Yea ill give it a few months b4 i start messing with it im goin to do the bar and chain upgrade right away
It's the only saw I (we) own that isn't muffler modded. I'll keep it that way since we live in town. For the small cleanup jobs or cutting some sticks for the fire pit, it is perfect.... and did I say quiet?
The 170 is a great little saw. I have a 180 that I use for smaller work, but my 84 year old father will grab it and not hesitate to jump right into cutting bigger stuff. These are great little saws with a good power to weight ratio.
A lot of people have had problems with the .043 chain. I bent a cutter but I was cutting frozen wood.
My .043 chain is a mess..... I think it happened cutting some frozen hickory. Really hate to have to buy a new bar to run the super picco.
My dealer does not have it in stock. I had to get PM3. The guy thought I was nuts when I went in to get a 12" .050 bar for a 170.
I guess the dealers think that "As Goes Stihl - So Goes The World"? The dealers attempt to force green chain on you? I think the majority of the Stihl dealers are ignorant of the existence of PS yellow chain or even PS3 green chain entirely? Or for that matter . . . any chain that is not a "3"? PS3 green chain still cuts pretty good in spite of the humps on the drivers but I don't care for the extra weight whirling around out there. There are seven Stihl dealers within 20 miles of my house and only one carries any bulk chain. In regular 3/8" this dealer only has RS in .050". For my 025's and MS250's I like .325 X .063 X RS X 16" and I haven't had any trouble getting that in factory loops from the same dealer. I sold my 3/8" LP pico saws
Regarding Stihl "PS" chain. It looks like the larger "RS" chisel chain but is in the "PICO" pitch. The cutters are larger than some low pro chains.
Just got done dropping an 8" Bradford pear with my 170. Very handy to work with, nice and light. Need to sharpen my chain though
He(my neighbor was tired of pulling on it) and it ended up in my hands after being in a shop for repair. This one has become a bit better(pops on 5-6pulls-which is easy on a toy saw) beats the 10+ when I got it, stutters and hesitates when first fired but once it warms up your in business. I have no intention of doing further carb work on it unless it just will not run There was a thread a while back and several guys chimed in on hard starting issues - pull multiple times place on bench, threaten with BFH, then pull some more is what I recall
Roger that man. Well, the good news with that model though is if need or want ever leads to a new carb you're out the door of the dealer for under $25 whether you stick with OE or upgrade to the WT-215. Is the WT-215 plug & play for an MS170 or does it require some . . . encouragement?
Mine with the stock carb started fine. It would only idle about 30 seconds before it would die. I put the WT-215 on if it is used every 3 or 4 days it will start in 3 or 4 pulls. If it sits for an extended period of time it will take 7 pulls. If it is used every day or 2 it will start in 2 or 3 pulls. The WT-215 is pretty much plug and play. You have to JB weld a hole in the carb, plug a hole in the air box on the saw, and put a tiny screw in the throttle linkage on the carb to take out slop. You have to add some holes in the saw and top cover to get to the carb adjusting screws. I have been trying to figure out some kind of an air filter upgrade. The stock one is not much.
