem with the cap until I was done fiddling with it.

Sorry to the smooth assed crybabies I offended.
 
I've never had an issue with flippy caps and I use them every day in both working on saws and actually running them. It's not like I've never used twist on caps either, but I sure don't miss those old Stihl caps that are tapered without much purchase on them that after a few uses require me to find a scrench to get them sealed. They are an absolute pain in the ass when they are oily.
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. The only issue I have seen from my customers is that they will not get the flippy cap seated and try to turn it in. This cams in the lower part of the cap so you can no longer get it in place. To fix it you simply hold onto the bottom section and twist the upper section to reset it. Once I've shown them this they never seem to have an issue again. Out of the hundreds of Stihl saws in circulation in my area, and I'm the only dealer within 60 miles, I have sold a whopping 6 flippy caps this year. I actually sold 5 twist in caps for the older saws in the same time. I honestly never have anyone complain about the caps either.
 
OnTheRoad said:
I forgot to say that I was serious about the stupidity of the Stihl cam-lock cap seal. Talk about inventing a solution to a problem that doesn't exist....
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I must agree. there really isn't a need for such device.

But your sarcasm went undetected so you got a reaction from me you didn't deserve.

I have 8 pieces of Sthl with flippy caps, and maybe 8 more working with screw types. I've been leaked on a few times- my utility person has been challenged a couple of times, I myself have done the distracted and failed to put it back on AT ALL once or twice, but just leaking through the caps or not seating hasn't been an issue.

Blower, Kombi, Edger, Drill, way less crap nests around the caps, but I try and keep em cleanish. I keep a parts brush in my little tool kit, just for refueling/cleaning the caps.
 
Everything has its perks and downfalls. Caps, saws, chains, brands, whatever. I use Stihl mostly because there's a Stihl plant in the next city over and it has a LOT of employees that would never hire anyone to cut on a tree that uses any other brand of saw. If it was a Husqvarna plant, guess what I'd be using? I own 7 Stihl saws, although I do own a Husqvarna 3120xp that is an absolute MONSTER. I use that for slabbing logs into boards. Never had any major complaints about either. They're both great brands unless you go with the homeowner versions for professional work. Been there, done that. Didn't work out well. We're all here for the same reason- to help each other and have constructive conversations. not name calling and brand arguments. Lets leave that to the high school kids eh?
 
Mine work fine but i wipe out the groove the caps set in after top offs.
 
AKDoug said:
I've never had an issue with flippy caps and I use them every day in both working on saws and actually running them. It's not like I've never used twist on caps either, but I sure don't miss those old Stihl caps that are tapered without much purchase on them that after a few uses require me to find a scrench to get them sealed. They are an absolute pain in the ass when they are oily.
images
. The only issue I have seen from my customers is that they will not get the flippy cap seated and try to turn it in. This cams in the lower part of the cap so you can no longer get it in place. To fix it you simply hold onto the bottom section and twist the upper section to reset it. Once I've shown them this they never seem to have an issue again. Out of the hundreds of Stihl saws in circulation in my area, and I'm the only dealer within 60 miles, I have sold a whopping 6 flippy caps this year. I actually sold 5 twist in caps for the older saws in the same time. I honestly never have anyone complain about the caps either.
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I get it now! They couldn't figure out how to make a screw cap that worked, so they designed an 8 piece cap with moving parts as a solution! Next, I think they should make them motorized.
 
I have a BR600 and an MS250 that have flippy caps. The one on the MS250 is easy as pie to seat. The BR600, sometimes I spend half an hour with my ass on the ground trying to figure out how to get it to go in. And when it does, I have no idea what I did. I'm not a dumb guy.

I think there must be two types of flippy caps out there, and the guys who have never had problems have one type and the guys who have had problems have another. There are too many people having problems to not think there's some sort of design flaw somewhere.
 
I had an MS210 once that had them. Pain in the rear, that's all I can say. The fuel cap was easy but the oil cap was hard to seat. That wasn't the reason I sold it though.
 
NuggyBuggy said:
I have a BR600 and an MS250 that have flippy caps. The one on the MS250 is easy as pie to seat. The BR600, sometimes I spend half an hour with my ass on the ground trying to figure out how to get it to go in. And when it does, I have no idea what I did. I'm not a dumb guy.

I think there must be two types of flippy caps out there, and the guys who have never had problems have one type and the guys who have had problems have another. There are too many people having problems to not think there's some sort of design flaw somewhere.
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Seriously, you are onto something. Some flippy caps are OK and other are just awful. My neighbor has a pole saw I use and it is in the latter category.
 

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