Stihl 090

[snobdds]

I just picked up a Stihl 090 for a decent price considering it came with a newer bar and extra chains.  It runs and seems to be a complete saw.   8)

I want to pick up a carb kit for it but I am getting some conflicting info.  From what I see, it takes a Tillotson Rk-83.  The Rk-83 kit looks almost exactly the same as the kit my McCulloch super 250 took rk-88.  This made me think, I have a spare tillotson Hl63 carb that has no governor on it.  In theory, can the two carbs be interchanged?  

I have some massive cottonwoods at the ranch and finally found a saw that can handle these massive trees.  I was holding out for a McCulloch Sp125, but no-one took my money.  This 090 came up for sale by me, of all places.  It's a man's saw, that's for sure. 

[esteadle]

Is there something wrong with the carb that's on it? 

I inherited a 090 and bought a knockoff carb. because I thought that was why it wouldn't start.

I got it from amazon
YOFMOO Carburetor Carb Compatible for Stihl 070 090 090G 090AV LB-S9 H GCA52 Tillotson HL-324A HL-244A HL324A HL244A 1106-120-0605


Turns out the original carb just needed a bit more cleaning and few more tries and then it worked great. Still works great.
The replacement carb is gathering dust actually.

[Real1shepherd]

Easy to plug a Tilly with a governor. Just make sure you tach it so you're not getting crazy high rpm's for that particular saw crank.

Kevin

[snobdds]

Is there something wrong with the carb that's on it?

I inherited a 090 and bought a knockoff carb. because I thought that was why it wouldn't start.

I got it from amazon
YOFMOO Carburetor Carb Compatible for Stihl 070 090 090G 090AV LB-S9 H GCA52 Tillotson HL-324A HL-244A HL324A HL244A 1106-120-0605


Turns out the original carb just needed a bit more cleaning and few more tries and then it worked great. Still works great.
The replacement carb is gathering dust actually.

The current carb seems fine.  I just like to have a spare kit around just in case.  I don't like to put aftermarket carbs on, they just never work.  I waited over a year for a tillotson HL63 to come up on Ebay for the super 250.  The old carb was good but the bolt for holding the air cover on was stripped out and leaked fuel.  This one might work for the 090 as I can just seal up that bolt hole. 

[snobdds]

Easy to plug a Tilly with a governor. Just make sure you tach it so you're not getting crazy high rpm's for that particular saw crank.

Kevin

This has a tilly with the long venturi and a choke engagement type governor, linkages and not a plug.  I'll take it apart and see if the 63 style carb will work with the way the throttle and choke work.   Yeah, I know not to go much above 9k, if at all. 
I have a cottonwood that is actually 4 trees in one with a base of at least 15 feet around.  I bought this saw for this one tree.  But to be honest, I have no idea how to drop a tree with 4 huge distinct trunks.  

[Real1shepherd]

I drop them all the time for customers...they are 'problem' trees and usually 100yr old+ with multiple trunks. It can get involved. I usually cut a window in the back cut for a hydraulic jack used with very thick plates(been looking for a Silvey tree jack for 15yrs). I also set my truck out of the line of fire and hook up a tow strap high up in the tree and chain back to the truck(no truck winch). I use a stout come-a-long near the truck and apply some minimal tension as I stack my wedges and work the jack. It's nice if you have a helper.

When they hit the ground because of the multiple trunks, some trunks will break and branches are driven deep into the ground. It's a buckin' mess to work all the trunks. Sometimes better to cut one away from the main trunk and haul it outa the way before bucking. They're all different. Around here, they average 5-6' diameter at the butt cut.

Do you have enough meat to install a thinwall threaded steel insert in that Tilly? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kevin

[snobdds]

This is my problem tree.  

 

[snobdds]

I think dynamite is my best bet ;D.  Once on the ground, I can just cut it up. 

[hedgerow]

Snobdds   Got to love those old cottonwoods. I have dug a bunch of ones out like the one in your picture with a D7 Cat no fun. Need a guy with a 60,000 or 70,000 pound track hoe for a few days and clean the farm up. About twenty years ago I hired a local guy with Stihl 90 and a five foot bar to take down three huge single trunk cotton woods in our farm yard. He had a ladder bucket style truck and he went up and cut some branches out of some of these trees that were as big as one of your multi trunks. We used a very long cable hooked to the Cat to make sure they went the way we wanted them to. If they went the wrong way my house would have been done. This guy was probably close to seven foot tall as I am six foot and he made me feel short. He wheeled that 90 around with a five foot bar like I would my 461 with a 20 inch bar. It was a big job to clean all those trees up. I ground on those stump for a long time to get rid of them. Good luck with the project and stay safe. 

