FarmerTec 660 "Kit" - What's the latest on quality?

[gurwald]

Junk, you are better off buying the cheapest oregon.

Versacut is nice hard rails and super light.

They get a little sloppy do they? The holzforma bars any good? Might order a few on my next one. Having trouble finding any bars longer than 20" locally unless I go to the stihl dealer.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I bought 1 archer bar for my pro mac 800 and have maybe 7 tanks of mix through it, the bar already has a trough on the bottom and I'm a frequent flipper of bars.
I personally prefer the Oregon power match bars and stihl.

 

[Nutball]

Huztl is junk, actually Archer and any other Chinese laminated bar is junk. The Archer/Cross solid bars with replaceable tip are almost Oregon quality except for the oversized gauge. Best bet is to stick with Oregon or better. I still avoid Oregon laminated bars. Stihl and newer Husqvarna laminated bars are very good.

 

[Absolution]

They do have some solid bars now which people said we're pretty decent. I haven't bought one though. I've had one archer and it wore horribly.

 

[Fleethirte]

So I ordered a Farmertech and a Raisman crankshaft.
around 30 dollars more for the Raisman.
When I got the Raisman in the mail and pulled it out I thought I was getting a repackaged marked up Farmertech. But if you look at the pictures there is a difference.
farmertech is the darker one.
Raisman has obvious more machining done to it. Could just be a machined Farmertech but it is a better product. Seems to move smoother as well. Which could just be do to more evidence of oil on it.

 

[Absolution]

So I ordered a Farmertech and a Raisman crankshaft.
around 30 dollars more for the Raisman.
When I got the Raisman in the mail and pulled it out I thought I was getting a repackaged marked up Farmertech. But if you look at the pictures there is a difference.
farmertech is the darker one.
Raisman has obvious more machining done to it. Could just be a machined Farmertech but it is a better product. Seems to move smoother as well. Which could just be do to more evidence of oil on it.

I can say the crank that's in the blue saws look more like the raisman (machine work included) the. Again my blue saws are older and it may have changed recently.

 

[Bjorn]

So I ordered a Farmertech and a Raisman crankshaft.
around 30 dollars more for the Raisman.
When I got the Raisman in the mail and pulled it out I thought I was getting a repackaged marked up Farmertech. But if you look at the pictures there is a difference.
farmertech is the darker one.
Raisman has obvious more machining done to it. Could just be a machined Farmertech but it is a better product. Seems to move smoother as well. Which could just be do to more evidence of oil on it.

Hello. Is there any weight difference betwen the crankshafts?

 

[drf256]

The darker FT crank looks forged to me, and the lighter RM cast. I actually think the FT looks better, but looks aren’t everything.

 

[MustangMike]

IMO, the important stuff is what we can't see. Are the bearings any better, or clearances more consistent in one vs the other.

I guess the only way to know is to test them.

FYI, I have had good luck with the farmtec cranks running good oil at 40:1 and changing the wrist pin bearing.

 

[smokey7]

Soak a scrappy bearing in good oil you will be amazed what will keep going. When you are skinny on oil a low quality or hurt bearing shows its smoke.

 

[MustangMike]

Exactly, I have no delusions that the AM bearings are of OEM quality, but they seem to do their job with good oil and mix ratio.

 

[Jason628]

I'd be interested to see what the runout is on these am cranks. May have to find or build myself a truing stand and possibly a lead hammer.

 

[MustangMike]

That type of testing is beyond me, I just try to figure out what works and go with it.

 

[Fleethirte]

Sorry just saw this. I will
Weigh then and get back to you!

 

[Fleethirte]

So new crank has been installed.
After case screws were tightened there was drag on the crank. Used feeler gauges and the hammer technique as advised to center the crank and obviously drag on the crank was gone, it rolled smooth. However, snugged up case screws again for conscience sake. Now there was drag on crank again..... tapped her a little bit and re centered.... all good again.

However if tightening case screws moved the crank , how on earth will crank stay centered while putting flywheel and clutch on.
Also how will it stay centered while you have a bar chain on her tuning 13,000 RPMs.....

 

[Jason628]

So new crank has been installed.
After case screws were tightened there was drag on the crank. Used feeler gauges and the hammer technique as advised to center the crank and obviously drag on the crank was gone, it rolled smooth. However, snugged up case screws again for conscience sake. Now there was drag on crank again..... tapped her a little bit and re centered.... all good again.

However if tightening case screws moved the crank , how on earth will crank stay centered while putting flywheel and clutch on.
Also how will it stay centered while you have a bar chain on her tuning 13,000 RPMs.....

I think eventually it will find its happy place after a few heat cycles. Of the two I have put together they have had very light drag when fully assembled. Probably just the seals. I misplaced my feeler gauges and used a piece of folded cardboard that was close to the correct thickness on my last one. I assemble the case with gasket and no crank and measure the width directly above the bearings. I then measure the crank width and subtract the difference and divide it by 2. I install the crank with a shim or feeler gauge of that thickness on the clutch side until it is snug and then install the flywheel side and tighten my puller until the cases are tight together and sealant squishes out a little. Then tighten my bolts. My puller pushes on the case on the flywheel side. Not ideal but, havnt had an issue yet. Ideally you would want one that pushes on the inner races. If it feels tight I crank on the puller a little and it fixes it. Most of that stuff I learned on this great forum. When you tighten the case screws it is putting a sideways load on the bearing and creating drag because the cases are moving closer together. Drive one of the inner races in a little and it should fix the bind.

 

[Jason628]

Finally got my 30" bar the other day. Was thinking about going big bore and pop up on my other kit. Was curious if it is worth it or not.

 

[Fleethirte]

I installed seals this morning. Crank does not spin as easily now.... is that typical?

 

[MustangMike]

Finally got my 30" bar the other day. Was thinking about going big bore and pop up on my other kit. Was curious if it is worth it or not.

My ported Big Bore runs VG, but it is not my best running Asian 660 (the two strongest ones were ported Cross cylinders).

I installed seals this morning. Crank does not spin as easily now.... is that typical?

Yes, that is normal.

Re: Centering the Crank - I don't measure, just took the advice of one of our top buildings and gently tap it back and forth till it spins freely. Seems to work well, and I agree with the statement that the running saw will find the sweet spot. Hopefully the bore is lined up with the center.

 

[Jason628]

I installed seals this morning. Crank does not spin as easily now.... is that typical?

They tend to drag a bit when they are new. Hopefully you were careful on the clutch side and didn't lose your spring. A piece of plastic or the coke can thing works good to get the seal past the lip on the crank.