Educate me - Solo 611.

[jjdlc]

Went to a big auction yesterday in hopes of replinishing my stock of saws to sell. Brought home a lot of odds and ends, mostly cheap stuff that sells well, and a few good wood cutting saws. Came across this pair of Solo 611 saws, and picked them up cheap.



I've heard of Solo brand, but don't think I've ever seen one before, don't think they ever had much market presence in this area. I googled them of course, but didn't find a lot of info, and what I found was a bit confusing. Most of the info was about the big twin 611 rather than these. They appear to be a 47cc, the oiler is built into the clutch cover. Acresinternet.com shows them to have been introduced in 1967, but that doesn't seem right, there are several things about the saws that seem a lot more modern than that, and I'm guessing these are a later version. For one thing the mix tag says 50:1 which is something that I didn't think came about till much later. The other thing that is a bit odd is the color scheme, all the pictures I see online are red and black, these are orange and black.

So anyone know the story on these? And the big question, what bar mount do they use, I haven't been able to find a listing for them, and of course haven't had a chance to experiment with any of my bar collection to see what might fit.

 

[KYsawman]

Went to a big auction yesterday in hopes of replinishing my stock of saws to sell. Brought home a lot of odds and ends, mostly cheap stuff that sells well, and a few good wood cutting saws. Came across this pair of Solo 611 saws, and picked them up cheap.

View attachment 189583

I've heard of Solo brand, but don't think I've ever seen one before, don't think they ever had much market presence in this area. I googled them of course, but didn't find a lot of info, and what I found was a bit confusing. Most of the info was about the big twin 611 rather than these. They appear to be a 47cc, the oiler is built into the clutch cover. Acresinternet.com shows them to have been introduced in 1967, but that doesn't seem right, there are several things about the saws that seem a lot more modern than that, and I'm guessing these are a later version. For one thing the mix tag says 50:1 which is something that I didn't think came about till much later. The other thing that is a bit odd is the color scheme, all the pictures I see online are red and black, these are orange and black.

So anyone know the story on these? And the big question, what bar mount do they use, I haven't been able to find a listing for them, and of course haven't had a chance to experiment with any of my bar collection to see what might fit.

I worked on one a few years ago, very similar to the stihl 08s and s10 in design seems to be a well built saw. I think they where very common in Europe.

 

[KYsawman]

I can’t remember but a member here that is from overseas sent me a copy of the service manual.

 

[stihlsolo]

Your two 611VA's look good, like not much used. There isn't much info on the earlier Solo's, and some of it is contradictory. Part of the problem is that Solo used 611 for the earlier twin as well as for these single cylinder ones. One source says the 611Va dates from 1967, another says from 1976. I've had two, one red one orange. Believe the earlier ones came in orange and black, until a company with name also starting in "S" complained. My orange one has serial number 20xx.

Sprocket should be .325. There's only one 8mm bar stud. There is a screw at the top of the side cover also, and maybe a long screw towards the back of the side cover, before cover can come off. My 611VA has a Solo 6900249 bar on (that is the Solo part number for the bar). The lever on the side cover is for the adjustable oil pump.

Carburetor linkage is a pain to work on, so getting to carb to clean it is not easy. Cleaned carb on the red one recently to then sell it as non-op, buyer later had it running.

A bad copy of a 611VA manual is at http://www.solo-germany.de/gba_download/gba_archiv/gba_auswahl_ie.html

Look down the list for "motorsaegen/chainsaw/...", then "alte dateien/old files" under "610VA/611VA". It's in German.

There was once an 611VA IPL online in German, don't know if it would still be there. Couldn't find it again.

 

[dahmer]

The Oregon bar/chain chart doesn’t show a listing for a Solo 611 bar pattern. Good looking saws.

 

[jjdlc]

I looked them over a little better this afternoon, I believe they maybe NOS, they don’t look to have ever had fuel or oil in the tanks. The one on the right has a little corrosion on the bottom plate, but otherwise looks brand new. The left one has had something corrosive spilled on it and the clutch side has some serious corrosion, probably what corroded the bottom of the other one. Neat looking saws for sure, I like the Oiler setup. I got them cheap enough. Still stewing over the Husqvarna 288 in pieces that I let get away.

Thanks for the info, I’ll see if I can find a cross reference for that bar number.

