Cycledude
ArboristSite Operative
Pretty much the same thing happened to one of my neighbors so I learned a valuable lesson.
Tell me about your most catastrophic saw failure.
- Thread starter RED-85-Z51
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Piotr Pakuła
ArboristSite Guru
Wow were they mixing gun powder into the gas holy smokes thats insane!
LoveStihlQuality
Addicted to ArboristSite
I used to say never loan out your saw or your wife. Had one reply that at least his wife would tell him everything he's doing wrong but the saw can't speak for it self.
Sent from my SM-T377P using Tapatalk
Modded 372, lightened piston exploded into many pieces. Cj
Orangejbird
New Member
1970 Dad left his Homelite on the ground while clearing some ground to expand a field. It got ran over and crushed by a D9 Caterpillar. The CAT owner had the same saw with a blown motor. He gave it to Dad and we made a new saw from the good parts leftover from both.
He used it last week to limb a tree that fell in the yard!
He used it last week to limb a tree that fell in the yard!
That's what happens when a saw gets stuck in the cut and the operator tries to remove it with brute force
Piotr Pakuła
ArboristSite Guru
I have replaced the clutch basket and the crack will try to stick / the guide pins are inches / crack is above
Huskybill
Addicted to ArboristSite
About 30 years ago I just lost my job do to cheap foreign imported machine tools. I was pizzed. At the local country fair they had speed cutting I wanted to win so bad I leaned the 2100cd so much she seezed it. A new oem husky piston kit fixed it. There goes two cords of firewood,,,,to fix it.
Jondoe
ArboristSite Lurker
Several stories here about wrist pins leaving the piston. Seems like a coming problem, don't know why a chain saw would have that type of issue, while other 2 stroke engines do not.
I was ask to repair an older Craftsman chain saw, it would not turn over. Sure enough, the wrist pin left the piston and go jammed in between the piston and the cylinder wall. What a mess. After looking up parts cost, I suggested that he just buy a new chain saw, but no, must have had a deep love for that old Craftsman.
I repaired it only to have a clip that was suppose to hold some wires in the gap between the cylinder fins come loose and jam into the coil. Runned the coil and was not able to find a direct replacement part.
Scrap !
FabianRW
ArboristSite Member
Not a chainsaw failure in itself but my little chainsaw got blocked up and stopped oiling the bar.
This was at a critical point where the tree had just got caught up a little in the other trees surrounding it.
Then my saw wouldn't start, it had overheated, me trying to just get the job done manually pouring oil in the cut and bodging it.
Basically leaning over the driveway, the tree was completely stuck.
What did the owner do? I stead of waiting 15 mins, she went ape at me and drove her car right under the tree. Floored it, thinking it was safe despite my warnings.
The worst thing was, the bar was stuck, pinched. So no running saw, no way to free the tree without breaking my saw.
I tied a rope from a car, to the tree, to try to free it. It worked. Rope then snapped, nearly took out the car.
I ran with my saw.
That tree was still caught.
We had to get a strap round it and drag it 20ft before it came down perfectly as planned, without a single bit of damage to anything.
The owner came back "why did you drag it on our driveway?" They asked...
My response "to get it out your way"...
"Why is your car in our driveway?"
"We used it to move the tree, it was too heavy to carry"
"Move your car"
"Okay, he's doing that now"
"Why did you need to drag the tree?"
"To get it out your way, so you could drive your car in"
"But I can't get in, his car is in the way"
"He is moving it (pointing to the moving car) I'm going to help see him back"
"Can't he reverse a car?"
"He can't see behind, I'll see him back"
"Can't he drive forwards"
"No, because he'd hit your front door"
"I could turn that round in two manoeuvres"
"Me too but he's a bit nervous right now, he was just scared a tree could land on him"
"Why didn't you drive then?"
"Because I was the one driving a wedge in so it didn't fall in the wrong direction while he pulled"
(Starts directing him from her car, while I'm trying to)
"How are you going to take the wood away?"
"With a trailer"
"From our drive?"
"Yes, we're going to help get it out of your way so you don't have to deal with it, we're partly doing all this to help you out and we're cutting some for firewood for you and leaving everything neat and tidy"
"Are you going to bring your trailer in the drive" (drive was two car widths wide)
"Yes"
"Why don't you carry it?"
"Silence"
"We'll sort it then be gone as quickly as we can"
"Silence" (walked away) (No "thank you" no "sorry I nearly killed myself and told you I'd sue you if I got injured or caused damage right as I had a seized chainsaw stuck in a hung tree because I was dumb enough to drive underneath it, despite them agreeing nobody would even come out the house)
Absolute nightmare of a job, that women was intent on suing us.
I rescued my chainsaw but pretty sure I damaged the bar and the saw somewhat.
The thing that didn't recover was my confidence in people, me being uninsured and unqualified doing this casually to help out.
I'm never touching a tree near a drive ever again. The guy who was helping me nearly crashed his car, the women was in such a fear-instilling rage.
Sorry for the long story, I'm sure you've all had your fair share of nightmare jobs/clients.
On the plus side it justified me to invest in a more powerful Stihl 038 magnum and decent bar which would've cut that in seconds without issue.
