My New Dolmar 7910 got beat by a Stihl 460

[bigsbetter]

Well before buying my new 7910, I did a lot of searching and was liking the reviews on the Dolmar saws. And the 7910 was sopposed to smoke a 460. Maybe mine needs more break-in yet, but it still got smoked by my brothers 460. He has exhaust work done and carb adjustments, that's all. Hes running a semi chisel on a 20" bar and I had a brand new full chissel on my 24"bar. His chain was an older chain that he freshly sharpened....I don't know, I was a little shocked. He also has an 8 tooth sprocket to speed up chain speed. Before i bought the Dolmar, I had a Very nice and low hour 036 Pro with a 24" bar and his saw cut excactly twice as fast as mine while we were both cutting on the same log side by side! Is it his smaller bar size that's giving him the edge?

[nmurph]

I have never seen a 7900 referred to as "smoking" a 460, which if you look at the specs they are very similar.

You are comparing a new saw to a broken in saw. You are also comparing a saw with a stock exhaust to one with the opening enlarged. Those two things alone will tip the race in favor of the 460. He was also running an 8 pin on a short bar and the 460 has the power to pull the higher gearing.

You need to run 10 tanks through your saw, then set both saws up with the same bar/chain and sprocket, and repeat.

[The Ripper]

Next  show down, bring this to the chain fight. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brfKKehFtmw

[bigsbetter]

Ya...I'll run some more tanks through it. I only had 2 tanks in it when we raced.

[SawTroll]

I have never seen a 7900 referred to as "smoking" a 460, which if you look at the specs they are very similar.

You are comparing a new saw to a broken in saw. You are also comparing a saw with a stock exhaust to one with the opening enlarged. Those two things alone will tip the race in favor of the 460. He was also running an 8 pin on a short bar and the 460 has the power to pull the higher gearing.

You need to run 10 tanks through your saw, then set both saws up with the same bar/chain and sprocket, and repeat.

True, but the 7910 still isn't the 7900, the power spec went down quite a bit, for obvious reasons, and the weight spec went up....

[Andyshine77]

A 7900 is not going to smoke a 460. However you can't make a fair comparison with all the differences you listed. You also may have a tuning issue, we don't know if the 7900 was running rich or lean, same with the 460. All things have to be as equal as they can, when preforming a comparison or test of any kind.

Here is a video I made comparing a MS441 M-tronic, 046 and 7900. The 046 has a factory duel port exhaust, the 441 has a MM as well. The 7900 is bone stock, yet It's still ahead the other saws. Same bar, chain and sprocket size on each saw.

Here are the times. Take into consideration not every cut is made simply for the fastest time, light load, medium and heavy.

441.
12.23
13.02
13.89

046.
11.34
14.04
One cut was lost because I cut out.

7900.
10.93
11.05
11.78
12.17

http://youtu.be/WCp-QH6iFkQ

[ladylake]

 He must have had a lot of exhaust work done on that 460, it shouldn't cut twice as fast as a good running 036 either.    Steve

[7sleeper]

Stay calm my friend, no need to worry. Run 10-20 refills through it and as was mentioned see to it that all else is equal and then do a test.

7

[bigsbetter]

He must have had a lot of exhaust work done on that 460, it shouldn't cut twice as fast as a good running 036 either.    Steve

Well I'm not sure what all he did, but he bought the saw new about 6-7 years ago. He did his research and modified the saw about a year ago. It has the stock cylinder and and piston, he only did exhaust work and carb adjustments and 8 tooth sprocket. My 036 Pro was a really nice saw. 100% stock. It still had a hint of the factory white paint on the muffler. I just sold it on Ebay and got a premium price for it...$600.00 plus $19.00 shipping. Maybe someone on here bought it?

[Dave Shepard]

That's more than it cost new. :D

[ladylake]

A new 362 list for about $680, someone must be wearing stihl shorts to pay $600 for a 036.  Steve

[bigsbetter]

That's more than it cost new. :D

If you want to see it, you can go to ebay and do an 'advance search' and look at completed listings. I had it for 649.00 buy it now and took a best offer of 600.00. I had several offers in the 500's. It was the cleanest 036 Pro I've ever seen. Someone got a really nice saw, but with as much cutting I do, and knowing what kind of price those saws bring when in nice shape, I did't want to deminish it's value. So I sold it and added a couple hundred bucks and bought a brand new Dolmar. ;D