Went on road trip. Came home with first Red saws

[Wombat Ranger]

Just got back from 5400 miles around the country in 2 weeks, buying, selling, visiting, & buying. Along the way a friend gave me this Craftsman 2.1PS because he's a brand snob and had no interest. The Jonsered CS2159C came from a pawn shop in Mississippi for 1/3 or 1/4 what it would be worth out in my neck of the woods.



Never had a red saw before. Really excited to get the little Craftsman/Poulan going.

 

[Pioneer]

Had some experience with the little poulan saws, some people like them, I'm not one of them. Everyone of them I've run across had a failed oil pump valve and dissolved air filter. That model looks like it has the combo automatic and manual oil pump though.
Two notable engineering flaws, an overly long fuel line and no way to tune the carb when the air filter cover is on. I find the latter REALLY irritating.
They run fine when they're set up right, but the little homelite top handle saws are a bit better in design as far as cheap saws go.
The Jonsered on the other hand, would definitely be a keeper for me.

 

[Snojetter]

Early last year, I decided I wanted a 2159. Couldn't find one relatively close by after weeks of searching. Finally convinced a friend of mine out east to sell his to me after he landed a 2258 as a replacement. On his annual summer visit to the area, he delivered the 2159 to me. Since then, I've found - and bought - two more...just because. Over the past three months, I coulda bought another 10 of them had I been willing to make a little drive. Funny how these things sometimes show up in spurts! Love the saw, by the way.

 

[Wombat Ranger]

What do you like so much about the 2159?

 

[Snojetter]

What do you like so much about the 2159?

First, off I'm just flat out a Jonsered guy. It's a great all-around firewood saw. Not too big, not too small. It's balanced nicely with an 18 or 20 inch bar and handles above average size Midwest trees without complaint. It's a workman's saw in stock form, and that fits my personality. And it doesn't hurt that the 2100 series is pretty much the best looking chainsaw ever made, in my humble opinion. So I imagine a guy just looks good wielding it around the woodlot

 

[Wombat Ranger]

Sure is a lot of love online for this model Jonsered. I found time to clean up the bar and put a good chain on it today. I need a test log but I found a 5ft aspen stump to test on and I am happy with it. It found a home in my pickup which is an honorable position when a guy has a dozen or so saws.

This is a 2004 model with the cat muffler, which exits on your hand. I'd like to put a non cat muffler on. How do I know which is which when I buy one?

 

[Chevboy0167]

Some info here....

https://www.partstree.com/models/cs-2159-jonsered-chainsaw-2004-05/muffler-16/

 

[Snojetter]

This is a 2004 model with the cat muffler, which exits on your hand. I'd like to put a non cat muffler on. How do I know which is which when I buy one?

There are lots of cheap aftermarket non-cat mufflers out there on ebay or amazon. In fact, pretty sure any of the aftermarket mufflers you will find for $15 or less are non-cat. Most of these will have the same exhaust outlet location. You can also find a side exhaust version. I have a 2152 where the cat muffler melted away part of the top cover so even a non-cat exhausted right on my gloved hand and that got hot in a hurry. I installed an aftermarket side outlet muffler and it works great. The one caveat is most of these side outlet mufflers don't have a spark arrestor screen. I've seen some that do, but those I believe included some mod work and were much more expensive (something like $50 vs. $12).

Not much wear and tear visible on that saw. Very nice!

 

[Wombat Ranger]

There are lots of cheap aftermarket non-cat mufflers out there on ebay or amazon. In fact, pretty sure any of the aftermarket mufflers you will find for $15 or less are non-cat. Most of these will have the same exhaust outlet location. You can also find a side exhaust version. I have a 2152 where the cat muffler melted away part of the top cover so even a non-cat exhausted right on my gloved hand and that got hot in a hurry. I installed an aftermarket side outlet muffler and it works great. The one caveat is most of these side outlet mufflers don't have a spark arrestor screen. I've seen some that do, but those I believe included some mod work and were much more expensive (something like $50 vs. $12).

Not much wear and tear visible on that saw. Very nice!

Thanks for the helpful tips guys. The saw powerhead has almost no wear on it except that it may have taken a ride down the road once on it's clutch side. Big scrape there that seems out of place since the rest of the saw is so fresh. No big deal to me, this is still probably my nicest saw, I typically run around with leaky old clapped out cheap stuff.

 

[Snojetter]

Thanks for the helpful tips guys. The saw powerhead has almost no wear on it except that it may have taken a ride down the road once on it's clutch side. Big scrape there that seems out of place since the rest of the saw is so fresh. No big deal to me, this is still probably my nicest saw, I typically run around with leaky old clapped out cheap stuff.

Is the metal worn, or just the paint? Most of my Jonnies have the paint worn in that area. It's the widest part of the clutch cover and I imagine when the saw is on it's side, either idling or perhaps cutting a stump at ground level, that area takes a hit.

 

[Wombat Ranger]

Deep gouges/scrapes

 

[John Lyngdal]

What do you like so much about the 2159?

It says "Turbo" on it?

 

[chipper1]

Congrats on the new saws.
A base gasket delete, muffler mod, and a timing advance and the 359/2159 wakes up nicely.
The plastic intake clamp has been know to leak air, although I've never had a problem with one. My belief is that many who run these saw when new are not pros and do not know how to sharpen a chain, they then run them that way and get the saw hot which causes the clamp to loose it's shape causing an air leak and frying the piston/cylinder.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Put enough hours on a 2159 to wear out the piston skirts- and the plastic clamp will fail, they just age and the plastic does become brittle. At that kind of use age, the AV are probably not doing their best and the hinging of tank to crankcase does not help the matter.
I believe being a green fuel cap saw, it should have the metal band clamp? The cat can be removed from the muffler, but requires some chopping and gluing.
If you swap out the muffler, the saw will need retuning to suit the modification- but if you play around with base gaskets and timing, you will be doing that anyhow- or a nice 2159 will go down in value very quickly.