I genuinely now see why tree surgeons etc have sheds full of tons of different chainsaws and felling equipment, as well as a "f off and let us do our f'in job" attitude, or at the very least a "I have a big noisy fear inducing chainsaw, don't get pissy with me" and bright orange, yellow warning colour clothing.
That lady literally said to me "I'll sue you because you didn't fill out a risk assessment form". I literally was doing this as a favour, out of goodwill and in return for a little low grade timber.
We'd already agreed that nobody would be about though, I had said. She replied "I'm going to floor it under that tree and nobody can tell me what to do on my own property, if I get injured that's on you".
This was at a critical point where the tree had just got caught up a little in the other trees surrounding it.
Then my saw wouldn't start, it had overheated, me trying to just get the job done manually pouring oil in the cut and bodging it.
Basically leaning over the driveway, the tree was completely stuck.
What did the owner do? I stead of waiting 15 mins, she went ape at me and drove her car right under the tree. Floored it, thinking it was safe despite my warnings.
The worst thing was, the bar was stuck, pinched. So no running saw, no way to free the tree without breaking my saw.
I tied a rope from a car, to the tree, to try to free it. It worked. Rope then snapped, nearly took out the car.
I ran with my saw.
That tree was still caught.
We had to get a strap round it and drag it 20ft before it came down perfectly as planned, without a single bit of damage to anything.
The owner came back "why did you drag it on our driveway?" They asked...
My response "to get it out your way"...
"Why is your car in our driveway?"
"We used it to move the tree, it was too heavy to carry"
"Move your car"
"Okay, he's doing that now"
"Why did you need to drag the tree?"
"To get it out your way, so you could drive your car in"
"But I can't get in, his car is in the way"
"He is moving it (pointing to the moving car) I'm going to help see him back"
"Can't he reverse a car?"
"He can't see behind, I'll see him back"
"Can't he drive forwards"
"No, because he'd hit your front door"
"I could turn that round in two manoeuvres"
"Me too but he's a bit nervous right now, he was just scared a tree could land on him"
"Why didn't you drive then?"
"Because I was the one driving a wedge in so it didn't fall in the wrong direction while he pulled"
(Starts directing him from her car, while I'm trying to)
"How are you going to take the wood away?"
"With a trailer"
"From our drive?"
"Yes, we're going to help get it out of your way so you don't have to deal with it, we're partly doing all this to help you out and we're cutting some for firewood for you and leaving everything neat and tidy"
"Are you going to bring your trailer in the drive" (drive was two car widths wide)
"Yes"
"Why don't you carry it?"
"Silence"
"We'll sort it then be gone as quickly as we can"
"Silence" (walked away) (No "thank you" no "sorry I nearly killed myself and told you I'd sue you if I got injured or caused damage right as I had a seized chainsaw stuck in a hung tree because I was dumb enough to drive underneath it, despite them agreeing nobody would even come out the house)
Absolute nightmare of a job, that women was intent on suing us.
I rescued my chainsaw but pretty sure I damaged the bar and the saw somewhat.
The thing that didn't recover was my confidence in people, me being uninsured and unqualified doing this casually to help out.
I'm never touching a tree near a drive ever again. The guy who was helping me nearly crashed his car, the women was in such a fear-instilling rage.
Sorry for the long story, I'm sure you've all had your fair share of nightmare jobs/clients.
On the plus side it justified me to invest in a more powerful Stihl 038 magnum and decent bar which would've cut that in seconds without issue.
I genuinely now see why tree surgeons etc have sheds full of tons of different chainsaws and felling equipment, as well as a "f off and let us do our f'in job" attitude, or at the very least a "I have a big noisy fear inducing chainsaw, don't get pissy with me" and bright orange, yellow warning colour clothing.
That lady literally said to me "I'll sue you because you didn't fill out a risk assessment form". I literally was doing this as a favour, out of goodwill and in return for a little low grade timber.
We'd already agreed that nobody would be about though, I had said. She replied "I'm going to floor it under that tree and nobody can tell me what to do on my own property, if I get injured that's on you".
BrettS
ArboristSite Operative
Sounds like a typical entitled American....
FabianRW
ArboristSite Member
I'm in the UK but yeah definitely a first World country thing. This lady had horses and a mansion, all be it run down and neglected but strangely an expensive Tesla and lots of cars. Strange people.
Not really a saw failure, but I was given two Stihl MS 661's that had been run over by (1) a pickup truck and (2) a skid loader. The same logger in both cases asked me to see what it would take to fix them. It was hard to believe that the cases withstood the abuse and compression still existed.
Each one required $500 in new OEM parts and the dealer wanted no part of the actual restoration. I bought the parts. Somehow I got both running again and the logger said that I saved him about a grand compared to buying a pair of new saws. Both of them run today.
Each one required $500 in new OEM parts and the dealer wanted no part of the actual restoration. I bought the parts. Somehow I got both running again and the logger said that I saved him about a grand compared to buying a pair of new saws. Both of them run today.
screw you, you arrogant jerk...………..
Should've used red armor
BrettS
ArboristSite Operative
Sooo salty....
If it counts I rebuilt a 346
And returned it to the owner
He inexplicably took the top cover off
And while running it
He caught his untucked shirt in the flywheel
Tearing the recoil and flywheel up.
And returned it to the owner
He inexplicably took the top cover off
And while running it
He caught his untucked shirt in the flywheel
Tearing the recoil and flywheel up.
