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Official MS261CM vs 550XP test

Started by HolmenTree, June 06, 2017, 10:46:34 PM

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Weekend_Sawyer

wow, now that is quite the recovery.
I'm truly glad your friend is still alive.
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

JJinAK

Very glad to hear this.  Evidently the Great Stihl in the Sky wasn't ready for him just yet.  Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

JaJ
MS461
MS362

Hilltop366

Apparently the reports of his death was an exaggeration! 

realzed

Chainsaw Forum = divine intervention???  Lets hope so!  
Good News sometimes comes in mysterious ways I guess..

barbender

That's certainly a good turn of events! It would kind of be nice to be reported  dead, just to see all of the nice things everyone says about you😂 I don't want to take away from the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that the other man lost his life. But, this was good news!  
  A humorous memory I have that illustrates the fact that we always say nice stuff about folks when they're dead or dying (and maybe we should concentrate on the positives when they're still alive)- a local trucking company owner got cancer and he was real sick. He was rumored to only have a very short time to live. Now, he always had the reputation for the "pennies lining up on his side", especially with his employees. I was visiting about his illness with an old trucker friend of mine, who was a former employee of the sick fellow. He said, "he was always straight with me, he always treated me well". About a month passed and the sick guy was doing some treatments and starting to rally and do quite well. His former employee and I were doing a project that I bought some gravel from the sick man. I hired my friend to haul it. He asked me "how much did he charge you for that material?" I told him the price, and he exclaimed "that cheap (Admin language edit)!!"😂😂😂 I guess it turned out we thought less of him when he was feeling better!😁
Too many irons in the fire

HolmenTree

Quote from: Hilltop366 on September 19, 2018, 10:48:29 AM
Apparently the reports of his death was an exaggeration!
Yes the cycle  of small town rumor mills. :D
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Weekend_Sawyer

 I'm still loving my 261CM.
I recently took down an 18" Chestnut Oak and when I started cutting it up I had to check and see if it was rotted inside. The saw was flying through the wood. I'm running the stock 20" bar and a yellow stihl chain. I have extensively used an 029, 028 and a huskey 455 and this saw cuts circles around them. Needless to say I am liking this saw.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

realzed

Willard - just wondering about your friend Chris and how is doing. Have you heard any more details about the accident itself or about how he is coming along?  
That line is so important to all of the communities North-Eastward from Thompson especially, and the washout of the section of it last year closer to Churchill was a real blow to that community for sure..  
I'm assuming they have the accident site well fixed up by now - but I really haven't seen or heard anything at all more about it.. any news?

HolmenTree

Randy, he's recovering ok. Lots in the news here about his train derailment.

Latest blames  beavers flooding the area of mishap in this very remote location.
The Teamsters union is asking why it took emergency responders 9 hours to cut the 2 men out of the wreckage. The 38 year old conductor bled to death from a broken arm or leg.

Emergency responders said with the locomotives leaking diesel fuel and 27 cars of gasoline and propane a hazmat had to be setup first to secure the site.

An inquest is in the process.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

Photo here of the wreck. As shown most of the tanker cars were pulled away from the site for safety.
Chris is one lucky Stihl dealer to be alive.


Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

Put the muffler modded MS261CM to work this morning in one big hairy white spruce.

Its older sibling the 1997 066 Magnum-28" did the chores of felling the tree plus bucking a few oversize rounds off.

The snappy 261 was a pleasure delimbing this monstrosity of a tree.
Each limb was like a small tree.


