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View Full Version : Dumb Errors!!!



Michael Gibbons
04-26-2008, 7:35 AM
Travel back about three years ago.. Christmas time. My wife bought me a new Stihl chainsaw and accsessories.The following spring I go and use it one time. After which, I empty the gas, put in a little Stabil and return to case and do not use it for a couple years. About three weeks ago, I bring it out of mothballs and fire it up to cut down a tree that I've been meaning to fell since we moved in 8 years ago. Well.... from lack of use, I forgot about the chainbrake/clutch handle and was running it with it on and totally destroyed the clutch and the heat that built up burnt the oil line and oil pump. A week after the chainsaw fiasco, my wife and I were coming home from dropping the kid off at his friends house when we witnessed a lady spin out into the median on the freeway. Being the naturally nice guy, I decided to back up to see if she was O.K. and call for help if needed. There were people gathering as I backed up and ripped off the passenger mirror with the help of the little reflector post on the shoulder of the road. I thought the posts was farther off the road than that. The following week the SWMBO asked me if I wanted to do something else and I said not till May-I had enough dumb luck this month.

Kyle Kraft
04-26-2008, 8:16 AM
Wow. Regarding the chain saw, I'm surprised the chain could move at all, even at full throttle with the brake engaged. My mom has an newer 021 and a FarmBoss whopper and neither of them can move the chain with the brake engaged.

Perhaps this is a good thing. If there was an accident maybe the brake was worn enough that it wouldn't stop the chain before you got cut.

Years ago I ran a big saw across my left knee cap. Got a way cool scar out of it.

Ken Fitzgerald
04-26-2008, 8:27 AM
Michael,

Sorry to hear about the saw and the mirror.

A number of years ago my youngest son had a friend visit from Tennessee. They had met at Disneyland and were penpals through junior high and HS. While they were in college, he in Idaho and she in WV IIRC, she came out so spend Christmas with us. She was flying for the 1st time. Her connecting flight in Dallas was canceled. She had to spend the night there. She finally gets to Spokane 110 miles one-way from us and the roads were closed due to blizzard conditions. The youngest son managed to get there with 4WD and chains. They finally got here. We skiied and had a good time. The last day of skiing, we had our skis cable locked to a ski rack at a local ski resort and some turkey cut the cable and stole her rental skis. The youngsters had driven our 4-Runner over to ski resort where the youngest son was a ski instructor. The wife and I followed in our car. When the son and his friend went to leave, he had two flats on the 4-Runner. When we got home his female friend said "I feel like there is a little dark cloud following me everywhere I go recently". Yes she had an uneventful trip back to Tenn. :)

Roll with the punches!

Cliff Rohrabacher
04-27-2008, 9:57 AM
I'm with Kyle. I've had and used several chainsaws over the years and not a one would run at all with the brake engaged. Own a Sthil & an Echo and used Huskvarnas

One elderly friend had an old one I admired. It had no brake at all and took two men and a boy to run it. I think the brand name was "Michigan." It was really like a single cylinder motorcycle engine with a bar and chain bolted to it and someone at the factory thought a maybe a handle might be nice so they bolted one on. Just pulling the starter was dangerous - no decompression valve.

Michael Gibbons
05-03-2008, 10:49 AM
Well I picked up the saw and the guy showed me the destruction. The clutch was in sevn or so pieces. Works like a charm now. Finished the cutting job I started. The repair cost me $240. The mirror will be about $60. I lucked out on that one. I figured 160 for sure. But $160 is for the heated mirror and not the plain remote model. Waiting till the following month didn't seen to change my luck as I was replowing my deer food plot to resseed it and ended up cutting through the underground petfence wire-AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! When I told my wife, she just shook her head and asked if I have a problem?? Ya think?? When the pet fence guy came out and installed it, I wasn't watching him at all times since he is a pro, but occasionally I saw he was making progress around the perimeter. I assumed he was farther out, but he must have made a sweeping turn which came closer to the corner of my food plot which I had planted three years earlier. Maybe I'm related to Shleprock from the Flintstones.

Dennis Peacock
05-03-2008, 1:18 PM
Wow. Regarding the chain saw, I'm surprised the chain could move at all, even at full throttle with the brake engaged. My mom has an newer 021 and a FarmBoss whopper and neither of them can move the chain with the brake engaged.

Perhaps this is a good thing. If there was an accident maybe the brake was worn enough that it wouldn't stop the chain before you got cut.

Years ago I ran a big saw across my left knee cap. Got a way cool scar out of it.

With chain brake on for my Stihl MS-361 Pro saw...it won't move either. I'm glad those devices work. This is my 1st large size saw where I saw the need to wear "chaps" when cutting.

Rich Stewart
05-06-2008, 1:06 PM
Seems like for 240 bucks you could have bought a nice brand new chainsaw. Oh, wait. I see it was a gift from your wife. Nevermind.

Michael Gibbons
05-08-2008, 7:35 PM
I might have just bought a new one but the incident happened on the SECOND time I used it so it was like new and I got the nicer model which was about $580 or so for the saw and the extras brought the total to around $650.