Cheap Chinese Parts

er.... I mean economical.

I just received the first delivery of Chinese parts for my eBay MS440 beater. This was the sprocket cover and manly, aggressive bucking dogs. Surprisingly fast delivery, 8 days from placement of order.



The sprocket cover is a very good quality casting, all the details in place and including the plastic pieces. Of course, it lacks the cast in Stihl name.

I wasn't actually interested in the dogs, but they came with the deal. For $11.75 delivered, I wasn't going to quibble. I expected them to be low carbon steel that would bend easily, making them useless. They are not. I tried to bend one, they are as stiff as the genuine Stihl dog that was on my saw. They came with M5 Torx head screws with nuts for mounting. The only con in this whole order is that all 4 screws are 16mm long. Two of them need to be 10mm long for mounting on the sprocket cover.

The fit on all pieces was perfect.

I also like the magenta bubble wrap mailer, leave it to the Chinese.

I give it two thumbs up.

The eBay vendor was ilooke
ilooke on eBay

It would be nice if others would post their experiences with Chinese parts (good or bad) here, along with the vendor they were purchased from.

 

I thought you'd never ask.


It looks like there is a burr on the bottom of the spike in this picture, there isn't.

 

They're already ordered. May have to get the starter cover to complete the set. You know how it goes, once you clean a spot on the carpet.....

 

I remember well the feeling we had about Japanese parts and equipment in the 1950s. If you asked anyone back then, all Japanese stuff was pure junk. By the 1960s we were willing to accept things like Honda motorcycles as reasonably decent equipment but were still hesitant to trust their products. By the 70s people intentionally looked for Japanese manufacture for things like turntables, tape recorders/players, amplifiers and other electronics. These days we see the Honda brand of small engines as superior in some ways to things like a B&S engine. The reputation of the Japanese has been completely reversed by the quality we see in their products. I think I am detecting the beginning of a similar shift in the reputation of Chinese products. When the trade barriers with China were first lifted the only thing I would buy from them were flannel shirts. These days we are experiencing the Chonda engines at discount stores and I suspect the reputation of those products may be on the way to improving as they learn to make things better.
I am very interested to see where this is going so threads like this one intrigue me.

 

Coming from the machine shop world, the same thing happened. Early on, Japanese lathes and mills were the cheapo stuff. By the time I got in, the Japanese machines were the high end and Taiwanese (Jet) were the crap. Now, Taiwanese are the good stuff and the Japanese are manufacturing in China.

Redmax (Zenoah) is making some pretty good chainsaws in China.

Same thing with cars, the Koreans (Kia, Hyundai) got their start building cars for the Japanese (Mitsubishi) companies. Anyone bought a Korean car recently?

They have the technology, it's all a question of recognizing where the bar is. Let's face it, the Chinese were capitalists when our ancestors were wearing animal hides.

 

I purchased a ms250 engine from huztl along with a carb, handle and misc stuff. The handle wouldn't fit. The carb might have worked but the adjustment screws didn't line up with the holes in the case so I didn't use it. The engine looked good and I installed it without any mods along with a China carb from a different vendor . At first I thought it was a turd and it was difficult to get a good tune on it. Eventually it broke in and I am satisfied with the power, actually i'm more than satisfied. It does have a slightly modded muff. I set it up with a 16" bar with 3/8 pico and it does all you would expect from a small saw. The only issue I have is it is touchy and hard to hold tune on the low speed screw.
This saw was a junker I picked up and if I kill it I have little $ in it and it holds no sentimental value. A few of my other saws I'm proud of I wouldn't put China parts in except maybe a carb as a last resort.

 

I got a dead 029 from a neighbor for nothing . So, I got a 390 engine from Hutzl ,caber rings , Woodland Pro bar and chain ( raisman ,tri link ) ,chinese carb . Put it all together ,and it ran very well for what I had in it . Gave it to my son in law ,who still beats on it . I think a lot of the bad rap chinese stuff gets is that they can build to a specification , or build to a price point . And, folks get that confused.

 

You hit the nail on the head. I've maintained for a long time that is what happened to HP consumer line computers. I've been reading several threads on Huztl parts, saw kits and saws. The reports are mostly positive, with some notable exceptions, and there have been some consistency issues. It also seems that they are paying attention to the complaints and addressing them. I've seen this with HF stuff too, it seems to be improving over time. If I was making my living with these tools, I'd buy the good stuff. As a machinist, I always bought Starrett tools, not even Mitutoyo would do. For the homeowner and firewood cutter, the economy stuff can make sense, freeing up dollars to buy other things.

 

Aftermarket (Chinese, mostly), fuel lines for most Stihl saws are junk. They kink or split at the fuel filter or carb. Personal experience, not just regurgitating saw forum adage.

 

I ordered one of those Hutzl MS 660 kits...should be here in the next week or two. I'll post a build thread once I get to it. Sounds like the reviews on these has been positive for the most part...from what I've read recently it seems like some of the known issues with these kits early on may be getting sorted out of late

 

I'd have to say that my own experiences with Chinese made hoses of almost any type have not been good. Fuel, air, water, they all seem to crack and fail prematurely.

 

Well I will say that I will never pay for an OEM clutch cover.....you can get basically a perfect replica like you have stated...I have got clutch divers for many different Stihl models and they have all worked perfectly....

As a matter of fact I have had great luck with pistons, handle bars, brake handles, cylinder, seals, and bearings...I recently got a handle bar for a ma390 and ms290, both fit perfectly!!

 

Are you using a particular vendor?

 

I have the same ones

 

I have yet to board the China boat. For highest quality manufacturing, I look to the former axis powers Germany and Japan. I prefer Japanese manufacturing over all others based on experiences with their products. I feel like their culture promotes quality and pride in workmanship. Chinese products have yet to impress me. They have a great manufacturing capability, but their engineering is crap. That is why they copy everyone else. I also figure in a "people factor". Yeah, I can buy a cheap recoil assembly for a saw, but what about the folks making those recoils? Are they paid well? Do they have safe working conditions? Does their production create excess pollution? Those things, along with quality and price are factors in my decisions on products.

To me, the cheap knockoffs actually make everything lesser quality over time. The reputable manufacturers have to compete with no name China products or be driven from the market. This means they must cut costs from production. Where are all the cuts made? Materials? Labor? Now the once top quality product is diminished in trying to stay competitive. It's a race to the bottom and I fear what's at the finish line.

Sorry to be Darrel Downer, but cheapest price should not always be the bottom line in my opinion.

I'll stick with the Sawking's advice when it comes to my saws.

 

I had read similar reviews, which is why I wasn't expecting much. I got to put mine thru their paces today, no complaints.
That's why I'm asking people to list the vendor of the parts.