[Real1shepherd]

This is my problem tree.  

 

Yuck....you essentially have no base trunk. I'd treat each trunk as a separate tree. For safety, you should plunge in for your back cut and leave some holding wood near the back bark.....take that last.

All those Cottonwoods and Maples around here have a decent main trunk to deal with. That tree was lazy....just sucked up water and immediately jutted out multiple trunks. Truly a 'trashy' volunteer Cottonwood.

I have a rural wine customer who has a lot of property down on the river. He's got the biggest single trunk Cottonwoods I've ever seen. It's almost like old days when I was loggin' for scale....except they're Cottonwoods. If the old ones aren't taken, they come down in bad storms and sometimes into the river. Almost always take out some fencing I built for him.
  
Kevin

[Al_Smith]

Hang tight Willard will come along some time .He's an 090 guy .I've operated a few which are powerful and heavy but that's about all I can say about them .

[snobdds]

Hang tight Willard will come along some time .He's an 090 guy .I've operated a few which are powerful and heavy but that's about all I can say about them .

I have actually read some of his posts on the 090.  I am a little curious about what he means about wrapping the governor spring one more time.  I don't know if that totally disables the governor or just makes it mostly inoperable. 
I just ordered a 60 inch Stihl bar and 3 chains for it.   I see some cottonwood cutting in my future. 

[sawguy21]

He is talking about coaxing more rpm's, the saw is a torque monster but not a speed demon. Leave the governor alone unless you know what you are doing. 

[Al_Smith]

Since this conversation has came along I looked up the specs .They came from a Stihl service manual on micro fiche film .It gives mean torque taken at ,5,000 RPM with max RPMS with governed speed at 8,000 RPM .About 8.5 HP .I've heard it said they can handle over10,000 but that's only hear say .From my perspective these are Clysdesdales  not quarter horses  .I'd well imagine if you leave these old war horses alone they'd likely run forever. 

[snobdds]

Since this conversation has came along I looked up the specs .They came from a Stihl service manual on micro fiche film .It gives mean torque taken at ,5,000 RPM with max RPMS with governed speed at 8,000 RPM .About 8.5 HP .I've heard it said they can handle over10,000 but that's only hear say .From my perspective these are Clysdesdales  not quarter horses  .I'd well imagine if you leave these old war horses alone they'd likely run forever.

It seems to run good right now, but I haven't put a bar on it yet.  I don't think I will remove the governor.  
I am at 7K feet above sea level so every two stroke needs to be ran a little leaner than others do at lower elevation.  I just don't know how the choke/governor works yet with the need to lean it out a little since we have lower oxygen levels up here. 
I will play around with it and I might just leave it alone and see how it goes. 

[sawguy21]

It has a unique system, an air vane governor that controls the choke. The spring tension is easily adjustable and some like @HolmenTree apparently can't leave it alone. ;D With a sharp .404 chain you won't be disappointed.

[HolmenTree]

It has a unique system, an air vane governor that controls the choke. The spring tension is easily adjustable and some like @HolmenTree apparently can't leave it alone. ;D With a sharp .404 chain you won't be disappointed.

I'm back , gone so long I had to tap in my password.
The good old 090AV (my second one bought from brand new) was a great workhorse. Never had the cylinder off and a few years back sold it with the 36" and 60" to young guy who I'm sure it's doing some profitable milling for him.

When I commented about wrapping the spring around the govenor vane shaft and locking its tail back onto the toothed adjustment ramp.  What I meant was the govenor vane now can't move during normal operation and the choke still functions properly.
Proper routine of maintaining the H & L carb adjustment screws is paramount! We all know these solid intake mount carbs do vibrate the screws out, which is a better thing then them turning in.
But that's where mistakes are made adjusting too lean, hopefully practice makes perfect before burning up the saw.

