Stihl MS290

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I took a trip to the saw shop again today and asked them to dowsize the bar for me on that saw to an eighteen and they said the only type of chain it came in was full comp and thats not what i want so i went with the 20" instead i am happy with that as my dads 038 AV has one about that size on it but its a bigger saw. If i am unhappy with the 20" i will probably go and buy an 18" after i use it a few times.

ranger
 
rangerxlt00 said:
they said the only type of chain it came in was full comp and thats not what i want so i went with the 20" instead

Am I reading your post right?

OK, sounds to me like the 290 with the 18" has a .325 pitch sprocket on it, and Stihl full skip chains aren't available in .325. So they didn't steer you wrong on that. I'm guessing they have a 290 in there with a 20" on it that's wearing a 3/8" pitch sprocket, which you can get a full skip chain in. Well, you can get a 3/8", .050, 18" bar for that saw. If you want the 18" and a full comp or full skip, you can get it. Don't take "no" from them. Be nice about it, but get the set up you want. And I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with a full comp for that saw and an 18" bar. That's just me.


You want me to go talk to them? :laugh:

Just kidding....but I will if you want me to. :p

Jeff
 
fishhuntcutwood said:
Am I reading your post right?

OK, sounds to me like the 290 with the 18" has a .325 pitch sprocket on it, and Stihl full skip chains aren't available in .325. So they didn't steer you wrong on that. I'm guessing they have a 290 in there with a 20" on it that's wearing a 3/8" pitch sprocket, which you can get a full skip chain in. Well, you can get a 3/8", .050, 18" bar for that saw. If you want the 18" and a full comp or full skip, you can get it. Don't take "no" from them. Be nice about it, but get the set up you want. And I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with a full comp for that saw and an 18" bar. That's just me.


You want me to go talk to them? :laugh:

Just kidding....but I will if you want me to. :p

Jeff

Jeff

Do you think i went wrong with the 20" bar as Jennifer at PA powersports said that the only size that the 3/8 chain came in for bar size was 20" not 18" so im just wondering what is going on there i am confused and kinda of tired of dealing with them. THinking about taking my money else where even though i have put money down.

ranger
 
fishhuntcutwood said:
Here you go ranger-off of stihlusa.com


http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/replacement.html

MS 290
STIHL Farm Boss® Bars
3/8"---pitch
.050"---gauge
18"----length
66----drivers
33RM2-66----recommended chain, but you could substitute RM or RMF for RM2
3003-000-8917---part number. :)

Jeff

I will be sure to print this and send take it with me to them on friday next week

ranger
 
rangerxlt00 said:
I will be sure to print this and send take it with me to them on friday next week

ranger

Go to www.stihlusa.com, or pick up one of the catalogs in there on the counter. There's a list of all the bars and chains available. You shouldn't have any trouble getting whatever bar and chain on there that you want. My guess is that you and them are on different pages here, in some way, shape or form, somehow. I've never had any problems with them at all in there, and they've always bent over backwards to help me out. Give them a chance, and if they persist, well, there's shop over in Port Townsend, and one down in Silverdale.

Sorry man.

Jeff
 
Good advice jeff. The more knowledge you have before going to the dealer, the better it is.
Some of them just don't know what really is availiable, and others just want to sell what they have in stock............. :angry:
:) .......but there are really good ones, too!
 
Alright ranger, you're good to go. I was in there today for another reason, and talked to Paul and Jennifer, and she was admittedly mistaken, in that the 18" wasn't available with 3/8" pitch, it is. And since you want the full skip, Stihl full skip only comes in 3/8" and .404, that's why they told you that. They told me to tell you to come in, and they'll throw that 18 on there. You can even get a 16" if you want it! I figured there had to be something else to it, as they're top notch in there, and have never given me anything but the best service and adivce. Every one of them in there knows what they're talking about.

That said, is there a reason why you want the full skip on that saw? You usually won't see that on bars shorter than 24" or so. Not that you can't, but the full comp chain would work fine, and cut faster on that bar and saw.

And Paul, if you come to AS at all, you're reading this, I was joking about the two stroke sniffing comment in my above post. I reread it, and I was trying to convey that the 24" was on the high end of that saw's limits, and it sounded kinda harsh and thought it might be taken as a slam on you, so I took it out, but it's still in a quote further down in one of ranger's posts. I should have put a :laugh: :laugh: next to it to better illustrate my kidding around. Don't mean no disrespect man. :angel: My appology if you took offense. I didn't mean it as such. But heck, you might not even read this thread, or come to AS at all, so in that case, nevermind.

Jeff
 
fishhuntcutwood said:
Alright ranger, you're good to go. I was in there today for another reason, and talked to Paul and Jennifer, and she was admittedly mistaken, in that the 18" wasn't available with 3/8" pitch, it is. And since you want the full skip, Stihl full skip only comes in 3/8" and .404, that's why they told you that. They told me to tell you to come in, and they'll throw that 18 on there. You can even get a 16" if you want it! I figured there had to be something else to it, as they're top notch in there, and have never given me anything but the best service and adivce. Every one of them in there knows what they're talking about.

That said, is there a reason why you want the full skip on that saw? You usually won't see that on bars shorter than 24" or so. Not that you can't, but the full comp chain would work fine, and cut faster on that bar and saw.

And Paul, if you come to AS at all, you're reading this, I was joking about the two stroke sniffing comment in my above post. I reread it, and I was trying to convey that the 24" was on the high end of that saw's limits, and it sounded kinda harsh and thought it might be taken as a slam on you, so I took it out, but it's still in a quote further down in one of ranger's posts. I should have put a :laugh: :laugh: next to it to better illustrate my kidding around. Don't mean no disrespect man. :angel: My appology if you took offense. I didn't mean it as such. But heck, you might not even read this thread, or come to AS at all, so in that case, nevermind.

Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks when i got home from work today there was a message on my answering machine from Jennifer and she said she had done some resarch and the 3/8 was avalible in the 18 and all the way down to a 16 inch bar and its not the full skip i want it is the next one down from that the one with the yellow tooth. its what my buddy told me was good. Thanks for talking to them. This whole mess came about from a guy that i worked with wanting to sell me a an 064 that he said ran but had carb problems i rebuilt the carb and couldnt get it running so i took it to the saw shop only to find out that the top end needed rebuilding and something else was wrong it was going to cost 300 dollars alone to repair the saw so i decided to give the saw back in pieces the guy wasnt to happy with me :angry:. So i decided to buy a saw that i probably will be able to handel a little better than that right now and trade up later.

ranger
 
Stihl does not offer a 24" bar that runs .325 or fits the 290. That would be like hooking a 35' fifth wheel holiday trailer to a 6 cylinder 1/2 ton. It could be done but what would you do with it. Just my .02CDN worth.
 
My experiences with a 290 were ok. I ran a 20 inch bar on it with full compliment chisel chain on it. I cut only softwood with it.

I really didn't have much of a problem with the saw when I was using the full 20 inches other than I sometimes would have to take it slow as it wouldn't be to hard to burry the bar and bog it down. I would still have my 290 other than I had a stalling problem with it. It would get to around half of a tank to fuel or 2/3s and just stall. I took it back to the dealer numerous times and they never did much with it. they would idle it a while and say its fine. I never could get them to look into it and see what the issue was. I went to other dealers with about the same luck. so finally I got rid of it and bought a Husky 372XP and have never looked back.

The only other issue I have with the 290 is I wish it came with a little better air filter. Other than that I did really like the saw.
 

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