saga of the 028

[iffy]

You ever have a piece of equipment you really got attached to? I know, dumb. I bought a Stihl 028AV back when they first hit the market. Burned wood until just a few years ago, mostly Osage Orange. Went through many bars and chains, couple sets of mounts, backed over it once, and it bit me a few times. Loved that saw. Notice the past tense.
Awhile back I went to town to exchange an O2 bottle. Had the bottle, 028, and a milk crate full of tools in the back of the pickup. While going down the driveway, heard a thump, looked in the mirror saw nothing amiss. One of life's mysteries I guessed. I only live 4 miles from town, and when I got to the welding supply place I found my tailgate down, O2 bottle, chainsaw, and milk crate gone. The thump was the tailgate falling open. DanG!
Ran straight back home. Found the O2 bottle in the ditch, the milk crate at the end of the driveway, and no chainsaw. DanG! Reported it to the sheriff's office, but not much hope there.
A few years back I bought an O28 basket case with a good Stihl case for $20. Figured the case was worth that. I dug out the saw and inventoried parts. Piston and cylinder looked good, but missing a lot of screws, starter pawl, air cleaner and cover, etc. Combed ebay for those parts, but much too pricey. Found an old O28WB at a local dealer and gave him $50. It was a basket case also.
Married the two and tried to start it. Would fire if I shot gas in the carb. Put a carb kit in. Now it would start, run a few seconds, would not accelerate, then die. Put the kit in the other carb. Same result. Checked compression, 100 lb. Not great, but should run. Checked impulse hose and fuel hose, both ok. Found a mud dauber nest in the muffler. Knocked that out, no change. Tore the carb apart more times than I want to admit. No change. Took the muffler apart again, and found small pieces of mud. Where did those come from? Started it without the muffler, ran great. Looked at the muffler again and found the baffle plugged with mud. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Cleaned the mud out and it ran great.
Told the missus I finally figured out the saw and went out and ran a tank of gas through. Ran pretty good until the tank was almost empty. Refilled the tank from a boat gas can that was the same mix. Wouldn't start. Dumped the gas, mixed fresh, refillied it, wouldn't start. No spark. DanG.
Took a lunch break. Came back and fiddled with the coil, got spark, started it up. Ran a few minutes and died. No spark. Tried another coil, but it was shaped different, I think off of an 026. No spark. DanG.
Took the points type coil and flywheel off of the WB and put on the AV. Since I didn't have any way to set the points, I left them out and wired in an electronic trigger that I had bought when trying to resurrect my 056. Started on first pull.
Am going to run a few tanks through it before I find a permanent place to mount the trigger. Sure feels good to have an 028 back.  8)

[HolmenTree]

That's a great story iffy!
But I was waiting for the drama part about when you matched the serial # of one of these saws to your original one that fell out of your pickup. :D

[thecfarm]

Holmen,you too.  :D  Good luck with it. It keeps giving you problems and you keep finding solutions. I found a saw once in the middle of the road. I was thinking a sign at the local corner store would find it's owner. When along came the owner. I knew him. He had it on the tail gate and they wanted to go somewheres and took the truck with the saw on the tail gate. When he got on the road the saw fell off. He came to many miles up the road raced back. He saw me standing there with it and really stepped on it and saw it was me. Good thing it was a back road,not much traffic.

[iffy]

I called "swap shop" with my story the next day, thinking if someone who knew me heard my name they might be more likely to give it back. Or not. I live off hwy 77 which is a well traveled highway, so it probably went to a stranger.

[Jim Spencer]

I have a 066, 029,and a 028 which is the nicest saw I have ever owned and I have owned about a dozen in my 76 years.
I hope it outlasts me.

[Al_Smith]

I have an 028 also .It runs okay but I'm going to pep it up just a tad when I get a chance .

[lumberjack48]

  We were logging nice swamp Spruce, i hired my son-in-law to fell for use. He had a 028 Boss, he fell 40 cords a day with it [400 trees]. At the time we were using Husky 266's, i had to admit the 028 was a nice handily saw and got the job done.
  Later on i went with Stihl saws, and i was a hardcore Husky man, as you see in my pic.

[Jiles]

I am attached to a Husqvarna 40 chainsaw that I bought new in, I think, in 1981. It has never failed me in all these years. I would be afraid to guess how many hours the saw has been run. No part replacement except the consumables.
Strange thing about this saw is that gas has to be FRESH!!
Many times it would not run right with the same gas that I use in other equipment. Several years ago, I MISPLACED this saw and it was not found for about two years. It had fallen off a bale of hay in my barn loft, and I assumed it had been stolen.
When I got down to my last bales of hay, I was thrilled to find it.
I cleaned the carb. and installed fresh gas and used it!
Even with todays saws--this little saw still impresses me of how powerful, light and quiet it is.
What I call" OLD BUT GOOD"