MCCULLOCH The official McCulloch thread

[Bigmac]

I find the ProMac 800 a little deceptively fast in wood, I'm using a 28" with skip and an 8 pin sprocket but I'm thinking of full comp chain might be the way to go even with the 8 pin.
Its weird but a more modern saw sounds like its moving more wood but its not?

These older saws don’t usually have the screaming rpm of the new stuff, but they don’t fall on their face when loaded hard, lots of guys that cut hardwood prefer the lower rpm. I doubt you’ll notice much difference with full comp at a full 28 inch cut, it will be smoother though. For me full comp doesn’t really start to play a big role until you get down to 20 inch and smaller, it’s just my preference though, I don’t run 25 inch bars though I just go right from 20 to 28, but at 28 inches it seems like there is marginal cutting difference between full comp and full skip, and a lot less teeth to sharpen with full skip, you can always use half skip as well, that works well. If you plan on doing a lot of limbing and small cuts with a 28 inch bar than full comp isn’t a bad thing either though, you really notice the full comp speed in small wood

 

[Al Smith]

Y

Can you post a link to that thread Al?

https://opeforum.com/threads/firewood-thread-lets-see-what-you-got.2929/page-110
Keep in mind this is just my perception of different saws .It was not like a stop watch on 9" poplar cants .Just standard old work saws on wood with the bark still on it , some as dry as a pop corn fart .About what the average saw user would encounter .

 

[Dream]

I find the ProMac 800 a little deceptively fast in wood, I'm using a 28" with skip and an 8 pin sprocket but I'm thinking of full comp chain might be the way to go even with the 8 pin.
Its weird but a more modern saw sounds like its moving more wood but its not?

My PM700 handles a 28" with full comp well.
It doesnt mind the bar being buried with it. It has enough torque to keep chips moving, and its a lot faster on smaller stuff. Little front-heavy...

 

[Bigmac]

My PM700 handles a 28" with full comp well.
It doesnt mind the bar being buried with it. It has enough torque to keep chips moving, and its a lot faster on smaller stuff. Little front-heavy...

I don’t doubt it, I just grab a small saw to cut small stuff. I don’t like sharpening long bars that are full comp! Lol a 36” bar takes me a long time to sharpen full skip, and full comp is a pain, especially with 3/8. And 50”+ bars, hand square filled...suck, I will keep the small saws on the the small stuff! lol

 

[Al Smith]

Regarding balance ,a 36" bar on a 125 is a perfect balance .I've got a picture some place of hanging one on a rope using the front handle and it looks like a balance scale .

 

[sawfun]

Regarding balance ,a 36" bar on a 125 is a perfect balance .I've got a picture some place of hanging one on a rope using the front handle and it looks like a balance scale .

Try balancing that 36" on 066 or 088. The 088 will if you modify the studs or bar for the 3003 pattern lightweight bar, but not with the stock 3002 pattern. The 125 balances pretty well with a 50" (better than the 088 with a 36) and its a full wrap, not 3/4 . The 125c can get the job done at fewer rpm making it less of a fatigue generator when compared with the high rpm noise of the Stihl. On designated long bar saws, Stihl does not seem to take balance into very much consideration. Husky, Mac, and even the Partner made 505 Poulans balance much better on average.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

The owner of a saw shop near me firmly believes that if the 82cc Macs were still in production alot of timber cutters would choose them over modern saws.

 

[Al Smith]

As far as long bar saws unless you live in the PNW you aren't going to use a long bar very often .I don't think I've used the 48" hard nose on the avatar saw more than half a dozen times .I've got 42" that fits the 084 and I doubt it's been used in over 10 years and I know the saw hasn't been started in over 8 years .I have no doubt I'll have to rebuild the carb which is on my to do list this winter .

 

[Al Smith]

McCulloch could still be a player if the board of directors would have paid attention to the market IMO .

