Abused my saw this week

Was cutting trials out at moose camp. Almost a gallon of gas thru it.
Lots of " in the dirt" cutting, some real wet mucky type work,
making trail thru virgin country. Lots of wet / rotten down logs covered in moss.
Got gummed up several times, saw sparks a few times. chain came off once. (my bad for not noticing the loose chain)
Chain oil hole in the bar was plugged a few times with what looked like dirty grease, (fine dust/dirt & oil is my guess) Probably from a loose/hot chain.

Any way
Just spent 2 hours cleaning it.
Cleaned bar, soaked tip in gas & spun it until it rolls real free then greased it.
Pulled the starter housing, blew it out & scraped the gunk off of it.
Clutch got full of wet gunk, then dried, blew/scraped it clean.
Clutch/bar mount/chin brake cover real gunked up, soaked in gas & cleaned.

Most of the cutting was in top soil mossy type ground, the LGX held up amazingly well.
Soaked it in gas & sharpened.

Just look like it needed some TLC.

Does anyone ever pull all the plastic & the flywheel/fan & clean de-grease/clean the whole saw ?
I did scrap/brush most of the dried stuff on the fan off.
Tips or trick for saw clean up after abusing it in muskeg/swap/rotten logs ?

Now looking for a used saw to take out & leave there for that kind of work
& save the 359 for wood cutting.

It ran great the whole time
Just hope I didn't ruin the bar.
Surely I took several hours of life off of it with that type of work/abuse.

 

Don't have any tips for ya
Sounds like you good job gumming it up and cleaning it up

 

A clean saw runs better . I always clean my saws as much as i can. Some say i clean more than i cut.... But thats just nonsense

 

There's not a lot of swamp in my area, but I've bought some very dirty saws on Craigslist, which I always clean aggressively because otherwise its too easy to miss problems that are hidden by the crud. I do pull off all of the plastic, the recoil housing, the clutch, air filter and the muffler to make it easier to get into all the crevices. I don't pull the flywheel unless necessary for other reasons.

The first couple of saws I cleaned up I tried using compressed air, but that sent little chunks of oily sawdust flying everywhere, made a mess and didn't work so well anyhow. So, I bought a cheap kitchen sidespray and adapted it to a garden hose connector. I attach it to the hot water connection for the washing machine in my basement, and clean saws off in the big plastic utility sink.

What seems to work best is to pick out the big, compacted chunks of dirt first, with relatively soft implements that can't damage anything. Bamboo chopsticks and BBQ skewers work well.

Most of the saw doesn't care if it gets wet, but it's really important not to let water get into the motor. I typically make an aluminum plate to bolt on in place of the muffler with a cardboard gasket, to seal the exhaust port. If the saw has a decomp, the button should be in the out/closed position. Intake designs vary, but that has to be sealed too. My solution there often involves rubber bands and plastic wrap. Another issue that crops up is that heat from the hot water causes gas in the tank to expand so that it belches fumes, which isn't nice in the house. Better to completely empty the tank first.

For the oily residue that remains, it works wonders to spritz the thing with Simple Green or purple degreaser and let it work for a few minutes before a final rinse. Don't forget to lube the clutch bearing when putting it back together!

Obviously you're not going to do all this every time you have a dirty cutting job, but maybe some of it is useful.

 

Simple Green is not good to use on aluminum as it will erode it.

I clean mine by using the air nozzle and 150-175psi (what my compressor runs at). I just run the air hose outside so I don't get crap all over the walls, ceilings, etc in the garage.
I just do this if I'm working on it, otherwise it stays "dirty"... well sometimes the rain cleans it I guess. Only so much room in the truck for keeping stuff dry.

Whatever doesn't come off from that, oh well.

 

Not within a few minutes, but you're right, it wouldn't be good to leave aluminum (or steel, for that matter) parts soaking in it overnight. Happily it's effective and rinses away very easily.

 

"Got gummed up several times, saw sparks a few times. chain came off once. (my bad for not noticing the loose chain)
Chain oil hole in the bar was plugged a few times with what looked like dirty grease, (fine dust/dirt & oil is my guess) Probably from a loose/hot chain."

... sounds like my average cut time... ... I'm always grumbling at dirt rooster tails... ... did you know that a chain will thro dirt further than wood chips? I'm just so proud that I know that... ...

