We all gotta start somewhere, Saw revival. Stihl 009

This is something I've been meaning to get back to for years. Decided it was time to see if I could get these saws back online. One was given to me in pieces and the other is the first saw I ever bought. Both 009 Stihls. Notice I stuff rags around the rod to hold it in place. This keeps you from loosing the cageless bearing on the rod.



This saw was an early version 009. It was all orange when I got it. I was 10 years old at the time and saved my pennys and bought it at the local saw shop used for $70.00. Dad was all Homelite so I jumped shipped with this one. This saw has done a heck of a lot of work to say the least. Was sawing one day and after about 6 hours of doing so the saw locked up. When I tore into it I got a shocking surprise. There's a hole right beside the sprocket leading into the carb area. The plug fell out or something and it was completely full of saw dust pushing the filter up. It allowed sawdust to be sucked into the case. When I pulled the jug the case was it just had a groove where the rod was running. The rest was completely full of sawdust. How it ran like that I'll never know.I always cleaned the air filter every day after use so I know it all happened in that 6 hours.



Bought a new piston and jug from Stihl dealer and after cleaning the case out reassembled it. Never replaced bearings or seals and I guess I got lucky as it ran for years fine. About 4 years after that I was hand splitting wood and had the saw about 15 foot away. You guessed it, one went flying and endoed at full force hitting the saw. Busted the plastic case and broke the metal around the air box. Tore it down and made up a stainless wrap with access holes to adjust. Did a pretty good job for a 13 year old kid with limited tools. Revived again. Ran it for several more years and a reed valve broke up. Bought a new one as piston looked okay from the port. Put it on and wouldn't run. Pulled the jug and it was scored bad so I decided to retire it till I got some parts.



First thing was to get everything cleaned up to see what I had. Most would laugh at spending any time/money on this but It's an old friend to me. Orange and tan case plastic but that was all the dealer had. No ebay back then!



Everything was there still and looked pretty decent. Not much to these saws anyway.



Here's a close up of the fix. You can see how the upper rim broke out of the air box and why I had to do the wrap so it had some strength. dad thought I was nuts for trying but he acted kinda proud when I got it done and showed him.



Didn't have a TIG welder so I used nickle rod on the old stick welder. No mistaking this saw from someone else's!



Ordered some parts from lil Red Barn saw parts and noticed they had this kit. Never had some of this and decided to spend a whopping $15.00. Best money I've spent in a while. Has a cylinder stop too so no more rope on flat tops.



If you're not familiar with these saws they use cageless bearing on the rod and crank. After cleaning the case and checking them out I reinstalled using grease to hold them in. Takes some patience to do.

 

I like holding saws like this to work on. Couple of thin pieces of paint stirrer on each side of bar and wasers to shim out so nut can be drawn up. Makes a good, solid work base.



Cylinder itself is not scored.



Has some wear and has some carbon buildup but a good cleaning will do here.



I'll lightly spin some sand paper in there too by hand.



Piston wasn't horrible but had little compression. Ring was probably some of it too.



Sourced a new piston off Ebay for $25.00 delivered. Yeah, I don't think it would work in an 09!



Bearing on piston end looked fine. Cleaned it up and regreased.



Used the handy rod holder that came with the kit. Sure made that a lot nicer. Put the snap ring on one side before sliding the pin in.



Then put the other snap ring in. I also have always carefully deburr the reliefs. Do you guys do this? Seems bad to me to leave the sharp edges there.

 

I use a small triangle file and a diamond file.



I spin the ring compressor to where I can see the pin where the ring halves meet. You can keep an eye on it that way. Put it right to the edge of the ring groove so it will start in the jug easy.



Reclean everything and oil up the jug and piston. Slide the jug over a a couple bumps with the hand and it is on.



Tightened the jug up and made sure everything was smooth turning.



Set the coil to the flywheel with a .010 business card.



After cleaning all the carbon out of the muffler, it went back on.



You want to make sure you coil wire is feed through here before installing the jug. It's hard to push it between the case and jug otherwise.



Flywheel side cover on with 4 screws.



I did pull the carb off and tear it apart. Everything look good but did have some dirt on the screen. Diaphragms all looked good and I set high and low 1 turn out and idle 2 1/2 out to start. Put it back on along with the trigger cover.

 

Filter and cover on.



Another view of the fix with all the plastic on. Looks better and most don't notice it.



Switch always gave me fits so I just use the choke to stop it.



