It's basically new, I don't even think I have 30 minutes on it. But I have a bunch of osage that is 2+ years old in 18" rounds, was bone dry WHEN I HARVESTED IT and if you know osage, you know I'm dealing with basically pure lignite coal. My splitter hates it. I have found that if I noodle the rounds in half it breaks up enough tension in the round to get the splitter to eat it, interestingly enough. Same with Elm. Noodling extremely well seasoned osage..............good luck. Saw wasn't bogging but it was spitting out fine powder from the very first cut on a fresh chain. Each cut took about a minute. Quickly discovered I had not installed the dogs. Problems with the saw: - Leaked 1+ oz bar oil after setting it down for 15 minutes after usage - Brake is messed up. Technically works but you have to push on a far corner to get it to click. Also it interferes with the exhaust and melted a bit. Should I replace the mechanism or the handle to fix this or what? - Takes a while for the idle to settle and stop engaging the clutch on cold start Otherwise it actually runs completely fine. Started right up after a year using the normal Stihl method. Plenty of power, obviously. Not too heavy if you are standing in your woodlot versus out in the forest. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Back at it again today. This stuff is at the limits of what a G660 can even handle. Incredible. BTUs: Yes. This stuff would absolutely blow minds out in western pine forest country. Tests at about 14% btw.
That idle issue would bother me only because it could mean that the saw has an intermittent air leak. Did you look into known issues with this particular clone? I've heard certain models are missing o rings or other minor details that were overlooked when they were reverse engineered. That being said, I personally know someone with this exact saw and so far it's been good to him for the last 2-3 years. I wish you the best with yours.
Once the saw warms up fully the issue goes away. I suppose an air leak could present that way if it a gap somewhere was closing up on thermal expansion. I deeply regret not ordering the kit for this and building it myself. I'll continue to tinker with it off and on. I have four others (actually a whole other G660 too, long story) so its firmly in toy category. It's fun to run though, and runs extremely well in the cut. My favorite saw is my MS251. I hate hate hate Stihl but man that saw has just flawless ergonomics. I even prefer it to my Timberwolf.
If this one ever bites the dust it could be a good opportunity to rebuild it yourself. That way you can put whatever parts in it that you want. Good SKF crank bearings, OEM crankshaft, whatever. Plus (IMO anyway) running a saw that you personally built from the cases up is just satisfying, more so than buying an already running saw.