I milled without a governor with my 090 many hundreds of board feet in oversize spruce, tamarack and birch mostly. Spruce makes good structural lumber , tamarack great shoreline dock beams with no need for preservatives for ecological purposes.
Birch makes great furniture and wall coverings.
But the greatest work the 090 did was several months 12 hours a day 5 days a week cutting unmarketable cull 54" diameter Kraft paper rolls in half for the local pulp and paper mill.
This SPX SPK kraft paper mostly made for cement bags was the toughest thing I ever cut. Over a mile of paper in a roll. 14 feet wide.
The forklift operator would then dump the half pieces into the
re-pulper to make new paper. They collected a warehouse of these cull rolls over the years and wasn't profitable to sell at a lower grade.

With no govenor and a quick touch up with the file on the 5 foot loop of harvester chain after every cut, burning 5 gallons of mixed gas and using  a gallon of bar oil a day.
Running WOT for 5 minutes for every single cut the saw never gave me a problem.

Once when the paper roll and debris caught fire and the saw was stuck in the cut with wedges hammered in on the top it was getting barbequed.
Luckily my partner grabbed the fire hose inside the mill door.
The foreman took me to the laboratory to find some vinyl 1/4" hose for a new fuel line. Some electrical tape recovered the burnt off rubber of the spark plug cable.
I had a spare copper mesh air filter to replace the melted vinyl one .
We were back cutting within an hour.
Luckily at the time Stihl Canada still had new 090 top covers with badges and rewind covers in stock along with top handle rubber hose and fuel caps.
Looked like a brand new saw again.


 

[snobdds]

It has a unique system, an air vane governor that controls the choke. The spring tension is easily adjustable and some like @HolmenTree apparently can't leave it alone. ;D With a sharp .404 chain you won't be disappointed.

I'm back , gone so long I had to tap in my password.
The good old 090AV (my second one bought from brand new) was a great workhorse. Never had the cylinder off and a few years back sold it with the 36" and 60" to young guy who I'm sure it's doing some profitable milling for him.

When I commented about wrapping the spring around the govenor vane shaft and locking its tail back onto the toothed adjustment ramp.  What I meant was the govenor vane now can't move during normal operation and the choke still functions properly.
Proper routine of maintaining the H & L carb adjustment screws is paramount! We all know these solid intake mount carbs do vibrate the screws out, which is a better thing then them turning in.
But that's where mistakes are made adjusting too lean, hopefully practice makes perfect before burning up the saw.

I milled without a governor with my 090 many hundreds of board feet in oversize spruce, tamarack and birch mostly. Spruce makes good structural lumber , tamarack great shoreline dock beams with no need for preservatives for ecological purposes.
Birch makes great furniture and wall coverings.
But the greatest work the 090 did was several months 12 hours a day 5 days a week cutting unmarketable cull 54" diameter Kraft paper rolls in half for the local pulp and paper mill.
This SPX SPK kraft paper mostly made for cement bags was the toughest thing I ever cut. Over a mile of paper in a roll. 14 feet wide.
The forklift operator would then dump the half pieces into the
re-pulper to make new paper. They collected a warehouse of these cull rolls over the years and wasn't profitable to sell at a lower grade.

With no govenor and a quick touch up with the file on the 5 foot loop of harvester chain after every cut, burning 5 gallons of mixed gas and using  a gallon of bar oil a day.
Running WOT for 5 minutes for every single cut the saw never gave me a problem.

Once when the paper roll and debris caught fire and the saw was stuck in the cut with wedges hammered in on the top it was getting barbequed.
Luckily my partner grabbed the fire hose inside the mill door.
The foreman took me to the laboratory to find some vinyl 1/4" hose for a new fuel line. Some electrical tape recovered the burnt off rubber of the spark plug cable.
I had a spare copper mesh air filter to replace the melted vinyl one .
We were back cutting within an hour.
Luckily at the time Stihl Canada still had new 090 top covers with badges and rewind covers in stock along with top handle rubber hose and fuel caps.
Looked like a brand new saw again.

I haven't been able to cut down any cottonwoods yet to try the saw out on.  It's been a windy April here in Wyoming and May is following April closely. .  
I plan on trying out the saw with the governor still hooked up and see how it does.  If drives me crazy, I will lean on you to see how you wrapped the wire to delete the governor.  

[HolmenTree]

It has a unique system, an air vane governor that controls the choke. The spring tension is easily adjustable and some like @HolmenTree apparently can't leave it alone. ;D With a sharp .404 chain you won't be disappointed.

