Stihl MS881! The rumors begin

[Stihl Potlicker]

I assume you haven’t gotten it back yet?…I hope I’m assuming wrong

not yet.

 

[Stihl Potlicker]

That's a rad picture.

thanks

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Ive put about 22 gallons of fuel through an 881 milling 30+ inch white spruce and 18"-24' alaskan birch. Ive also bucked about 4 cords of wood with it as well.

Heres some observations on this very expensive saw:

881 is a decent saw, but the lack of low-end torque is disappointing. If chain be too aggressive, the saw would bog to zero rpm's if I hit a rock-hard spruce knot in the ripcut, with the slightest feed pressure. A granberg style chain grind on the teeth definitely helped the saw keep its rpm's through knots.

The winter setting is worthless. The shutter tab is completely blocked off from hot air from the engine.

The rubbber a.v. mounts would turn hard as a rock in below zero temps. The vibes were so bad, the 36" bar would shake left to right like a banana when idling. Eventually went back to stihl for softer a.v. mounts from a stihl 880

They come shipped from stihl set up for .404 pitch only which isnt ideal for milling. Most milling chain is 3/8.

Extremely stingy oiler: about 3 oz. of bar oil per 16ft long rip cut, oiler set to max.

Positives:
Seems to get stihl fan-boys all sorta excited.
Great styling.
Cleanest clutch cover design of any saw ive owned. Never builds up gunk, excellent chip clearance

If i coulve done it over, I wouldve gone for an Echo CS 1201. No show-boy plastics, just low end grunt, and ah gusher of an oil pump......

 

[BlackCoffin]

Sounds like the 880, needs to be modified to be worth a hoot.

 

[sawfun]

Sounds like the 880, needs to be modified to be worth a hoot.

It does, even the tech at Madsens agreed upon that point. The stock 088/880 lacks the low rpm torque to pull a long 60" + bar well when buried.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

I wont be modifying the 881, too much invested into it. Literally had to sell a bush machine (340 bearcat) and trade off a stihl ms 660 mag, just to afford the upgrade

It pulls ok, and is able to keep its rpm with the modified stihl rs chain.

Full house, unmodified .404 stihl RS cutters were FAST(in logs with no knots), and stayed sharp forever.

The granberg style grind, work-hardened the cutters, so they are harder on my files, and less cutter teeth surface area, they dull faster.

But the saw is happier with the nuetured-training wheels chain. Cut speeds are slower.

Could only Imagine how nice it would be, a super pro 125, or cs 1201, chugging through with ANY .404 chain you fkn choose.......

 

[BlackCoffin]

Well if you do get tired of it, porting them goes a long way. My 880 mills with a 72” bar just fine.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

The torque monster options are limitless if old magnesium saws aren't out of the question. Some if not all of the 6 cube plus Homelite saws plow through wood with ease and ofcourse the big Macs even in the 82cc class. Gear drives and stuff like the 090 Stihl could have the depths cut half way down and still cut same rpm.
Honestly they are gonna be slower and use more fuel without modifications. The rpms aren't gonna change much but they will be slower than a modern equivalent.
Sometimes it's cheaper to buy an older dedicated saw for milling and modify it but 30" wood isn't what I'd call challenging? Especially in the conifer species.
I'd seriously consider tuning your MS881 possibly richer? If its giving you that kind of trouble.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Tune alot different two strokes up here in Alaska.

Rebuild vintage 2 stroke snowmobiles, and boat motors as well. Probably go through about 200 gallons of 2-stroke mix a year. Have rebuilt tillotson, tekei, mikuni, rochester and walbro carbs.

All my 2-stroke stuff is tuned where it should be, including this 881.

Weirdest carb i ever rebuilt was a stacked tillotson on an austrian 250 twin, in a 1970's elan restoration. It had identical bore/stroke numbers, a square bore. Thing revved like a fkn moto-cross bike. The fuel pump, fuel filter and carb, were all stacked vertically together. Ran better than a mikuni roundslide.