 

I do what 1270 does. Right down to the kitchen sprayer. Most of the saws I do are completely torn down, bearings seals and such. I use Gunk Engine Brite Gel Degreaser to get all the stuff off the saw before disassembly. I put the saw in a big plastic mortar mixing pan, squirt it down with Gunk wait 20 minutes then rinse and disassemble, final cleaning of everything before reassembly.

I also use another Gunk product called Engine Brite 'shine' it puts a coating on the saw the keeps chainsaw goo from sticking. I do both sides of the CC inside the clutch and starter cover and the flywheel and coil. Works well and does not seem to harm anything. Last few saws I did I shot the jug exterior with it, we will see on that.

 

I try to keep it relatively clean, helps it run cooler & see if other maintenance might need done.
After cutting season in Oct/Nov, this winter may be a good time to pull it apart & detail it.

Been looking for a used saw,
folks seem to want near new prices or I'm out of touch with used prices.
May hit the Pawn shops after cutting season.

Broke a chunk out of the clutch cover last year,
cleaning it & dropped it on concrete floor.
Saw another crack, so today I put some JB weld in it to see if it will hold up.

 

I would guess that if you did an extensive soak.... A soaking of waaay to long... It may be slightly damaging. I use citric acid and vinegar to aid in cleaning and restoring lanterns. If you dunk the stuff in it for short periods of time....its fine. If a fella forgets... And leaves it in for 24 hours or longer... You will be upset at how much damage is done
But Simple Green I still dont believe could be bad to that point. All i have to do is look at some stuff ive had for over a decade.... The aluminum is still there ! Ill continue to use it
Some things get over thought i think sometimes. Use it.. Scrub it... Spray it off...done !

 

The info is coming from Air Force testing. We were not allowed to use Simple Green for a "GP cleaner" on aircraft and some other quipment being they have alot of aluminum.

Here is some info I found online:

AvWeb Newswire (18 May 00):

A well-known aviation magazine this month published a feature article on
cleaning one's aircraft and getting it ready for spring flying. Only one
problem -- a product the article recommended as safe for aviation use has
been proven corrosive to aluminum. The product is Simple Green, a popular
household cleaning liquid. According to the magazine's May issue -- which
included a photo of Simple Green and other products -- the liquid "does an
admirable job for a fraction of the cost of the aviation cleaners." While
that may be true as far as it goes, both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army
have conducted tests of Simple Green and strongly urge that it not be used to
clean aluminum structures. In one test conducted by the U.S. Air Force,
results from which were published in 1989, aluminum alloy samples were
immersed in Simple Green for a week then removed, cleaned and weighed. The
results indicated that the approximately 3.5-gram aluminum alloy samples
experienced a material loss of about 31 milligrams in a diluted solution and
a whopping 295 milligram loss after spending a week in the undiluted liquid.
The Air Force report summed it up this way: "We do not recommend the use of
this product on Air Force equipment containing aluminum.



I have used it to degrease engines at home and it for sure corrodes the raw aluminum, even just letting it sit for 5-10 mins. Stuff like alternator cases for example.

Even on bare steel need to be careful. Being it's water based it will rust it. I once left a few bare metal parts in a tub of Simple Green for a couple days and it rusted everything up really bad.

Best thing to use for cleaning parts IMO is a good solvent based cleaner. Something along the lines of Mineral Spirits/Paint Thinner, Varsol, Stoddard solvent. They are some varieties that don't have much fumes.

I have a parts washer similar to this: http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...-Mount-Parts-Washer/_/R-BK_8232914_0361188463.
It holds I think 20 gals.

5 gal pails of orderless mineral spirits are available at Lowe's for around $45 or so. It will last quite a while if you clean most of the grease off stuff before washing. Like don't wash wheel bearings with 5lbs of grease, wipe most of it off first.

 

Gunk Engine Brite Engine Protector Shine
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/gunk-engine-brite-engine-protector-shine-ceb1/7080043-P

 

I remember years ago a friend bought a brand new set of aluminum Mickey Thompson wheels and tires. Decided to clean the blue stuff off the lettering with Simple Green. Got some Simple Green on the wheels... ruined the finish on them.