No wonder Stihl owners hate flippy caps!

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DanTheCanadian said:
Can of compressed air, like Walmart sells to clean computer keyboards. Your new best friend.
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Awesome. I will buy Stihl saws at 30% higher price and in order to deal with their cam-lock caps I will carry a can of air with me. Nah. I'll just buy a saw with screw in caps.
 
Junkfxr said:
Never had dirt fall into the tank or get under an o ring? There's no way to get the crud out of the area between the opening to the tanks and the o ring. Maybe not an issue for the occasional user but for people that use them all day, the crud builds up in a hurry and is a real pain.
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Sounds like an area where it would be absurd to add complexity to a simple solution ie; Stihl flip caps.

I've said all I want to say on this subject. To everybody who posted so far, I wish all the best to you and yours.:rock:
 
I changed over to Huskys just because of those stupid flip caps but our local Husky dealers leave a lot to be desired so it's back to putting up with flip caps again. My 044 and 660 have screw caps and nary a problem with them. If the flip caps are so great, then why did Stihl stop puting them on everything else but saws?
 
OnTheRoad said:
For posterity's sake, I hope somebody will make a thread bashing Husqvarna's screw caps.
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My new 562 has Husky flip caps. I like them. If you didn't like them you could put conventional in. Can you do that with Stihl flippy caps if you didn't like them?
 
The only possible reason that I can think of for Stihl abandoning screw-in caps is that they shot themselves in the foot by showing a decal with a scrench being used to tighten the screw-in caps. This procedure also showed up in the owners manuals. What that did was produce thousands of over-tightened caps that cracked, started leaking, and had to be replaced. The screw-in cap design could not withstand the torque that the scrench could easily deliver.

Oh, and BTW, the little nylon ropes that hold the flippies to the tank also give up rather easily and love to come loose as you use the flippy.
 
c5rulz said:
My new 562 has Husky flip caps. I like them. If you didn't like them you could put conventional in. Can you do that with Stihl flippy caps if you didn't like them?
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The Husky "flippy" caps are just a handle that flips up to give you more leverage, they are still a screw in cap. The Stihl flippy caps are a whole different assembly with a cam lock, with something like 11 parts, and can't be replaced with a screw in cap.

Oh wow, look, 5 pages now. Hey Stihl engineers..... take a look.
 
fossil said:
It would nice if they all attacked the root cause of the problem which is nitrile "O" rings which cause friction when clamped down on. It they could solve that the old screw caps would never have been an issue. That's likely why all the old Pioneers, Homelites and maybe others used cork.
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Another reason the older machines worked was that many of them had the caps pointing vertically rather than horizontally. That was more forgiving because even if not screwed on tight, leakage was minimal because most of the time the saw operated with the caps pointing skyward. With the caps pointing horizontally, they have to be sealed tight.
 
Well, I got rid of my MS361 Flippy saw, replaced by an 036 screwy saw. Now I am replacing my MS440 Flippy saw with an 044 screwy saw!!
I like it!!
I also made a special tool to fit the cap, NO scrench.
 
Now I have more bad news. Apparently Stihl is no longer supplying replacement tank housings with screw-in caps. They now all have flippy caps. So, if the tank housing with a screw-in cap needs to be replaced, you will have a saw with one screw-in cap for the bar oil tank and a one flippy cap for the fuel.:rolleyes:
 
Wood Doctor said:
Now I have more bad news. Apparently Stihl is no longer supplying replacement tank housings with screw-in caps. They now all have flippy caps. So, if the tank housing with a screw-in cap needs to be replaced, you will have a saw with one screw-in cap for the bar oil tank and a one flippy cap for the fuel.:rolleyes:
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Doubling down on a bad bet. Good work, Stihl.
 
I have never had a problem with the flippy caps other than forgetting to put them back on in a hurry. Not saying the design is better than screw ons. I also don't like using a screwdriver to get a cap off either.The problem is fixed rather easily, just don't buy a newer Stihl. Personally a cap is not going to make or break a saw deal for me. And to be fair. I don't use my saws daily too so everyday use and wear could change my mind if they failed.
 
stihl sawing said:
I have never had a problem with the flippy caps other than forgetting to put them back on in a hurry. Not saying the design is better than screw ons. I also don't like using a screwdriver to get a cap off either.The problem is fixed rather easily, just don't buy a newer Stihl. Personally a cap is not going to make or break a saw deal for me. And to be fair. I don't use my saws daily too so everyday use and wear could change my mind if they failed.
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This is the exact solution I have utilized. I love my Stihl saws but the flippy caps are just a stupid idea in my opinion. Even if you do need a scrench because you tightened the cap down hard, is that really that big of an issue? Don't people adjust their chains while cutting? I think the Husky cap with the flip up tab is a neat idea. See how they'll hold up in service but they're not complex, just providing a handle to turn the cap, not an entire system.
 
All of the older Stihl saws that I ever owned with screw in caps never needed a scrench to tighten the cap. I tightened them by hand and I only used the scrench or a big screwdriver if I could not untighten them. That was the secret to my success. The screw caps never leaked when I tightened them securely by hand. Perhaps what they only needed was just a pair of projections near the perimeter of the cap for leverage.
 
Does anybody know why Stihl quit putting flip caps on everything EXCEPT saws. I have a trimmer and a blower with flip caps and wished that I had waited to buy them until after they had changed back to non flip caps.
 
Junkfxr said:
Does anybody know why Stihl quit putting flip caps on everything EXCEPT saws. I have a trimmer and a blower with flip caps and wished that I had waited to buy them until after they had changed back to non flip caps.
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I just looked at the planting auger on line and it seems to have one flippy cap. I held the similar chucked drill lately and seem to remember a flippy cap.

They seem to make a fluid tight seal. How much can a spare cost if you feel the need. How much dust and debris is in that general area and how much of an obstruction the front handlebar is to filling seem more of an issue to me.
 
i think we all need to chill the **** out and let sawtroll decide whether the caps are acceptable or not. we need to value the opinions of veterans even if they aren't from our home country :givebeer:
 

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