Nother weird carb rebuild, an early 80's 8 hp evinrude, had a fixed high speed jet, knob-adjustable low-speed jet. Could not get plugs light brown at w.o.t. Darn thing fouled plugs at w.o.t. every 6 gallons of gas. Lucas semi-syn at 50:1 fixed the fouling.

Anyhoo, My stihls are like my dewalt cordless tools. Everybody knows the name and theyre overpriced. Some models are decent, and some are quirky.

 

[Gullet]

That little boat motor must be tuned really well.
I bet you were flying when you hit that Moose!

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Tune alot different two strokes up here in Alaska.

Rebuild vintage 2 stroke snowmobiles, and boat motors as well. Probably go through about 200 gallons of 2-stroke mix a year. Have rebuilt tillotson, tekei, mikuni, rochester and walbro carbs.

All my 2-stroke stuff is tuned where it should be, including this 881.

Weirdest carb i ever rebuilt was a stacked tillotson on an austrian 250 twin, in a 1970's elan restoration. It had identical bore/stroke numbers, a square bore. Thing revved like a fkn moto-cross bike. The fuel pump, fuel filter and carb, were all stacked vertically together. Ran better than a mikuni roundslide.

Nother weird carb rebuild, an early 80's 8 hp evinrude, had a fixed high speed jet, knob-adjustable low-speed jet. Could not get plugs light brown at w.o.t. Darn thing fouled plugs at w.o.t. every 6 gallons of gas. Lucas semi-syn at 50:1 fixed the fouling.

Anyhoo, My stihls are like my dewalt cordless tools. Everybody knows the name and theyre overpriced. Some models are decent, and some are quirky.

Obviously you have an affinity for vintage equipment and self sufficiency, I'm surprised that you went with the latest and greatest stihl big saw?
I will often bump compression up for more torque for a longer bar ,but I understand if you don't want to tear into a saw still under warranty.
I regret selling a Predator square bore variable venturi carb I did years ago, and a few others from 1936 up to the 2000s ,most were hotrod 4 stroke stuff though , dual quads and supercharger set ups.

 

[Stihl Potlicker]

been busy, but this ported 881 runs better than stock. for sure

 

[mainer_in_ak]

The way an 881 cuts, is like an orbital sander. You dont even need teeth, it just vibrates its way through the wood.

 

[sawfun]

The way an 881 cuts, is like an orbital sander. You dont even need teeth, it just vibrates its way through the wood.

Try a non-AV 090, it vibrates its way through your bones.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Sawfun,
That sounds like a great future stihl, marketing slogan:

Would you like a saw to vibrate through your bones? What about a puff of m-tronic chronic? What about a hit of hexa-hype?

Visit your local Stihl-Born dealer.

Act now, and youll get a free 16oz jug of hp ultra. It accels at carbon build-up and smells like sht. Ultra head-aches and ultra-carbon, ultra cookie monster eyes.

 

[RI Chevy]

But the saw will make you a ton of money in the process. Lol

 

[sawfun]

Sawfun,
That sounds like a great future stihl, marketing slogan:

Would you like a saw to vibrate through your bones? What about a puff of m-tronic chronic? What about a hit of hexa-hype?

Visit your local Stihl-Born dealer.

Act now, and youll get a free 16oz jug of hp ultra. It accels at carbon build-up and smells like sht. Ultra head-aches and ultra-carbon, ultra cookie monster eyes.

It's not the Stihl brand, but just the one version of that particular model saw. I really like 090's with reduced vibes. A ton of guys likely got their hands destroyed by regular 090's. Still, they pull a long 60+ inch bar much, much, better than a stock 088 or 880 ever did.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Another bolo from the stihl-born team: cracked .404 36" bar (in between bar studs).

The vibrations from this 881 ain't no joke.

I'm lucky the 881 powerhead stayed attached, and I caught it in time. Also lucky nobody got hurt.

Have ordered a tsumura 36" replacement.

 

[Lee H]

If your 881 is vibrating like you say i think i would take it to the dealer and find out why.
My 881 seems to be pretty smooth.

 

[qurotro]

I think mounting it on a mill is different from holding it in your hands. On the mill the bar takes all the weight of the power head and most the the vibration went to the bar while holding it in your hands the av dampen lots of the vib?