[Path-list] PATH's Stihl 026 Chainsaws

[GREGORY WEAVER]

Steve and I have been chatting about Stihl saws. He is not kidding. I have (had) a Stihl 028AV Super model. It was at least 23+ y/o. and had a good run with a lot of non-PATH wood 🪵 cut and mostly burned in my fireplace 🔥 .

I fried the piston on a disaster recovery tree work trip last year with Habitat. Not sure which symptom it was having at the time, but the Stihl tech at ACE Hardware confirmed that it had a trashed piston and fixing it would be putting money down a dry hole [oil well].

Bad thing - ditched a trusty OLD saw. Good thing - I now have a new Stihl MS261! I have been thinking for a while of getting a new one, so I guess the decision was made for me.

GREG W., Mocksville NC @ 336-918-3455 (Sent from my iPad)
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On Oct 11, 2021, at 9:35 PM, steve lund via Path-list <path-list at path-at.org> wrote:

Hello,

The Stihl 026 chainsaws are good, relatively light and powerful chainsaws. I have rebuilt / reincarnated quite a few of these for FMST. 

However, the ones that PATH has with the round air filter cover knob pre-date1996. At 25+ years old they are geriatric in age. At this age rubber pieces tend to decompose / rot over time and exposure to gas, oil, and atmospheric ozone. When one of these critical rubber components fails it creates a crankcase air leak which causes an over lean condition and will burn the saw up in short order.

The critical pieces that fail are the rubber crankshaft seals, impulse hose, and cylinder manifold. While these saws can still be used it is prudent to keep an eye on them during operation for any quirky / abnormal behavior as follows:

Stalls at idle
Over-revs at idle / won't idle down
Idle changes when saw is turned to either side (bad crank seal(s))
Idle / running behavior changes when the AV mounts are flexed (torn manifold, cracked impulse hose)
Suddenly running better than it has / should - As heat engines, 2-strokes run their best right before they burn up!
Carb mixture adjustment set richer than nominal to compensate for an air leak (usually crank seals)

All of these symptoms indicate a crankcase air leak of some sort, which if not caught and fixed can cause the saw to burn up. So if any users notice any of these symptoms, which may be intermittent they should take the saw out of service and get it fixed before they burn it up.

My $.02,
Steve





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