  
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

realzed

It's truly a shame that someone would or could die from such a relatively common injury.. I realize a compound fracture can lead to blood loss - but to take so long for whatever reason to finally get him out is a real cry'n shame to say the least..
As shown during 9/11 many true first responders often risk all and in fact give their lives on the pretext that they can save someone else's - and to not strive to that goal is bewildering and somewhat troubling. 
Maybe the Teamsters have a point - but then again I don't know all of the details!
Regardless, glad to hear your bud Chris is doing well - considering he went through it all as well - he must have a lot of questions in his own mind that need to be answered..

realzed

In a somewhat different topic - but certainly still newer 261CM model related, Willard.. since it is now cooling down considerably around here  (probably nowhere near as much so as 'North of 55') I am trying to get my huge stack of maple logs bucked, stacked, and covered up before the real cold weather lands in my lap probably in a couple of weeks.
What do you consider is the point where it is best to be flipping over the cold weather shutter on any newer 261 (or older 026 like my son's for that matter) to keep them running better or creating a situation where the least amount of c/p wear is caused by cooler temperatures?
I felt last weekend when it was around 0 - 3 degrees C, that my saw ran great with the shutter still closed, but I thought I read that Stihl recommends that would probably be at the point where the shutter should be flipped to add warm air to the carb area.
I know that at -10 or -20 or beyond there certainly isn't any doubt about it being appropriate and worthy - but it seems that if done with it at or just below '0' temperatures we are getting into now, it could actually make the saw run too hot once up and running for a while - yet to not do so almost means you are running it with a cylinder and piston that could benefit from some extra heat added especially if you shut it down occasionally to pile wood or take breaks and allow it to cool off considerably!
On another note - after 10 to 12 tanks through the saw now finally, I can actually really feel the power - especially the torque as it is finally getting broken in and making quite a noticeable difference.
Previously with the 20" bar completely buried in the hard maple it sometimes needed to be 'babied' a bit but now it never even flinches and actually seems to run better the heavier the load is on it.  
Amazing how much some break-in time makes in the performance!  I was skeptical hearing this often was the case - but certainly no more after experiencing it first hand!
I'm like you, tempted to pull out the screen and actually see if I can get even more out of it - not that I need it really..
Going to have to try and cut logs all weekend and into next week to somewhat make up for lost time due to the nice Summer and early Fall weather that made it too warm here to cut much (at least that was my excuse!) if the rain/snow holds off, but I don't want the saw to run too warm - yet don't want to make it run too cold either..
Next thing I guess will be temperature controlled shutters that will take such guesswork out..
Your experience and impressions as always, are much appreciated!
Thx - Randy  

HolmenTree

Randy,
Between your son's 026 and your 261 snow is the bigger hazard then is cold.
With the air box partition shutter open more cutting debris and moisture from snow will get onto the air filter. Enough moisture can cause damage to the piston. This would usually apply to a faller felling trees near ground level when there is snow cover, or clumps of snow falling out of evergreen trees onto the running saw.

There is a rewind housing grille winter cover available from your dealer (page 26 in owners manual) to help restrict snow intake when the saw is set down in the snow when idling plus restrict cold air intake.
Manual recommends -10°C and colder for the cover but their recommendation to open shutter below+20°C I would not recommend for the 026. On both saws the air filter will get dirtier faster with the shutter open.

The 026 does have a winter preheater kit rubber flanged airbox cover to seal the top covers gap and a rewind grille cover. Which I highly recommend for Canadian winter operation.

Similar to the air injection intake on the Husqvarnas, the 261 has this flywheel air cleaning centrifugal system also.
Works great separating dirt from clean air for the airbox intake but under the right colder conditions it doesn't separate lighter snow as well. Some of the Husqvarna models have a piece in their winter kit that blocks off the air injection.

Best thing Stihl did for the colder climate market is making the top cover one piece from the older 026 two piece era.

Muffler mods...more power will be expected and the saw will run cooler in warm weather. But get used to the extra noise and wait a bit longer for the saw to warm up in cold weather.
I don't see much difference in fuel economy as the MTronic seems to be doing a good job regulating its operation.

Here's some pics of snow intake damage to the piston.
First pic also explains alcohol or ether in gas can cause this damage too.


 

 




Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

But there definitely is a miss print in the MS 261 C-M owner's manual.

They say to set the shutter for pre heating the carburetor below +10°C(50F), then in the next paragraph it says to return the shutter to summer position at temperatures above +20°C (68F)

20°C/68F is a nice warm summer. day. ???


