I've owned my 044 since 1995 and it has seen a fair bit of use, and abuse. If I had to guess I'm going to say it's probably cut around 100-150 cords of firewood along with a bit of log-length cutting and limbing (in my younger/dumber days!) Just last year I was forced to upgrade the fuel line and install a brand new carb and now she's back to running like a champ the only problem is that I seem to be able to stall the chain in the cut relatively easily. It's not the saw bogging down or losing power just the chain slowing down or stopping in which case I would assume the clutch is slipping badly. What's the expected lifespan of these clutches and how do I know when I need to replace/repair it?
Any idea what it reads compression wise? You can check the clutch drum pretty easy. Just remove the drum and look inside. There shouldn't be too deep of a groove worn. IIRC if the groove is worn 1/16" then it's time to replace it. Others will know for sure. When you do get it out, scrape out all of the crap that's built up in there and clean it up really good. Maybe lightly hit it up with some Emory cloth and see if that helps. If your saw has some miles on it, it wouldn't hurt to pull the muffler and see what condition the piston and cylinder are. Depending on conditon new rings or a piston may also breath new life into that saw.
No idea on what the compression is, sorry. I'll pull the drum off tonight and have a look inside as well as the muffler. On a related note; I've never replace the drive sprocket...when should I have and what size are folks running?
Does yours have the replaceable rim sprockets or the spur type where you need to replace the entire clutch drum? If you see 1/16" deep grooves or more worn into your sprocket they say it's replacement time. Rim sprockets are pretty cheap to replace.
