I get my Stihl parts at the same Dealer as for my John Deere backhoe...after a visit there, I come out in shock. That is why I bought a Farmertec Stihl 440 kit. Prices are insane for Stihl and John Deere. No wonder why the dealership building and grounds looks like a resort with even its own landscaped man made pond! Just check the price for OEM plastic vs Farmertec...more than just a large amount of difference. Clearly Stihl is not interested in selling parts. Plus they have to order just about every part you want and charge a shipping fee even though they probably have scheduled shipments coming in. Unreal...I will go with Farmertec before paying $50 for a single plastic cover.
I have been reading all these posts and am impressed with the builds you guys are doing but the key thing seems to be how do Farmertec bottom ends hold up. I have owned a band saw mill and would not want to be using any chainsaw to be making boards but can see the situation where it would work out for some. If the Farmertec bottom ends hold up simply by blowing out debris and using wd-40, it looks like you guys are really on to something. If the bottom ends do not hold up than you guys have shortened the life expectancy by building up the top ends...guess we will find out soon enough. Of course we can never be sure is just a few crap out because it seems it is a lottery to what quality seals, bearings, case and crank you get. I am not donating money for Farmertec engineers to buy beer as an option on their order form...they need to be drinking coffee.
That is great to hear. I should have assumed with the skill level and experience of the builders on here that they would only build up on good bottom ends. I just was not sure if you guys were building them up to see how far you could go. Seems like for true comfort a set of bearings and seals would be in order. Put your guys top end magic on that and the saw actually should have good longevity and performance that rivals and/0r beats a OEM saw. Of course that is ignoring the cost of your expertise and time. Hmmmm now you got me thinking. To buy another kit or get a whole saw and break it in under Farmertec "warranty" and then upgrade it. A whole 444 saw is only $40 more than the kit.
All the 660's are still running except for one, got left in a cow barn in crap and corroded itself to death. But for the most part the 660's are solid. The 372 clones that got put into real use ALL had bottom end failures, the ones in hobby use or occasional use survived. But the 660's even survived real production use for a couple of years until the folks got bored and went to new saws...but they didn't die. Could NEVER get the 361's to run right. Trying to rid myself of them. And the big 880 is doing fine, just so big and heavy I can't run it much or my back will blow out I guess interesting enough the opinions I formed back in 2016 2018 haven't changed much. 660's can be made into real saws, 372's good for toys, and I don't know about the rest. Seems like so much is still a moving target. I would stay with 660's should I go back to that frame of mind
Local logger is still running a clone 660
Wrist pins are different lengths from different manufacturers and designed to fit the piston they came with only
So no 288 clone for you?
