Are Saw Mods Mainstream ?

[MasterMech]

What is this chain you speak of?

He means the blade.

 

[Black Dog Chainsaw]

The liability that most don't think of or pay attention to is the EPA regs on the carbs. From what I understand most dealers are required to keep limiters or reinstall limiters when they are missing. I agree that most saws come from factory to lean to make it to a decent amount of usable hours. Seems like there is some ridiculous fine for removing limiters but how many of you pay attention to that? At the same time its comical how many AM manufactures sell carbs on ebay that don't come with the limiters...

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of saws wouldn't meet EPA standards after they have had muffler mods, carb adjustments, and/or port work. Then again EPA is only paying attention to new units being sold in the USA. Does anyone know someone that actually got fined for modding their saw (beyond getting clipped for not having a spark arrestor in)??

Hind-sight is that we are a very small group in a big pool of chainsaw operators/owners. ALSO we are talking USA market here and not UK/EU/AU/etc...

Legally I think there is always some liability when selling used equipment if something should break and cause an injury.

As for saw mods being "main stream"... I think saw mods are done on an overall very small percentage of saws for guys that know what they are buying. Most saws are bought and used in stock condition by owners that know nothing about "mods."

 

[junkman]

New chain is the way to go ,it will never be sharper than the factory does .

 

[Simondo]

The liability that most don't think of or pay attention to is the EPA regs on the carbs. From what I understand most dealers are required to keep limiters or reinstall limiters when they are missing. I agree that most saws come from factory to lean to make it to a decent amount of usable hours. Seems like there is some ridiculous fine for removing limiters but how many of you pay attention to that? At the same time its comical how many AM manufactures sell carbs on ebay that don't come with the limiters...

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of saws wouldn't meet EPA standards after they have had muffler mods, carb adjustments, and/or port work. Then again EPA is only paying attention to new units being sold in the USA. Does anyone know someone that actually got fined for modding their saw (beyond getting clipped for not having a spark arrestor in)??

Hind-sight is that we are a very small group in a big pool of chainsaw operators/owners. ALSO we are talking USA market here and not UK/EU/AU/etc...

Legally I think there is always some liability when selling used equipment if something should break and cause an injury.

As for saw mods being "main stream"... I think saw mods are done on an overall very small percentage of saws for guys that know what they are buying. Most saws are bought and used in stock condition by owners that know nothing about "mods."

Interesting post Nathan (Hope you dont mind me using your name) as getting a feel for how common the ported saw scene is in the US isn't easy from over here. Mostly its a "To order thing" in the UK and small scale. The perception is that its more usual .."Mainstream" in the US, or is it the fact that OPE is a concentrated group who mod saws. There are many on the forum ,Yourself included i believe who mod commercially so yours and there customer bace is of interest. My reference to legality was to see if there are known issues that folks have come across and your thoughts / observations with the EPA there are interesting.
Simon

 

[jakethesnake]

Seeing as how you don't have to run saws through any inspection I doubt very seriously you could face any consequence

 

[Black Dog Chainsaw]

Interesting post Nathan (Hope you dont mind me using your name) as getting a feel for how common the ported saw scene is in the US isn't easy from over here. Mostly its a "To order thing" in the UK and small scale. The perception is that its more usual .."Mainstream" in the US, or is it the fact that OPE is a concentrated group who mod saws. There are many on the forum ,Yourself included i believe who mod commercially so yours and there customer bace is of interest. My reference to legality was to see if there are known issues that folks have come across and your thoughts / observations with the EPA there are interesting.
Simon

There are a lot of guys concentrated online that mod saws and share that information. The fact is, most saw buyers from home owner to tree services mostly walk into and out of a store/dealership with stock saws. I would be surprised if more than 3% of Pro saws sold in US get modded. I do mostly stock saw work. I might pull a base gaskets, mod the mufflers, and properly adjust the carb. However, I don't port saws... Scratch that... I don't port saws for customers. I just don't want to deal with putting lots of time and effort into porting a saw just to see some idiot strait gas it. If someone asks me how to get more power from their saw... I tell them to keep the chain sharp and tune the carb correctly. Past that I send them to another saw modder or sell them something bigger.

That being said it's pretty easy to find a reliable porter in the USA to get good work done. Like SrCarr52, MMWS, Miller Modded, Tree Monkey, etc...

 

[sawfun]

My MMWS 088 looks and sounds stock, other than the sticker, nobody would know unless they had run a stock saw.