Putting a new piston in a PP4218... any tips?

[a. palmer jr.]

The "Pro" Poulan is supposedly a chromed cylinder... haven't got mine off to look, though.

Bottom line is, even it if works, it's not really worth the time and effort.

Sheesh, we had a thread on here this week where a guy with a toasted Stihl 260 was advised to toss it by his local shop. 260 top end is WAY easier to do and the aftermarket parts are quite cheap.

I'm sure the dealer was mainly trying to sell him a new saw. A Stihl 260 is definitely worth the time and trouble.

 

[brages]

Got it all taken apart now... the needle-nose Vice-Grips did the trick. To make it clear, the second pair of Vice-Grips were clamping across the jaws of the needlenose set; they were not clamping the needlenose jaws together.

Also, I used a cordless impact on the flywheel.

looks to me like a chromed cylinder... pretty nice construction in there, really.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

One nice thing about working on a Poulan saw, the parts are inexpensive.

 

[machinisttx]

Why buy new parts when you can go to the scrapyard and buy a complete saw with a good engine for $5-$6? Homeowner plastic poulans are probably more common than anything else at those places. The fuel lines rot, and nobody is going to pay a shop $60/hr + parts to fix a $100 saw, so they toss them.

 

[brages]

I'm not familiar with saw junkyards...? Can you explain more how I could find a "scrapyard" of saws?

 

[dswensen]

I'm not familiar with saw junkyards...? Can you explain more how I could find a "scrapyard" of saws?

Me too. Any scrap yard I know of here won't sell stuff to the general public. They cite liability concerns. I know, I have asked. For me, local sources are pawn shops (ugh!), yard sales, estate sales, and Craig's list. With that line-up of parts sources, buying new parts starts looking pretty good.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

A lawnmower repair shop is a good place to buy used chainsaws. Some shops will talk to you about selling their saws and some will not, depends on who the owner is and whether he likes you or not. I've been lucky, I have a few places around here that will sell used and parts saws at reasonable prices. I know the places to go to and those to avoid. I've never had any luck at a Stihl dealer.

 

[brages]

^ I got a set of three 026's (well, one was a 260 Pro) from a lawnmower shop a few years ago. I was able to fix all three and get them all running, too. It was great! Same shop sold me a $5 box of "parts" that had a good used 029 P&C -- which I needed for another fix. woot!

But I think generally you have to get a relationship going with the shop before you can pick up stuff like that... right?

 

[a. palmer jr.]

^ I got a set of three 026's (well, one was a 260 Pro) from a lawnmower shop a few years ago. I was able to fix all three and get them all running, too. It was great! Same shop sold me a $5 box of "parts" that had a good used 029 P&C -- which I needed for another fix. woot!

But I think generally you have to get a relationship going with the shop before you can pick up stuff like that... right?

Yeah, it's not all a one-way street, offer to help, be friendly, etc.

 

[machinisttx]

I'm not familiar with saw junkyards...? Can you explain more how I could find a "scrapyard" of saws?

I'm talking about a general metals scrapyard. I find all sorts of stuff at them, like my homelite 750 and poulan 44 two man....lots of plastic saws too.