Stihl FS 560

[newforest]

Do you own one of these?

I could use an opinion on them.

I bought my first one the other day. I have previously owned 4 Husqy clearing saws in the 45cc range, just a tad smaller engine than the 560.

This machine has more wobble in it than any 2 stroke engine I have ever held in my hands. I suspect the shaft isn't seated in the clutch correctly, or something isn't installed right in the anti-vibe system.

As you load up the RPMs going into a large cut, the wobble frequently increases to the point that the entire unit is shaking in a range of several inches at a time. This is with a brand new factory sharp blade in a simple 4" pine cut.

My 14 year old Husqy 245 is a good 5x smoother than this saw. I find it hard to believe that this is the best Stihl can do in the year 2016.

The dealer I bought it from has of course never seen such a saw before, so he is of little help. I doubt the local Stihl rep has ever run one either. They both say no one at Stihl has ever heard of such a problem with this unit before and suggest that this is just how they run.

P.S. please don't suggest I just try out your favorite 25cc trimmer design instead. I bought a 50cc class clearing saw for a reason - I hold contracts to use them to cut scores of acres in diameter classes up to 5"+ in tough species like Ironwood, Hard Maple, and Oak.

 

[7sleeper]

Never heard of a situation like that before, neither here nor in the german speaking european forums. Clearly something is NOT working right! I would insist the dealer do a teardown to fidn out what is not working correctly and if your dealer has no idea then he should give you the number of the local stihl rep to find out who has experience or where to send the unit to be repaired!

Of course I am aware that you have considerble experience, but I will still ask, are you sure the blade is mounted correctly? In my experience it is the number one cause for the symptoms you are describing.

BTW, monster clearing saw you got there! I only have a 40cc hitachi model but am always impressed on how that runs.

good luck!

7

 

[7sleeper]

I forgot, you could pm @Rockjock , as far as I understand he is a Stihl dealer.

7

 

[HarleyT]

Try a different blade and see if it changes.

 

[reedo]

I recently purchased a Husqvarna 555FX clearing saw and it is smooth as can be. It definitely sounds as if somethings wrong with it. I would not settle for that's how they run.

 

[Plan-b]

Try a different blade and see if it changes.

Try no blade. I bet the driveshaft is just a little bent. White knuckle is no fun.

 

[7sleeper]

As far as I understood the driveschaft is supposed to have a few bearings so I am not sure about the bent drive shaft.

7

 

[Plan-b]

As far as I understood the driveschaft is supposed to have a few bearings so I am not sure about the bent drive shaft.

7

What about the space between the bearings? I will assume the tube has 4 maybe 5 inside... But I never looked it up. A little bend over a foot lenght (between the bearings) at 10k rpm will cause your hands to turn to mush. Pull the shaft and look down it, or put it on a glass table.

 

[HarleyT]

 

[newforest]

Yes I am already on blade #2, thanks everyone for taking time to consider this saw for me. The dealer suggested the brand new blade may be bent - as you spun it, you could see that at some points it was closer to the guard than others. The tech said that doesn't necessarily mean the blade was bent, but that the construction of the bevel gear itself could be wobbly. I don't think the owner gets along with that tech. So I stayed nice and agreed to try a different blade, on an actual job. (I have plenty). New blade, same result.

The saw does work but the basic wobble is always present, you can feel it. The shaking gets bad in any cut large enough to need a little more oomph from the engine. Even when bogging down with a slightly dulled blade in a large cut late in a tank of fuel, none of my Husqys vibrate like that, the cut just slows until you back out of it and bring the RPMs back up.

The head also makes an odd sound as the blade rotates, clearly a 'circular' sound. The dealer suggests clearing saw blades just have a weird whistle effect. I have never heard such on a clearing saw before.

I'm going to place the supplied blade on something perfectly flat and try and document that the blade is not the issue.

One problem is I have never seen a saw shop that doesn't have a chunk of log out back to test saws on ... very strange. This dealer is also a tractor dealer so out back of the shop is currently in soybeans. I asked where is the test block and they said they had recently burned it, felt it was too dangerous to have around anyway or something. So at the dealership there is no way I can demonstrate what the saw does in the cut.

Tomorrow I hope to talk a friend into helping me shoot video of it in operation.

