That's right, we need to go rescue this saw and give it a loving home, where it is appreciated. I can have custody for 6 months and you can have custody the other 6......I would have been unwrapping that sweet saw coming down the road......I would have had somebody holding a light if it was dark when I got home...well, maybe metalcuttr will get a chance soon.
Saw is fixed. Blade is sharp. The 25" bar seems a but big to me. I'd love to run a 20" on it. See pics - wood hoarder in his cave
I just picked up a 391 on eBay - needed a new bar but otherwise ok once I cleaned it up and fired right up once tuned a bit. It had a 20" but I have a new Tsumura 24" on the way that I think will handle any of the big wood I might encounter. From what I keep reading some people recommend oiling the air filters. Anyone out there have experience with doing this to reduce small particulate? I guess this is applicable to any of the Stihls with the pro filter.
Like that L series tractor. Why isnt that thing covered in mud? Its mud season here and i have been pressure washing my tractor every other time and it still looks muddy lol.
Ground had been pretty frozen here - up until today with around an inch of rain. Tractor has been great - not crazy about the emissions but I don't anticipate having any issues. My biggest gripe is limiting idle time. I have always been one to start the unit and let it run for the duration of the job unless I'm stopping for a long break. Idleing is not recommended with DPF as it will quickly foul the filter..... oh well. I did manage to bend my QA fork attachment the other day when one QA lever came undone and I didnt notice while moving logs with the forks. Can't blame the tractor though - operator error all the way. Its not too bad though, I think I can use a tree and the tractors power to put it back to where it was. My only real gripe is the loader is a bit weaker than the Ford 1920 it replaced. There is a way to modify the relief valve but I'm going to leave it alone and learn to live with it.
I did make good use of the 25" bar Sunday on dropping a big maple trunk but still I feel it is too big for the saw. Nice to have in a pinch though! Dont know much about this style filter. This is my first newer style saw. My second newest is a MS290 from 2013 or so and it is no different than the "old" style units.
Yeah doesnt seem to matter how much lift capacity you have, you always want just a little more. I bet you can bend that fork right back. I never really idled my tractor so that doesnt bug me too much. It is a pain to shut off/on, but i have always had that habit.
I have a 391 with the 25" ES bar on it and it is a little nose heavy. I have the 20" bar also but never use it cuz I have a 250 with an 18" bar that does the light work. I did muffler mods on both of them this winter and that turned the 391 into a whole different animal for me. I run a full chisel chain and cut a lot of various hardwoods for firewood and to make lumber on the sawmill. I cut a lot of Honey Locust for both lumber and firewood and Ironwood is also a preffered firewood for the cold days. We don't really have any wood here larger than 24-28" and the 391 handles it all just fine for me. I have seen the 391 get some bad press, but I like mine just fine. The muffler mod made a big difference and I am pretty tuned in to keeping the chain sharp all the time. I'm not a pro with a saw and don't make a living off my saws so I don't have to have the top line stuff. But I do cut 7 cord of firewood a year and some timber to keep up with our friends' and family's needs for lumber. The muffler mod was very easy, actually the hardest part was getting the limiter off the hi carb screw... Turned the stiffener ribs into louvers with a dremel cut off wheel and a screwdriver. When on the saw you hardly notice the louvers and they kinda deflect the noise and exhaust down. This defeats the flame arrestor though, but I don't have to worry about that here in my own woods. It is a little louder now, but all the neighbors that are close all own saws and cut wood too. In fact they are all wanting me to do muffler mods on their saws. I'm not real big on doing things for people. I would rather spend 3 hours showing them how to do it for themselves than to just do it for them in 1 hour.
After using my 391 a few times after the muffler mod I noticed the plastic of the bar oil tank just below the muffler starting to get charred a bit from the hot exhaust. When against a log bucking, the hot exhaust going down doesn't have much room to escape and is kinda getting trapped right at the bottom of the muffler. BAD PIZZA!!! So I reversed the louvers and now the exhaust points up. I put some metalized reflective tape over the plastic oil tank and it is not a problem now. I was worried that the exhuast would be blowing up into my face, but I don't notice anything. I re-tuned the hi jet since the openings may have changed when re bending the louvers, but there was no change. Sitll runs awesome, way better than stock. I wish I had done some before and after testing before doing the mod to verify the results, but the performance increase was very noticable.
