What bar and ripping chain do I need for a G660 for milling?

I had this thought in my head. If its in a mill who cares. I guess I'd still rather it work as a normal saw but it might not be a huge deal.

 

I do understand what you are talking about/thinking but like I said when the saw is locked in the mill the brake has no room to move and therefore will never activate. Now if you are also using the saw for felling or bucking that would be unsafe and should be fixed.
I have a 390xp that I have for my mill and that’s all I use it for so for me if the brake didn’t work no big deal I have others saw I like better for felling and bucking
There is nothing like a full wrap handle on a felling saw

 

My neighbor has a G660 that he picked up (not running) from a guy along his truck route for $100. I put in a new piston and "warmed" it up for him, mild woods port, a MM, and an ignition timing advance. It cuts great, but I noticed while tuning it up and breaking it in for him that the anti-vibe wasn't where I would like it if I was going to be using it a lot. My hands started feeling it after about half a tank of gas. I did shim the chain tensioner and put a longer rope in the starter.

He's run it enough to cut about 15 cord of wood with it and hasn't had any troubles at all. He runs Amsoil Dominator at 40:1 but doesn't do any milling with it.

 

Argh. Ran a few more test cuts, tensioned the chain as it broke in. Tensioner chowdered itself out again.

 

Can you upload a picture of the tensioner or at least what’s left
Also a picture of the model and serial tag at the least maybe some of us guys can help you find a better tensioner

 

I ended up getting a new G660 through a series of events.

Can't get it to run. Initially it ran long enough t0 do a test cut, but then cut off while idling and just will not run now.

(yes I'm experienced with Stihl saw startup procedures to avoid flooding)

I have no experience carb tuning. I tried turning L and H in all the way clockwise, then out a full turn, LA in all the way and then out a quarter. Nothing. Will. not. start.

The other 660 (which I still have btw) would start up right away no problem.

Thoughts?

 

Ethanol fuel = water

 

Did you check spark? Those cheap China coils dir quite often. Everyone always asks me why I’d buy a used oem saw vs a clone. Think your beginning to see why this is my thought on used vs farmertec ect.

 

This is an issue with them that most people don’t mention. By the time you replace the problematic parts; carburetor, oil pump, fuel/pulse lines, intake boot, brake flag and coil with oem, you can buy a decent used oem saw.

 

Pulled the spark plug and confirmed it has spark.

Went ahead and carefully sanded the ground strap and electrode, cleaned with brake cleaner.

Yanked the start handle and quite a bit of fuel came out of the cylinder.

Put the plug back in and it started up. I found that the only way I could get it to idle at all was to have the LA screw all the way screwed in (clockwise).

Ran it and let it get fully warmed up, did a couple test cuts.

Shut it off and replaced the covers, tried to start it again. Will. Not. Start. Is not going to start.

At a bit of a loss. I might try swapping the carb over from the other saw. For all its faults it started right up every time.

 

Sounds like your carburetor is putting out too much fuel. Set the H and L screws at 1 turn out from lightly seated.

Your LA screw is for idle speed. Currently your saw is putting out too much fuel through the L circuit and you are making up for it by turning your idle screw in all the way to force it to run. You actually want to go the other way, in that you want the L screw almost as lean as possible, and then richen it slightly. It should put you maybe between 4 and 8? turns out on the LA screw

 

To add to my last post^

There is no set number of turns in or out for your idle speed (LA) screw. It goes where it goes to make the saw idle properly

 

Very helpful advice thanks!

I'm gonna go tinker some more here in a bit.

BTW I'm nursing the most gnarly injury from that saw right now. The other day I was prepping potatoes for dinner and sliced my thumb and thumbnail almost in half. Pretty brutal injury but a clean cut and it was healing well enough to be without bandages. Well, trying to start the saw yesterday I accidentally clipped my thumb and split the whole thing apart. Possibly the most acute pain I've ever felt in my life. Good times!

 

I've chased this tail around in a circle more than a few times. Most of the saws that get brought to me to fix are very old, filthy and sat around for a while, sometimes quite a while...
It's nice to have a similar saw to change the carb quick to ensure the issue or verify the issue or settings. Most times I don't have the luxury of a similar model saw on hand. I've rebuilt a few that no matter what I did even with a full rebuild kit, a new carb was the final solution. I was never a carb guy, but I've tried to learn as much as I can and I've even been able to fix the main nozzle on a couple. I hate having to admit "defeat" and buying a new carb and most of the guys I fix saws for can't really afford a 90 buck OEM so they insist on cheapo aftermarket... I really need to get an ultrasonic cleaner...

Sorry to break out my cheese and WHINE, but I'm in agreement with Huskihl's advice. Next step after that is a full rebuild and if that doesn't work, a replacement carb.

Yikes, sorry to hear about your thumb... Don't get any carb cleaner in there!!!!

 

Looks like oem carbs are both available and relatively ($122) cheap so I'll do that if I run out of things to try.

 

Okay this helped a lot.

I turned the H, L, and LA all the way in. Then I started the saw. It immediately pegged the throttle so I screwed the LA out about four turns (I think I'm remembering this right) which got it to idle normally.

I then cycled through a few test cuts, tweaking all three screws. The H was the hardest because I can't really tell much of a difference in the settings.

In the end, I have it running and operating. The LA is a bit touchy though. There basically is no compromise between an idle that won't die and an idle that prevents the chain from moving sadly. I can get it 90% of the way there but it's a choice between it dying on its own or letting the chain shift around a bit. I also noticed the physical orientation of the saw affects this. I suspect none of this can be remedied without an OEM carb so I probably need to accept how it is.

In the end I was able to noodle an entire 18" diameter, 16" osage round all the way, which is now the most amount of cutting I have been able to accomplish with these clone saws.

 

Tillonson offers a reasonably inexpensive replacement carburetor for these as well. I believe it’s called a Tillotson exchange HS – 320. Don’t quote me on the numbers though

 

This rig right here

GENUINE TILLOTSON CARBURETOR FOR STIHL 064 066 MS 660 HS-320a | eBay

 

If the idle is that touchy sounds like the L “low jet” is a touch fat. Since the 066/660 is an old school style saw how I would go about setting it is to get it warmed up and idling. Turn the low jet in till engine starts to stumble and die then turn out counter clockwise till the engine stumbles rich counting the turns. If was 1 1/2 turns out from lean stumble to rich stumble set it half way between the two and this will be close. Open the high jet up another half turn counter clockwise from where it’s at to make it fat then hold throttle open while turning clockwise to lean out till it sounds like it quits gaining rpm after it does that go about 1/4 back counterclockwise to richen it back up which should be safe. Then finally set the LA to a good idle speed.

 

I might buy this.

Started the saw up this morning to do a small amount of work. It started right away. And then idled about 50% throttle with the chain flying around the bar. Not sure if this is due to break-in or if the carb is crap or what.

I'll tinker with it a little bit more and see if I can get it to stabilize, then try the other carb I have. If none of that works out I will go ahead and buy the OEM carb.