I do have a lot of experience with clearing saws but no one in American supply chains for Husqy (in my experience) or now Stihl with this one, knows much about them. I am not too thrilled with them trying to tell me I am just not used to Anti-Vibe systems on a "trimmer"

The Stihl rep thought the company was doing me a big favor by including the Stihl "Universal" harness with the saw instead of the "Forestry" harness, which was dumb. He thought that because the "Universal" harness costs more. The "Forestry" harness has a buckle across your chest and that would help immensely with a 23 lb saw. The new Husqvarna "Balance XT" harness is greatly superior. Fortunately I already own two of those, relatively new. But I would insist at least on receiving the Stihl "Forestry" harness with one of these.

This is the second most expensive item Stihl sells I believe.

I have mostly been looking forward to escaping from the Husqy paddle trigger system, as it is just too easy to brake the spring behind the paddle accidentally. Otherwise I am quite looking forward to also trying a 555 before I move on into purchasing saw #3 and saw #4.

In Canada these saws are used extensively and this is the 4th model year of the 560 C-M - I am quite positive this is not a design issue.

 

[HarleyT]

as you spun it, you could see that at some points it was closer to the guard than others.

If this is the case, you are at the problem area.

 

[HarleyT]

Here is a pic of the gearhead.

 

[newforest]

I stopped back by to note that the post-delivery portion of assembling the head has been done enough times now that I am beginning to wish I already had an extra nylon-locking nut, had to order a couple.

I like part #30 there. The dealer insists the head is a sealed unit that doesn't need to be greased, when I asked where is the tube of grease that has been given to me with all ten previous saws I have purchased in my lifetime.

Everything above #22 was probably put together in Germany I expect. I want Stihl to get the head right on a new saw - very expensive portion of the whole device.

 

[xtremez]

I have a 550 , the previous model and it runs smooth as silk. There should be no vibration. Insist they look at it. As far as the whistle, that is normal. Between the gear head and the saw blade spinning it does make a whistle.

 

[reedo]

I too found nobody had any idea about these big clearing saws when I was looking to purchase one. It's really a shame. I would demand they get this fixed as it should certainly have a smooth operation. This sounds like the dealer is not working very hard for you to make this right. I wish you the best with this situation.
I have been extremely happy with my 555FX even though I only have about 4 hours on it at this point. The main reasons I chose the Husqvarna was the price, weight and length, harness, and cost of parts/accessories. I got this with the Balance XT for $150 less than the 560.

 

[newforest]

I blew another half day on this saw today, trying to get some video proof of it's operation as I have my doubts that the Sthil rep will be willing to visit an actual job-site.

As the saw is used a little (only through 2 tanks of fuel so far), the head slips down on the shaft. I have already taken it off and tapped it all the way back on once before. As it is used this sliver of fresh chrome keeps slowly getting bigger, this shot shows where the head attaches to the main shaft housing:

I didn't have much luck with the video showing the level of vibration but my helper for this didn't have much time available. We did capture the strange sounds this unit makes. Here is the cutting head, spun manually; makes more racket than any of my other bevel gears:



And here is the sound made while running the saw:

 

[newforest]

I hope I don't have to escalate this to Virginia Beach, but if I do I have at least a little material I could email somewhere ... more phone calls tomorrow.

 

[7sleeper]

I would call Stihl HQ directly! I mean you aren't exactly buying homeownerentrylevel. They should be informed and the problem solved.

7

 

[HarleyT]

Do you live in Lower Michigan? If so, just call Bryan Equipment on Monday.

 

[newforest]

Thanks for the Ohio referral. I'm sure it would be handy to deal with this so close to the distribution center in Dayton. Unfortunately that dealer is 500 miles away from me and Dayton is thus about 450.

My new 'dealer' is handing it off to the Stihl rep only, won't make any decisions on his own. The latest is that the rep is 'very familiar' with these saws - but is headed to Ohio for a week of meetings. He can get to this issue 'next week'

I told him to have a new head overnighted here immdiately or give me my money back. The dealer response - "I'll ask them"

I feel like I just threw One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars down a rabbit hole. My schedule is getting more wrecked by the day. Time ... IS money.

What happens if I call Virginia Beach?