I'm back , gone so long I had to tap in my password.
The good old 090AV (my second one bought from brand new) was a great workhorse. Never had the cylinder off and a few years back sold it with the 36" and 60" to young guy who I'm sure it's doing some profitable milling for him.

When I commented about wrapping the spring around the govenor vane shaft and locking its tail back onto the toothed adjustment ramp.  What I meant was the govenor vane now can't move during normal operation and the choke still functions properly.
Proper routine of maintaining the H & L carb adjustment screws is paramount! We all know these solid intake mount carbs do vibrate the screws out, which is a better thing then them turning in.
But that's where mistakes are made adjusting too lean, hopefully practice makes perfect before burning up the saw.

I milled without a governor with my 090 many hundreds of board feet in oversize spruce, tamarack and birch mostly. Spruce makes good structural lumber , tamarack great shoreline dock beams with no need for preservatives for ecological purposes.
Birch makes great furniture and wall coverings.
But the greatest work the 090 did was several months 12 hours a day 5 days a week cutting unmarketable cull 54" diameter Kraft paper rolls in half for the local pulp and paper mill.
This SPX SPK kraft paper mostly made for cement bags was the toughest thing I ever cut. Over a mile of paper in a roll. 14 feet wide.
The forklift operator would then dump the half pieces into the
re-pulper to make new paper. They collected a warehouse of these cull rolls over the years and wasn't profitable to sell at a lower grade.

With no govenor and a quick touch up with the file on the 5 foot loop of harvester chain after every cut, burning 5 gallons of mixed gas and using  a gallon of bar oil a day.
Running WOT for 5 minutes for every single cut the saw never gave me a problem.

Once when the paper roll and debris caught fire and the saw was stuck in the cut with wedges hammered in on the top it was getting barbequed.
Luckily my partner grabbed the fire hose inside the mill door.
The foreman took me to the laboratory to find some vinyl 1/4" hose for a new fuel line. Some electrical tape recovered the burnt off rubber of the spark plug cable.
I had a spare copper mesh air filter to replace the melted vinyl one .
We were back cutting within an hour.
Luckily at the time Stihl Canada still had new 090 top covers with badges and rewind covers in stock along with top handle rubber hose and fuel caps.
Looked like a brand new saw again.

I haven't been able to cut down any cottonwoods yet to try the saw out on.  It's been a windy April here in Wyoming and May is following April closely. .  
I plan on trying out the saw with the governor still hooked up and see how it does.  If drives me crazy, I will lean on you to see how you wrapped the wire to delete the governor.  

It's like night and day more power and speed in the cut running a 090 with a deleted governor.  
If you with a file regularly touch up the chain at the stump and get that high speed break tone set just right you'll never go back with a stock running 090.

[Al_Smith]

I can relate to a saw catching a fire as I did it with a Husky 2100 CD I had rigged a half-fast fuel line on .I saved it and finally found an OEM fuel line for it before I used it again .Once is enough of that nonsense for me .

[HolmenTree]

I can relate to a saw catching a fire as I did it with a Husky 2100 CD I had rigged a half-fast fuel line on .I saved it and finally found an OEM fuel line for it before I used it again .Once is enough of that nonsense for me .

Al, before the paper mill hired me to cut those paper Rolls they had a couple employees cut them length wise in layers with Xacto knives at the re pulper infeed .
What a chore that must have been. Like unrolling a roll of toilet paper a mile long.
The forklift brought me one of those rolls with just the first few outer layers cut. Well it didn't take long for the 090's hot front exhaust outlet to ignite that paper. 
And a paper fire is quick and hot and when the paper shavings caught fire on the ground under the saw things happened fast until the fire hose came.
The 090 has the carb exposed to the outside air under it's open top cover where the fire can easily get in there. 
Of course there is virtually no plastic on a a 090 Stihl besides the fuel cap and plastic hand guard.  
Didn't take the paint long to burn off the alloy top cover and the rewind housing cover while the saw was still running drawing the flames and heat inwards.
:D

[Al_Smith]

In my case it was my fault .The big Husky was a west coast hot rod with a vee stack and a K and N filter .I had the filter off and it must have belched a bit because it does have a large bore Tillotson HS carb .Poof it was afire that fast . Could have been worse .