chinese made stihl?

I bought a 660 clone kit pre-bio attack ('17?). Haven't put it together yet but probably will...someday. I have since realigned my buying habits wherever possible.

 

My son's ported 365sp always had an issue tuning and I've learned it is/was the specific carb. So I bought a different one from someone I trust. Said he bought a whole bunch new off the bay. It was a chicom Zama. I've tried 4 times to get it to run and I finally gave up. Brand new carb will not run on the L jet. I've had it apart twice. It's going either back (if he wants to experiment) or in the trash. Said one other carb was junk too. I really do avoid their crap when possible.

 

One other thing. I reread the ad. Looks like a real Stihl, but possibly selling a clone. Ive seen them use "genuine" stihl pics from the Stihl website or advertising and the actual saw for sale is a clone.

 

I thought that was a possible scenario. I found a few videos not on youtube.

 

Definitely no ignorance in what you are saying. I know for a fact that certain items are not made anywhere else but certain countries. It's a global marketplace, and that's just how it is now. Buy what you can from countries that care about their employees well being.

The thing with Chinese products is you might get a good one, you might get a dud. Usually it's all the clones and you can't tell what's good or not. If you find a particular company has great QC, then you are generally safe.

 

I bought a Farmertec "MS660" kit about 4-5 years ago and built it myself...after having gone through that I would not spend the money for a fully assembled knockoff saw, there's just too many QC issues and you really need to inspect every part before installing it. I ended up using all Farmertec parts, except for the upper rod bearing, and later on I swapped out the chain tensioner screw...but it turned out that it actually just needed to be shimmed in the engine casting, rather than a faulty tensioner.
There were numerous places where I was able to use the Farmertec part, but only after doing some mods on it. (like clearancing the bottom of the piston skirt, so it didn't hit the crank at BDC)
I would have much preferred to have found an old big bore saw that maybe just needed some TLC, but those seem to be few and far between here locally, and/or the prices are ridiculous when they do come up for sale.
I ended up with a little less than $300 in my "MS660", and that is with a 32" B/C included. I only use it a few times per year (hence why I didn't want to invest $$$ in it) and it has worked well so far.
If I had it to do over, I would probably not buy it again, just due to the fact that we are increasingly trying to not support these (mostly chinese) companies that are 1. Making knockoffs. 2. Making poor quality products.

 

I've found that to be absolutely true. For instance I bought a central pneumatic air compressor from Harbour Freight for 89 bucks about ten years ago. I needed it to last for two days, and I really thought I'd be lucky if it did running two framers off it. Well it did, and not only that it lasted for years after that. I went through the makita big bore compressors and a dewalt before that compressor gave up the ghost.

When it finally died I ended up taking it back all beat to heck because I apparently bought that warranty for it, and they gave me a new one off the floor. I wasn't too upset when the replacement crapped out after a week or so. It is a roll of the dice.

 

I’m with you on the predator equipment. Have a 3500 watt inverter generator and a 9000 watt generator from harbor freight. Both have around 100 hours on them with no issues at all. Have put tri-fuel carbs on both, so can run on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. I do suggest changing oil in them after about 30 min run time and again after a couple hours. Had quite a bit of shiny stuff in the oil on the first 2 changes. Nothing noticeable on third change at 10 hours. As far as Chinese saws, I have 5. First was a farmertec g660. Bought it as an excuse for anew toy and to take down a couple of huge elms on a rental property we have. Modded the muffler and retuned. Have been pleasantly surprised with it. Wasn’t expecting much for $259 delivered. Not sure about longevity and durability yet…only have about 40 tanks through it…but it paid for itself on its first day. Pulls 32” comp in buried in dead dry elm with no problem. Run a 24” on it cutting firewood and it makes me smile. Only issue is it leaks bar oil on the shelf in the shop, but so do most of the oem saws I’ve owned. Second one I bought was an x-bull. Claimed to be a 62cc saw…I have not verified that yet. $59 delivered with 20” bar….bought it just cause I was curious and I needed a new toy at the time. Definitely wasn’t expecting much on this one…have been VERY surprised with this one. It will hang right with my ms361 on timed cuts. Not apples to apples though, 361 running 20” 3/8 full comp, x-bull running 20” .325 full comp. Sometimes the Stihl wins, sometimes the x-bull. Only quirk with this one is when it runs out of gas, you WILL. NOT get it started til it cools off for 20 minutes…not a big deal to me cause I usually take 4-5 saws and run them til they are out of gas. By then my dump trailer is full. IMO this is a better saw than the big box homeowner saws. Metal case also, I think aluminum, not mag. Third was a no name 25cc top handle for $39… cause why not? It is an absolute turd, even after mm and tune, however it starts every time and works pretty good for trimming the rose bushes, cutting the pampas grass around the pool in the fall and pruning small branches. Fourth was a Jon Cutter g3800. This is a clone of a zenoha saw. MM and retune. This one was aggravating. Would run like a raped ape for 2-3 minutes then start stalling in the cut. Finally figured out it was the tank vent. Tore the guts out of the vent and reinstalled and no problem since. I really like this for limbing. Very light weight and definitely a better saw than the big box store saws…even though it almost went in the dumpster before I figured out the vent issue. Latest was another farmertec, this time a g444, clone of ms440. Picked this one up for $319 delivered. Wanted something a little lighter than the 660 but still decent power. No issues so far after 20-25 tanks. Pulls a 28” full comp buried in dead, dry elm with no problem and also makes me smile cutting firewood with the shorter bars. Would I buy these saws as primary saws to make a living with? No, but for me cutting 10ish cords a year, I think they are ok. I enjoy tinkering with saws as much as I enjoy cutting and splitting, so wasn’t afraid to give them a shot…so far, haven’t had to do much tinkering. Time will tell if they will hold up, but for the price they don’t have to last very long, plus they give guys like me the opportunity to own big cc saws, which I would never buy OEM because of the $$$. Understand that the Chinese saws are not everyone’s cup of tea, but so far I haven’t had as many problems with them as I have had with several husky’s and stihl’s over the years. Anyone else out there running the Chinese stuff? I understand if you don’t want to admit it…definitely not the pride of ownership when I drag big blue out of the truck compared to when I pull out one of my stihls.

 

I borrowed a Holzforma Blue yesterday from a friend to round up a big oak log. Don’t remember the model # but it had a 32” bar and a brand new chain on it. I was very careful not to hit the ground with a borrowed saw!

It went through that oak like like is was a box elder but that pot licker was a bugger to start hot. Popped on the third pull cold. I think my right arm is 3” longer now after all those pulls,,

 

Predator engines and products from HF are definitely a hit. I can't recall hearing anything bad about them. I do the oil change trick that Elm-er Fudd mentioned as well. Then again, I run in every new 4 stroke engine I ever buy that way. Change the oil shortly after first running it to catch any metal and get that out of it.

I've got a feeling I'll be predator 6.5 hp horizontal swapping my MTD splitter sooner rather than later because that Tecumseh 5 hp vertical is a cheap engine. I mean chintzy/ flimsy and every word you can use to describe an engine manufactured to a price point by a company that was going under at the time. The predator 6.5 is built so much better and I think quieter and more fuel efficient than that Tecumseh.

 

From what I can deduct from everything I've read about the quality/reliability of Chinese saws is that it is a crap shoot. Might get a decent one or might get one that will have problems or fail altogether. Do I feel like gambling? Not a huge loss if I get a dud. Might score.

 

Where do you factor in supporting communist china?