In my opinion, these are THE best 60cc range saw of the era and will bat way above their designated spot in the line up. Getting harder to find K095 24" bars, but in softwood, these saws will pull one with standard 3/8 chain, even easier with skip sequence, they are perhaps happiest with a bar and sharp chain in the 18-20 inch 3/8 range.

 

[Wombat Ranger]

Good info all around. Thank you. I have no regrets buying this saw.

I have no need for this saw to ever wear a bigger bar than the 20" on it. That's what my bigger saws are for.

 

[chipper1]

Put enough hours on a 2159 to wear out the piston skirts- and the plastic clamp will fail, they just age and the plastic does become brittle. At that kind of use age, the AV are probably not doing their best and the hinging of tank to crankcase does not help the matter.
I believe being a green fuel cap saw, it should have the metal band clamp? The cat can be removed from the muffler, but requires some chopping and gluing.
If you swap out the muffler, the saw will need retuning to suit the modification- but if you play around with base gaskets and timing, you will be doing that anyhow- or a nice 2159 will go down in value very quickly.

In my opinion, these are THE best 60cc range saw of the era and will bat way above their designated spot in the line up. Getting harder to find K095 24" bars, but in softwood, these saws will pull one with standard 3/8 chain, even easier with skip sequence, they are perhaps happiest with a bar and sharp chain in the 18-20 inch 3/8 range.

While I agree, I'm not talking about "normal" wear items.
I know as well as anyone that parts wear or will fail with excessive use, what I'm referring to is more on the lines of abuse due to an operator not knowing proper sharpening techniques and overheating the saw, which is specifically what I stated. I've bought over 30 of the 359/2159 saws thru the yrs and have seen quite a few with very little run time having issues with the plastic clamps and that's what I'm speaking to as his shows more moderate use.

I agree, they are great saws, I have two ported and one completely stock. They were very overlooked and can usually be had for about the same as a 55cc farm ranch saw, what a deal.

Another problem people have with them is the carb not being tunable, but there are various fixes for that as I'm sure you know, but I'm saying this to all who may read it down the road.

Isn't it pretty late there right now.

 

[Brufab]

Just got back from 5400 miles around the country in 2 weeks, buying, selling, visiting, & buying. Along the way a friend gave me this Craftsman 2.1PS because he's a brand snob and had no interest. The Jonsered CS2159C came from a pawn shop in Mississippi for 1/3 or 1/4 what it would be worth out in my neck of the woods.

View attachment 959527

Never had a red saw before. Really excited to get the little Craftsman/Poulan going.

That red saw is sweet! That's the 1st saw my dad let me run. We put a 10" bar on it and off I went.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

While I agree, I'm not talking about "normal" wear items.
I know as well as anyone that parts wear or will fail with excessive use, what I'm referring to is more on the lines of abuse due to an operator not knowing proper sharpening techniques and overheating the saw, which is specifically what I stated. I've bought over 30 of the 359/2159 saws thru the yrs and have seen quite a few with very little run time having issues with the plastic clamps and that's what I'm speaking to as his shows more moderate use.

I agree, they are great saws, I have two ported and one completely stock. They were very overlooked and can usually be had for about the same as a 55cc farm ranch saw, what a deal.

Another problem people have with them is the carb not being tunable, but there are various fixes for that as I'm sure you know, but I'm saying this to all who may read it down the road.

Isn't it pretty late there right now.

Yep and I agree to the point I never quoted your post nor took exception to your findings- but seeing as how you seemed to have- I will add I have seen plenty of guys that were being paid a wage to swing a saw all day that could not really field sharpen a chain to save themselves.
I agree dull chains and dirty saws increase saw body internal temperatures, singling out pro users as better saw/chain maintainers than weekend casual wood cutters, whilst perhaps true in a lot of cases, is certainly not true in all cases.
I mean I have pulled one or 50 of the Husqvarnas that run these plastic clamps and most are brittle- many are not low use saws though, we tend to use the tools we buy over here.

The green cap E-Cat saws were not real popular over here, with the carb limiters etc- the earlier ones, much more popular and also why I see more of the plastic bands and not the metal ones.

 

[Woodslasher]

Put enough hours on a 2159 to wear out the piston skirts- and the plastic clamp will fail, they just age and the plastic does become brittle. At that kind of use age, the AV are probably not doing their best and the hinging of tank to crankcase does not help the matter.
I believe being a green fuel cap saw, it should have the metal band clamp? The cat can be removed from the muffler, but requires some chopping and gluing.
If you swap out the muffler, the saw will need retuning to suit the modification- but if you play around with base gaskets and timing, you will be doing that anyhow- or a nice 2159 will go down in value very quickly.

In my opinion, these are THE best 60cc range saw of the era and will bat way above their designated spot in the line up. Getting harder to find K095 24" bars, but in softwood, these saws will pull one with standard 3/8 chain, even easier with skip sequence, they are perhaps happiest with a bar and sharp chain in the 18-20 inch 3/8 range.

Nope, I dug into a 353 Green cap that had the plastic getup from the factory. I swapped it out, of course, but green cap doesn't necessarily mean you have the metal clamp.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Nope, I dug into a 353 Green cap that had the plastic getup from the factory. I swapped it out, of course, but green cap doesn't necessarily mean you have the metal clamp.

Cheers, that is why I added the ? at the end, as I was not 100% sure if green = metal.