Echo pole saw 266

[Normzilla]

Hey band been awhile. Hope you are all well. Question is anyone ever have experience or trouble with a echo ppt 266 pole saw. Breaking the vast mount, that holds the unit together. I dropped saw broke one, order new parts went to put back together and cracked it. So another part ordered today. I have had great luck with my old echo pole saw and prior models. But this new one is put together a little different. So far I'm not overly impressed by comparison.

 

[Normzilla]

https://sleequipment.com/echo-ppt-266-pole-pruner.html. it's the black coupler looking piece forward of the u handle

 

[Normzilla]

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[Normzilla]

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[Woodpecker]

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[Woodpecker]

Makes me hope I don't break mine. If you need pics of it assembled I'd be happy to help out.

 

[Cerberus]

https://sleequipment.com/echo-ppt-266-pole-pruner.html. it's the black coupler looking piece forward of the u handle

Any luck? Seems they put the 2620 together same way....honestly I look at the cuff and think "How could it *not* snap here?" How much did you pay for replacement? My dealer was only $35 for the coupler, but I knew it'd snap again so I spent...#'s aren't important ;P....but I learned fiberglassing and I got a 2" conduit-pipe that I carved in-half, lengthwise, to act as a bracing so the unit's main force-point isn't that ridiculously-small coupler (with, what, 2" of the fiberglass-post seated in it??)
(note- this was something I got snapped-in-half for free, prior owner had tried glassing it but it failed/was ditched, powerhead&cutter were good so I couldn't ditch it...after like 6mo I finally just did it, if you're able to quickly&easily work metal I can't recommend strongly enough to make a smaller version of this "bracing", obviously for some people that is a huge undertaking but for others it's 20min in the shed)
[[no, am not pretending this is 'good work' or anything, simply that it worked ;D ]]
bottom-overlay goes halfway-under the loop handle, where a fiberglass-spacer(poured-to-fit) 'cushions' the bottom overlay against the bottom of the loop-handle. Using some poured-fiberglass spacers, and the pieces of the old, broken collar it'd came with, I was able to set "identical-height" spacers along the post, allowing me to basically remove most of the "force-buildup" at that collar! Also, since old collar was snapped and its skinny/bottom-half wasn't helping me w/ the overlay, I used it on the lower part of the post to further bolster things:

Then some reviewing to ensure everything was 'biting' properly(ie everything tight *excepting* where the overlay "bites" the coupler, it isn't super-tight there, idea is to allow that to do its job by significantly-dampening forces that'd hit it....also think my shoulder-strap and handle will make me less likely to let it swing-down too quickly which is what I'm guessing broke this initially IE it was extended and was coming-down quicker than the operator liked and they "stop cutter from hitting ground" but pole snaps..

Makes me hope I don't break mine. If you need pics of it assembled I'd be happy to help out.

Does the metal-casing on the bottom(and front) of powerhead get crazy-hot on yours? Mine gets almost too-hot-to-hold after only a few cuts, can't help think the engine//driveshaft connection is missing some heavy-grease somewhere, I've got marine-grease ready to go but no idea what to do To be clear I mean this entire bottom-metal-plating, the orange that runs from the handle to the black plastic 'foot'/bumper on the unit's bottom in this unit-upside-down picture:

 

[Cerberus]

Oh btw here's the OEM 266 guide I'd used https://www.echo-usa.com/getattachment/bb028282-a8f4-4a42-8c21-7d5ff6dd939f/PPT-266Hes_14_102314
There's 3 guides, depending on serial# (that^ is for any serial #'s starting w/ E205, there are 2 more guides available from the page 'above' that one on Echo's site, google would get you there easy )

More I look at this "hot spot" the more I am thinking "you are literally feeling an engine-overlay plating, or engine//shaft interfacing overlay, this is basically mid-way between ambient-temp and *exhaust* temp", though guess I would've figured for some plastic-overlay casing if that were the deal (although I guess that part of the unit is behind your hands/hips when in-use, so as long as it's not burning-to-the-touch (like a muff) then I imagine maybe it IS normal/OK for it to just be a super-hot area... would really love people's thoughts though, can't take it on a >3min real use at a time because of fear that, if it's friction heat from missing heavy-grease, that I may fry something I *coulda* lubed if I'd just opened it up 1st..