 

[Jimsz]

I picked one up two weeks ago that was listed on a Facebook marketplace. It's got a 40:1 label on it so may be an earlier saw than yours jjdlc. Got a Homelite C-51 (1967) from the same person and they came from AK too. The handle/throttle linkage and the way the carburator is sandwiched in there makes it a real challenge to work on, I've been into the handle four times and still can't get the throttle lock button to work (it worked before I messed with it). A carb kit got this one running and it sounds strong, carb is a Walbro WA 34 A. Put it to wood yesterday and I think it will be great after I touch the chain up. The slot in the bar for the stud is open at the back end. I can post a photo if that will help you.

 

[jjdlc]

I picked one up two weeks ago that was listed on a Facebook marketplace. It's got a 40:1 label on it so may be an earlier saw than yours jjdlc. Got a Homelite C-51 (1967) from the same person and they came from AK too. The handle/throttle linkage and the way the carburator is sandwiched in there makes it a real challenge to work on, I've been into the handle four times and still can't get the throttle lock button to work (it worked before I messed with it). A carb kit got this one running and it sounds strong, carb is a Walbro WA 34 A. Put it to wood yesterday and I think it will be great after I touch the chain up. The slot in the bar for the stud is open at the back end. I can post a photo if that will help you.

A pic would be awesome, model number of bar too if it's still on there. Sounds a bit like a Stihl style bar. Thats funny about the C-51, I picked up a CS-50 at the same sale. It's been a busy week, and I still haven't gotten to really look over what I bought, but I did look the 611s over well, and they are definitely new, have never had fuel or oil in them, and have never had a bar on them. May need a carb kit, not sure how well the diaghrams would hold up after 20+ years even if they never had gas on them.

 

[Jimsz]

#69 00 273N, 1850 8029 EX. Made in Canada

 

[Jimsz]

View attachment 190191 View attachment 190191 I don’t know if that’s the original bar or not. I am not getting any oil to the bar. The pump is driven off the sprocket but I don’t know if anything’s missing. Yours look like this?

 

[Jimsz]

I think that bent part of the spring steel circle is suppose to engage between the teeth of the sprocket and has worn too short. Guess I'll be making one. Solo doesn't show parts list for the 611.

 

[jjdlc]

I'll try to get pictures this afternoon. Like I said the two I have have never been ran, so should be able to get a good idea from it. I guess that's the downside to the design, you can't test the oiler with the cover off. Hoping things will slow down for me so I can try some bars on mine.

 

[stihlsolo]

I am not getting any oil to the bar.

Your oiler spring looks different, see photos. The spring part number is 00 73 227, the drum assembly that the spring is wound around is number 64 00 150. The drum is press fit onto a gear shaft. Even with these numbers Solo US won't be able to help, search in Germany.

The IPL that I have has a logo on it, apologize for quality after burning it out.

 

[Jimsz]

Thank you Stihlsolo, now that I see what it should look like I can see that mine is broken, missing the end with the loop. The pump works, I spun that drum with a Dremel and got oil out the discharge hole. I appreciate the part #'s but I'll try to make something that looks like your picture.

 

[jjdlc]

Stihlsolo beat me to posting the pics, thanks for the IPL.

 

[jjdlc]

Looking at the design, it doesn't really look like there should be that much stress on the spring that drives the oiler. My guess looking at yours, someone probably managed to break the spring, maybe got it bound up or something, then tried to rig it to make it work.

I'm a little annoyed, I went looking for a bar in my collection today, but I guess I've gotten rid of all my old small Stihl bars. I'm almost positive a small mount Stihl bar (8mm) will work, just need to verify the oil holes line up.

 

[Jimsz]

I will try to upload a picture of the spring thing I made. The loop fits between the sprocket teeth but not deep enough to interfere with the drivers.

 

[Jimsz]

It worked!

 

[jjdlc]

View attachment 191772 It worked!

Awesome, always love to see a little ingenuity at work. Too much throwing stuff away these days.

 

[Jimsz]

My 611 starts easy cold but after a few seconds goes rich and soon floods out. I have a new kit in the Walbro WA-34A, pop off pressure is 12 psi and reset is 8 psi. Fuel continues to drip from the carb throat until I crack the cap and release pressure in the tank. Fuel tank pressure seems to override the needle. Is the problem in the tank vent or a weak needle spring?