The Forestry Forum

Have 3 261s - one of them has consistently lower compression and is getting hard to start.  What am I looking at for a cylinder and piston replacement?

Remove the muffler and have a peek at the piston through the exhaust port to get an idea of condition. Maybe the port is plugged with carbon. With labour you would be looking at 60% of the price of a new saw.

If you can do the work yourself it is quite cost effective.  When my 261 was in need of a new piston and cylinder the quote I got from my local shop to fix it was within $200 cad of a new saw.   

Haven't done that level of saw work in 35+ years - there's probably YouTube videos to walk me through it though?

Any special tools?

Have you pulled the jug? Often you can simply do a piston and rings. If the jug simply has some transfer, that can be cleaned. Yes there are numerous vedeos out there to walk you through what is a pretty simple procedure. A ring compressor is the only special tool unless you would need to remove some transfer.

If you need parts don't overlook sponsor:  https://store.chainsawr.com/

My limited experience in looking for Stihl replacement jugs/pistons was: Chinese, Italian and OE sold @Stihl dealers only! (OE is from where?)  Prices go up as I listed. 

 

I would look for good, used OE first, then try the other alternatives.......declining eventually into Chinesium.

Kevin