Worst Model saw ever built?

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Stihl 019 and it's brother, the 191.. Made to assemble quickly.....a royal PITA to service...

agreed, but the 017 isn't that far behind as far as being a POS, and let's add the husky 23 compact
 
Thanks for the responses. So far this is what we roughly have.

Stihl - 019t x 2, MS191 x 1, 021 x 1,

Husky - 335/338 x 1, 257 x 1

Homelite - XL, Any plastic one

Mac - Mini Mac x 2

Homelite - XL, 330

Craftsman - 70's model x 1,

Poulan - All green ones x 1 (lol)



Dont you think your being redundant on the crappy plastkity Homies?



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335

Hey, don't make me come back there and whack you up side da head.....

The 335 may be (mostly was, no longer) problem fraught, but overall, to me anyhow, is one of the best climb saws ever.

Mine runs and I'll go with rbtree, great saw for trimming and limbing. Rich, admit it, that saw didn't feel at home with all your other hyper saws.
 
Regarding saws that are a pain in the rear to work on,the worst is one of three.Mini Mac,Homelite xl-2 / super 2 and Stihl 020T.Before you even start,take a chill pill .Those things will make a preacher cuss.
 
The Mac 310/320 is just a later version of the original mini but a tad larger displacement with an anti vibe suspension .One in a good state of tune is a snappy little cutter for a small saw but ranks right in amongst the others in being a nuisance to wrench on.On those little gems the wrenching part is never ending.
 
Regarding saws that are a pain in the rear to work on,the worst is one of three.Mini Mac,Homelite xl-2 / super 2 and Stihl 020T.Before you even start,take a chill pill .Those things will make a preacher cuss.




The 20T/ 200T isn't so bad...yes, first time you do need chill pill, but once you've done a couple, it's really easy...
 
I had a model 51 husky that was pure junk..It was always happy to start,but for a saw that size it was absolutely the worst cutting saw I ever owned...A friend od mine had a Poulan Pro about the same size that would run all over it.I later bought an 026,and the 026 would bury it.I gave that 51 to a guy who used to work for me.I still have the 026,and it still runs decent,but it's on it's last leg.
 
Regarding saws that are a pain in the rear to work on,the worst is one of three.Mini Mac,Homelite xl-2 / super 2 and Stihl 020T.Before you even start,take a chill pill .Those things will make a preacher cuss.




C'Mon Al, the S2 is a joy to work on compared to the 150.



Even at that, Id rather do a complete rebuild of either than change the boot on a 330.


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two come two mind

Mcculloch pro macs after 1980 heavy an vibrate like h***** and way to hard to start
Echo top handles after 1995 junk
:givebeer: :greenchainsaw:
 
I had a model 51 husky that was pure junk..It was always happy to start,but for a saw that size it was absolutely the worst cutting saw I ever owned...A friend od mine had a Poulan Pro about the same size that would run all over it.I later bought an 026,and the 026 would bury it.I gave that 51 to a guy who used to work for me.I still have the 026,and it still runs decent,but it's on it's last leg.

That is not normal, something must have been wrong with that particular 51......:)
 
In truth these hard to work on saws become a lot easier after you have done a few.If you can get through the first one more than likely you've won the battle.I think I can disassemble a Mac 310 mini in my sleep.On the other hand a Super 2 Homie gives me nightmares.

So much for hard to work on saws.The easiest by far is the 10 series Mac.I can have one down to the bones in less than a half hour.
 
Worst saw

My personal worst saw is the Shindaiwa 357. After three different dealerships have worked on it, it still remains nearly impossible to start. I bought the saw new several years ago and it now has, max, ten hours on it. When running, it has nice power and is a good operating saw, though a bit heavy for its power level. The usual fixes: new carburetor kit, spark plug, and fresh fuel/oil mix fail to fix the hard starting problem. When I say "hard" I mean that I usually give up because my starting arm and shoulder start to hurt.
 
C'Mon Al, the S2 is a joy to work on compared to the 150.

The 150 is indeed worse, but that's not saying much as most any saw is easier to work on. I passed up a complete, good condition blue/white 150 (can't say nice looking as they were butt-ugly when new) at the re-use area of the dump a couple of weeks ago. I could have gotten the thing for $5.00 or less. Suppose I could have pawned it off on fleabay...

It even had a good b/c (replaceable nose 16" Oregon sprocket tip). It had a blown oiler diaphragm though. It went from 'feeling good' to almost hydro-locked with bar oil in a few pulls. She was oozing clean bar oil outa the muffler by that point. No way would I ever want to work on one of those damn things again. As I walked away some poor sap picked it up and was enthusiasticaly pulling on the rope with hopes of gettin' a neat old saw. I had to cringe when he finaly hit the 'no-go' point...

I will say that the plastic-fantastic XL2/SXL2 saws have just about the stooooopidest throttle linkage setup known to man. Crappy plastic parts, cheesey spring, and flexy wire rod. I have a buddy that runs one of those as his beater camp saw (bought it new). The damn thing won't die, despite ZERO filter maintenance, indifferent chain sharpening, etc. The writing was on the wall when Homelite soiled the 'XL' name by putting it on those saws. Why couldn't they have recycled the 150 name instead? That would've made sense as the REAL XL12/SuperXL family was still in production. :banghead:



Even at that, Id rather do a complete rebuild of either than change the boot on a 330.

Also true. That 330 intake boot is an insanity inducer!!! :dizzy:

Oh, and while I'm at it, I have to add yet another vote for the little Macs. Somewhere in my junk pile I have an almost new 110 (or whatever the tiny little bastard with chainbrake was called) that was given to me by the poor sap that left old fuel in it. It sat on the shelf so long the the carb was completely varnished together, as was the fuel lines. The fuel filter was non-removeable, built into the cheap plastic tank, and varnished solid. I pulled that damn thing apart in hopes of putting a carb kit in it for a cheap beater saw. That was the cheapest/crappiest Zama carb I've had the displeasure to work with. Both it and the tank would not give up the varnish without succoming to carb cleaner induced meltdown. So......now I've got a brand new B/C, motor assy, housing, and srews-n-such for a saw that's not worth the cost of a fuel tank or carb. The damn case won't even hold any saw other than another mini-Mac. The bar won't work on anything I own either Barf... :chainsaw:
 
Does Roger both run 335/338's along with MS200/020's? If I remember correctly, I lead him to a couple NIB MS200's a couple years agao.

I'm not that well versed and do not have an extreme amount of experience in any brand except stihl. I think a lot of times a saw like the 025/029 gets a lot of negativity from people that don't have much experience working on them. In all honesty, the 025/029 in my experience is an extremely dependable saw, and isn't very bad to work on, as long as you've taken a few apart.
 
husky 266 xps i really hated them saws nothing but trouble dont think i could ever get one to run a whole tank of petrol with out a problem they where evan worse in the heat and they were a mo fo to try and pull over didnt like the weight either.
even after a rebuilds they never seem to run properly then ended up with the compresion of a watch very quickly
 

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