Cranked it and she took right off. Adjusted the High and idle but it was amazingly close. Idles fine and no stumbles so didn't need a carb rebuild. 3 saws back online now....more to go!



Dug out the first die, Yeah, that one is gone.



Here's the original case and it trashed it out for sure.



I still remember watching that split fly through the air and lad directly on it's end right on the saw. One of the slow motion things where you just stand back and go NNNOOOOOOO!

Revived once again at least now!

 

Awesome job!

 

Nice winter project hope u have more.... Gonna be a long winter lol !

 

Starting on that 009 parts saw now. Probably take a risk and get an electronic coil but I can always keep it as a spare if the other if it doesn't run. After that My grandpa's Homelite 420 bow bar. Sprocket broke on it in the 70's and has been sitting ever since. I've never run that one and don't remember ever seeing it run.

Here is a pic of it.


My one Grandpa it new off my other Grandpa who was a Homelite dealer back then. I did find the spur for it too. I'm sure some carb work will be in order with it.

Winter probably won't be long enough to fix all Dad has. I say he has at least 30 saws around, maybe more. I need to get a group picture as that would be interesting/scary to see.

 

Awesome job resurrecting that saw

 

Sweeet ! Love the old iron !! Keep us updated

 

Nice job! The first saw I bought was an 011. That was over 20 years ago before I messed with saws and small 2 stroke stuff. I was cutting up a branch that blew down in the yard and it locked up. I kept the bar and chain and threw away the rest. Wish I would have it now and rebuilt it like you did.

 

Good job man! Nothin' better than reviving an old saw...well done!

 

I second this

 

Grandpa started the dealership because they gave a discount on saws and he wanted one. He never was a big dealer but he was the first in our area of Ohio so he did sell quite a few. Dad was in school and did the mechanic work. They had a repair tool kit and such and I have the 3/8 Snap on torque wrench that came with it. Also have the chain grinder and still use it.

The saws are ones mostly Dad has picked up over the years. He has several older ones though. XL 12's, EZ automatics, 101 0r 103. One of the older ones had the wire throttle handle and was around the time of the Zip or Buzz. I can't remember off hand what it is. Like I said, I'll get around to getting them all out. He has a couple old Mac's and a Wright blade saw too somewhere.

When grandpa passed we got everything ready for the auction and there was quite a bit of sales flyers and such. My aunt tossed it all before we could tell her that we wanted some of it. He had a bunch of old boxes and stuff and we even found 2 new saws buried in there. Still have the old parts stash.

 

Okay, it's been a while but had some vacation this Thanksgiving and some time so I decided to try to get my grandpa's 4-20 Homelite going mentioned in this earlier thread. Decided to just link them together since I made mention of it. Here we go.



This is my One Grandpa's saw. He had bought it from my other grandpa who was a Homelite dealer in the late 40's on so it's a double sided memory saw. Time to fix it up.



This was why my grandpa stopped using it in the 70's. The sprocket had broke and they were not available. Internet now makes it possible so I finally found one and ordered it.



Did a quick compression test and it has nearly 120 psi so it should be okay. Luckily it wasn't frozen and I put some oil in at first to lube the wall up. It's been a long time since it has fired.



Checked for spark and it was fine. Poured gas in the spark plug hole and it hit right away. Couple more times and same thing. Lines seem okay but probably carb needs cleaned and maybe diaphragms. Started taking it apart.



Most of the time you don't have to take them clear off to do this. Just blowing and checking things out and it makes a nice holder when it's on the saw. been a while since working on one this old.




Went down to Grandpa's parts stash and dug through the carb parts and as luck would have it I found the exact diaphrams and gaskets I needed! SCORE! Old ones were brittle and cracking.



Put some more gas in the cylinder and it fired right up and ran. Put all the stuff back on and it's now good to go. Gave it a quick clean as well.

 

Very nice all around.

 

Not a perfect saw but a nice survivor and memories for us. this saw was bought by my Mom's Dad from my Dad's Dad before they were married in 1958. For those who don't know, the saws number 4-20 means it has 4 HP and weighs 20 lb.

 

Very purdy
All the old Homies need are abt 90 psi to run...so you will be good for another 50 years lol ! Seriously looks gr8 !

 

Thanks, it'll be a conversation piece and let the nephews and nieces try it out!



Notice the recommended mix ratio? That would make enviromentalists flip flop on the ground. Probably keep mosquitos away though!

 

You really did d a gr8 job cleaning it up....enjoy !!!