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Also still can't find carb-adjustment screws, so while I am gonna open the muff to at least remove *some* choking, I'm holding-off from full muff-modding and air-box-opening until I can fatten carb, would very much appreciate H&L locations(or carb-model so I can find it )

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On another note, while I'll leave-aside my larger/meta gripe that most of this equipment is engineered with FAR less air-flow-potential than it could/should be made with, for this specific model(ppt-266) there's the usual restricted air-box (this one does have a couple slits for air-induction, not a sealed-box like oh-so-many sub-30cc powerheads that're forced to pull air from-suction in their lil 'plastic coffins'!) but more curiously I found what appears to be a "heat-retention shield", a big metal plate that sits above the engine / under the casing's upper-plastics, I can understand them not wanting to fry the plastic up-top but this is hardly "an elegant solution" if it's what it looks like to me IE a literal "heat shield" that'll force upward heat to have to migrate-out sideways instead of upward as it'd like....here's a pic of the part close-up style, then the actual chart I screen-shot the close-up from, so you know what I mean...my instinct is to remove mine entirely and drill vent-holes on the upper plastic casing, maybe paint its inside with red Perma so it's less-likely to warp/burn-up at all, but wanna understand it I mean it can't truly just be their engineers' attempt at "proper heat-removal from powerhead"
Close-up of piece I mean (#8 here:



aaand the larger view of same pic, to show where #8 is...seems its purpose is strictly to prevent frying the upper plastic casing, at the expense of obnoxiously-impaired air-cooling of the powerhead :/

Would love people's thoughts on this, am going to start a more 'meta' thread on this because it's been pissing me off, some of my top-handles' air-boxes are literally sealed-coffins I mean the only air-inlet to the carb/air-filter "coffin" is that casing-gap at the H&L screw-port, I make "Frog Skinz" type air-filtered holes on all my saw's intakes which, along w/ muff modding, is usually essential IMO (wish I could find a good&'final-word' answer on "Does *any* front- or back-pressure benefit these types of 2-strokes, or would the block's optimal condition be one with NOTHING on the air-inlet or exhaust-outlet ports, just wide-open to the air so it can draw&expel air w/o any restrictions whatsoever?", think I'll try for an answer on StckExchange again if nobody here knows, am quite sure it is the case but want verification ;D

 

[Normzilla]

Thanks for all your in depth points. Darin at my saw shop says he doesn't have them come back broken. He fixed it again. But my fair and honest opinion is I will not buy ona again. My earlier 261 power primer is a better like saw. I bought one husqvarna at my full time job. That's what I'm buying from now on the Husqvarna pole saw. Honestly I'm the heat not sure. I can't keep it running long enough to use it for a while job. I have to much into it not to keep it. Going to buy a Husky and keep this for a spare.

 

[Cerberus]

Wait what do you mean too much into it? Like too many batteries already on-hand? Will certainly admit I only finished my 266 because of how much effort I'd already put into it, was painful realizing I was working on a dog of a project but even still it was a choice of wrapping it up or "cutting my losses", was under no delusion that it was an "efficient" use of effort to get a polesaw but the mere act of fixing it / getting it in use was big for me as it's just my 2nd real undertaking / attempt at a full restoration (my 1977 25d is still waiting, patiently, for my skills to get to where I can go complete him ;D )

Those Husqy lithium units look great and are what I'd get if buying only a lith polesaw (probably....there's 60/80V options out there so would need to compare more specs) but don't think you can really go wrong w/ husqy very often (or echo, almost ever! Stihl, however...), am definitely getting a lithium unit soon enough once I can justify the $$ on it (having a bit of trouble ATM) because the thought of a sub-10lbs polesaw is just enchanting I mean you can climb with it/maneuver in-canopy with something like that, the possibilities of a 9lbs, 11'+ polesaw in-canopy are just amazing!!