 

 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

realzed

That is what I recalled reading and found pretty odd to say the least Willard.. If that was truly the case we hardly ever would find days to use our saws around here in the 'Summer' setting as +20 degree highs constitute only a small number of our Summer days here some years!
Maybe Stihl needs to drop the following '0' off of their printed numbers or something?!  :)
Woke up to about 2" of wet new snow this morning - so I'd better get cracking open shutter or otherwise!
Lots of places all around us here have already experienced first Fall snow and we've been fortunate to have avoided the pleasure until now - guess we've been pretty lucky considering..
It gets a lot harder every year to see and have to deal with this crap - I need to win some money in sufficient amount to move away for 6 or more months!
I've lived, played, worked, and otherwise enjoyed the 'white stuff' for decades - but the novelty is long gone now certainly!

HolmenTree

My retired inlaws from Winnipeg hide away every January, February and March in a little fishing village a couple hours north of Puerta Vallerta, Mexico.  Along with 20 other retired couples from Flin Flon.

They got it down to a science and say they can live there alot cheaper then at home. Some of the couples buy Mexican cars and register insure  them with Mexican license plates. Store the vehicles there when they go back home.

My wife and I along with our kids will spend a couple weeks with them every other year. Sure is a nice way to get a break from the snow and cold.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

And just to keep this thread current here's a pic of a local Mexican cutting firewood for his beach front restaurant grille.


 

 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

DelawhereJoe

There's something fishy about that ms360.....
WD-40, DUCT TAPE, 024, 026, 362c-m, 041, homelite xl, JD 2510

realzed

After the latest storm a couple of weeks back - do your relatives even have a place to return to this Winter season?  I thought that was exactly where the storm was projected to hit hardest.
And the area around PV has been getting pretty sketchy over the past few years as the drug trade moves ever closer - A retire cop-friend says they and their friends basically stay within the controlled compound they rent in now every year except for the occasional trip out for supplies every few days and I figure he would know better than your average tourist..
My wife and I used to go away for a couple of weeks to warmer places to try and take a break from each Winter and attempt to try and make at least some of the time more fun - but after Mexico & Dominican Republic (both more than a few times each), Costa Rica, Florida, El Salvador, and others - we have sort of given it up as the travelling is often just not worth all of the hassles and bother as having older family members left behind without proper and timely care when we do go, is a getting to be an even bigger consideration now..
Sure makes for a long Winter from this time of year clear through to often mid April or even early May in some years though!

HolmenTree

Too much hassle and expense just to go for 2 weeks, but we're still working full salary and got kids to raise.
Retired and 3 months is short. They are in Ricon De Guibitios which is a sheltered large bay area with 2 large islands protecting the bay. Little damage there we heard.
They stay in a Mexican family run hotel and no drug problems there then there is in larger centers.
For many holidays we have walked all through the town and into the next at all hours of the night and never had a problem. Very safe there, the locals make sure of that for their tourist friends.....
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

I heard from some sources lately that the newest Husqvarna 550XP models have a lot of new improvements.

Now I don't want to go out and buy one of these to test :laugh: , but was hoping anyone that are using these newest 550XP's could share some of their experiences.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

John Mc

what are the improvements? Are any of them easily visible so you can tell whether you are holding a "new" one?
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

John Mc

Quote from: HolmenTree on October 31, 2018, 09:23:44 AM
I heard from some sources lately that the newest Husqvarna 550XP models have a lot of new improvements.

Now I don't want to go out and buy one of these to test :laugh: , but was hoping anyone that are using these newest 550XP's could share some of their experiences.
HolmenTree - did you ever hear from anyone who had tried the newer 550XP?  Any word on what the changes were made to the new ones?
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

HolmenTree

John, I heard about the upgraded 550XP from a MIA member here CR888.
I didn't ask him any questions on the site he posted on, hopefully Spike 60 will have some information for us.

Try tagging Spike 60. I would but don't know how to do it. 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

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