 

[sawfun]

As far as long bar saws unless you live in the PNW you aren't going to use a long bar very often .I don't think I've used the 48" hard nose on the avatar saw more than half a dozen times .I've got 42" that fits the 084 and I doubt it's been used in over 10 years and I know the saw hasn't been started in over 8 years .I have no doubt I'll have to rebuild the carb which is on my to do list this winter .

I do live, and grew up in, in the PNW. I suppose that's why I like the long bar saws and their history. 28" and the occasional 32" bar can be found on plenty of firewood saws, let alone loggers. This even though our timber has gotten a lot smaller over the years.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I agree that most of the time I can do what I have to with a 24" , but I'm short so even that lets me limb trees comfortably.
I kind of have a special situation for dropping trees though, since I work for the state park service I get into bigger trees on a regular basis and areas that haven't been timbered in a 100+years sometimes. A big tree is 32"-42" DBH to me in this area , with the occasional really large tree ,which I've cut 3 bigger than the 42" DBH this year and usually its a 41" and 36" bars for that and limbing with the ProMac700.
Honestly I needed a couple longer bars for my Mccullochs so I bought some Stihl bar adapters to try out.

 

[Al Smith]

Stihl mounts are probably the easiest to adapt plus they are readily available .Usually the avatar saw wears a 36" Stihl mount .

 

[PogoInTheWoods]

Haven't adapted an "off brand" bar to any of my Macs yet.

I've seen Stihl bars on Macs and gone, "Huh?" just on general principles. LOL Guess there are a couple ways to do it? Curious how you do yours.

The Husky/Oregon D009's seem to be pretty easy. From what I understand, just flipping the adjuster peg to fit the hole and cutting/drilling an oiler slot in the bar groove to the adjuster holes is all it takes. That opens up all kinds of doors for longer and lighter bars without breaking the bank.

 

[jacob j.]

I've been using Stihl large-mount bars on my 125s with the bar adapter that Mike (Homelite410) makes. It's pretty easy but sometimes you have to lengthen the bar slot, depending on how many drivers your chains have.

I bought four of the NOS 33" Carlton bars in .404" that Baileys had in a clearance sale a few years ago and they're a great set-up for running on the larger Macs. They're thick enough that you don't need those additional "spacer" plates like with most modern bars.

 

[heimannm]

McCulloch bar plate/spacer 92020

https://www.ebay.com/p/1223757631

Mark

 

[Al Smith]

Speaking of bars ,here is a racer .063 groove cut down Mac that came in a bunch of stuff on flea bay .This with spacers will fit an 084 Stihl, 2100S Homelite ,125 Mac .I thought I might be able to compete with souped up 084's or 3120 Huskys over cants but realized that wasn't going to work .You'll never know unless you try .I had literally hours cutting down this bar .I also thought a 125 could pull a 10 pin with .404 ,it could but it didn't like it .

 

[Al Smith]

This bar swap thing usually is not difficult but some times makes you kind of scratch your head .When I bared up two Partners I used one 20" from a Husky and one from a 10 series Mac ,they both worked fine ..
When I switched to a 2100 Husky of course the Husky bar fit but I switched either from a Partner P-100 super to the McCulloch pm1000 or visa versa and danged if the chain wouldn't tighten up .Seemed odd because they are the same saws .It wasn't a big deal I just drilled another hole .Something is different . Now in the standard usage of course the driver count is different ,Mac 70 and Husky 72 but on the two Partners it seemed to tighten up on one with a 72 .I may have to delve into that .On second thought for reasons unknown depending on who made them some 10 series bars are slightly different .

 

[Maintenance Chief]

So this is the little adapter that I have, which allows you to mount the stihl bar to a McCulloch (Poulan). 3rd picture is the D176 mount on top of the D025. The bar length between the two is significant, bothe are 24" so I might be able to use more common chain lengths.

 

[Dream]

Got some Christmas presents from @Steve .
Really good stuff I needed.
He also threw in this "packing material".
I think that is my favorite.
Thanks Again Steve!

 

[Al Smith]

Something similar to the picture are what I use for bar adapters to Stihl bars .There are just in essence thick washers .These are similar but not the exact spacers but it gives the idea .