How many times

[Jimmy in NC]

7 months ago I did a full rebuild, OEM, on a MS440. It is a tree service saw. The way they run saws is disheartening but in 7 months they have blown the PTO side bearing out. It is a high hour saw .... got some thread holes repaired, etc.

How many times do you rebuild a saw or when do you tell them it just isn't worth it any more? Inevitably the more times it comes apart and goes together everything is wearing.

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[Termitebuffet]

I've done one tree service 372xp ,3 times over about 6 years ,they run the piss out of it ...

 

[Aciera]

Once it's off the lot.....

 

[Lee H]

As long as it's repairable and they don't mind the bill, just keep on fixin.
Everything is repairable just depends on how much someone wants to spend.

 

[Stihlbro]

Being a former business owner, looking at it from a tax purpose, a business has to decide at what point Is the repair worth fixing. In other words, take a $900 dollar saw, get thru the first couple years with normal maintence verses an overhaul at half the price isn't bad. It's when the repair exceeds the value is when it becomes questionable. Tax write off or expenses.? If I could get 3 years it was a time to upgrade.
There is an exception to all equipment. Sadly, most dealers in this area look to sell new products,which I understand from their point of view.

 

[Termitebuffet]

As long as it's repairable and they don't mind the bill, just keep on fixin.
Everything is repairable just depends on how much someone wants to spend.

Troof ^^^^

 

[Lee H]

I got ya Troof ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[spencerpaving]

Lee that saw just got waay more Badass!

 

[BuckthornBonnie]

Being a former business owner, looking at it from a tax purpose, a business has to decide at what point Is the repair worth fixing. In other words, take a $900 dollar saw, get thru the first couple years with normal maintence verses an overhaul at half the price isn't bad. It's when the repair exceeds the value is when it becomes questionable. Tax write off or expenses.? If I could get 3 years it was a time to upgrade.
There is an exception to all equipment. Sadly, most dealers in this area look to sell new products,which I understand from their point of view.

Good points. Now if it's a personal saw of a beloved model... well, isn't it immortal? Lol.

 

[Stihlbro]

Good points. Now if it's a personal saw of a beloved model... well, isn't it immortal? Lol.

It all depends on how deep your pockets are.

 

[drf256]

I'd say if the structural integrity of the saw is maintained and the plating is still fine, a saw can be rebuilt in perpetuity. No reason it couldn't. The only obstacle being cost.

 

[Jimmy in NC]

Guess I gotta pop the top and see of the jug survived..

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[Angelr]

I would say that the determining factor is a piece of high value, when the whole is worn, I understand a crankcase or a crankshaft. Here professionals usually change it once a year.

 

[stihl_head1982]

7 months ago I did a full rebuild, OEM, on a MS440. It is a tree service saw. The way they run saws is disheartening but in 7 months they have blown the PTO side bearing out. It is a high hour saw .... got some thread holes repaired, etc.

How many times do you rebuild a saw or when do you tell them it just isn't worth it any more? Inevitably the more times it comes apart and goes together everything is wearing.

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I've considered all this as well. Many good answers have already been given. After scratching my head and thinking on it a bit -- are the bearing pockets loose? What other facets can you see that make you ask: "Is it really worth it?"

 

[earlthegoat2]

Aside from your specific problem with this 440 and on to your more general question of when or why to rebuild or buy new, I do have some experience with this.

A tree company I was doing work for during Matthew cleanup needed some saws taken care of. Anyway, they had a dozen saws down in less than a week. The only reason I fell into this job was because I had posted an MS460 on CL that I had finished and the owner of that company bought it because he was running out of saws at that point. I told him I worked on saws and he calls a guy up who brings me an 044 that would not start. I had my T27 T handle and pulled the muffler and saw the severely scored piston and showed him. He then called another guy and had 6 more saws brought in and they all too had scored pistons. MS 440s, Ms460s, MS200Ts. And I was quite surprised to find out they had more. For some reason their MS290s were still running strong. IDK about how that worked out.

I told him it must be the mix gas ratio or the oil they were using was a bad batch and this owner was savvy enough to send out a sample to Blackstone and indeed verified it was running at 110:1. I figured a dozen saws don't all develop air leaks all at the same time. While they were waiting for the test results they used another tank of mix that they carefully mixed at 40:1. That problem was solved. However the problem with what to do with a dozen saws when they needed a dozen saws right now was being contemplated. MS461s were in short supply because of the storm but this guy had contacts across the country and could get them overnighted to him at about 1400 shipped per saw....yikes.

So I told him I could rebuild 3 of them a week at half the price of a new equivalent replacement. I had a good relationship with a dealer who I dealt with at work and could get parts at a slight discount. I ended up replacing only one cylinder in the whole lot of saws and got away with just replacing pistons, impulse lines, seals, fuel hoses, and pickup bodies. He knew the MS200T was somewhat irreplaceable and the ms440 was nearly so too as 441s had stopped being imported. He chose to rebuild them all. So I was really busy after work for a month straight. I would do storm cleanup for 10 hrs at work and then work on saws for another storm cleanup crew after. Life was good.

 

[Gunn]

If they want to keep paying for it ...it's worth it.

 

[Jimmy in NC]

I've considered all this as well. Many good answers have already been given. After scratching my head and thinking on it a bit -- are the bearing pockets loose? What other facets can you see that make you ask: "Is it really worth it?"

I think the main fault is skip chain sharpened with a major hook and low raker just beating the clutch side bearing. He also kills many clutches.

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[Jimmy in NC]

Skip chain, IMHO, when used to cut lots of short material is very hard on the PTO side of the saw. Easiest way to think of it for me is an 8 tpi sawzall blade cutting thin material vs 20 tpi. Lots of vibration.

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[stihl_head1982]

I think the main fault is skip chain sharpened with a major hook and low raker just beating the clutch side bearing. He also kills many clutches.

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That put things in an entirely different light. Thanks for that bit of information. Looks like by the type of usage that the customer is going to kill the saw regardless of what you do. (My concern would be that eventually he may blame my work -- even though his own abuse/misuse of the saw is at the heart of the failure. Does this make sense?)

 

[pro94lt]

I own a tree service, run the crap out of them and do all my repairs unless it's warranty. The smartest thing I ever did was stop running old saws. My theory is when the spark plug and or pull cord is worn down it's almost time to send them down the road. All on the good ole 50:1 and this doesn't mean o don't have or tinker with older saws I just don't depend on them.