MCCULLOCH The official McCulloch thread

[edju1958]

I had the 610 sitting in the toasty house all day while I worked on it & the warmth must've slightly dissolved the old hardened oil.I took the saw out to put kerosene in the tank,but couldn't locate the kerosene,so I just put winter grade oil in it & began pumping.I could hear the air bubbles at the bar pad as the pump primed.Lo & behold it's oiling just fine with the manual oiler.I didn't have the saw running because there was no bar or chain on it.I'll do that tomorrow & get some pics on here.
The recoil is a different story.It sat for over 24 hrs.with Deep Creep sprayed in & on it & it's still stuck fairly tight.I'll have my son use his drill/driver on it to try to break the big screw loose that holds the pulley on.This way I can have a look at the spring to see what's going on.

 

[Al Smith]

Often times who ever had that 610 might have wound the pulley too tight .It only needs one wrap over being able to take in all the rope .Too much binds the spring .In addition on the nut side it should have a spacer that gets lost .No spacer it will bind up . For a relatively inexpensive older saw they are almost bullet proof in spite of the plastic design .The HK Tilley isn't a bad carb IMO but the oil pump can be a pain in the butt .For fire wooding and 60 cc they have enough power but are a tad heavey for that class of saw .If the pulley nut is not a nylon locker it would be a good thing to install one to stop it from for ever be locking it up .

 

[edju1958]

Often times who ever had that 610 might have wound the pulley too tight .It only needs one wrap over being able to take in all the rope .Too much binds the spring .In addition on the nut side it should have a spacer that gets lost .No spacer it will bind up . For a relatively inexpensive older saw they are almost bullet proof in spite of the plastic design .The HK Tilley isn't a bad carb IMO but the oil pump can be a pain in the butt .For fire wooding and 60 cc they have enough power but are a tad heavey for that class of saw .If the pulley nut is not a nylon locker it would be a good thing to install one to stop it from for ever be locking it up .

I had a look at the IPL & it shows a totally different animal than what I have.My starter has the big flat head screw going into to pulley.No spacer,no nut,the screw is screwed into the pulley.I don't know if someone decided to be clever with it,or if I just have an odd ball.

 

[edju1958]

Here's a couple pics of the McCinderBlock.

 

[edju1958]

I had a friend stop by yesterday when I wasn't home & he dropped off a PM6.I think it was his dad's saw,the chain was on backwards & had old rancid fuel in it.It has spark & some really good compression.It'll be put on hold for a while because I found the fuel line to be dry rotted & they're pretty much obsolete.I saw a clown on feebay had one that he was trying to get $75 for last yr.

 

[edju1958]

I just finished up on the 610 recoil for now..My son used his impact driver to break the screw loose,then I put some heat on the nut & he broke that loose.I had a helluva time getting the pulley off the plastic shaft.It was so filled with corrosion that it was causing it to bind along with not having a spacer.There was only a lock washer on with the nut.Of course the spring had to come flying out as expected.The spring was a major PITA to rewind,but finally got it.It's together temporarily till I get the spacer & washer from Mark.This recoil was the 2nd worst recoil I've ever tackled.The worst one was on a Homelite XL-12.I managed to get that one working again too.

 

[Al Smith]

Try a right hand start MC 10 series saw some time .You need at least 3 hands for that task .

 

[edju1958]

Try a right hand start MC 10 series saw some time .You need at least 3 hands for that task .

I did several RH starters last yr.after I had my neck surgery & they're not as bad as I originally thought.I only have 2 arthritic hands & I got by just fine.Of course one yr.later & I'm looking at 3 knuckle replacement surgeries,the 1st one is coming up on March 30th..

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I did several RH starters last yr.after I had my neck surgery & they're not as bad as I originally thought.I only have 2 arthritic hands & I got by just fine.Of course one yr.later & I'm looking at 3 knuckle replacement surgeries,the 1st one is coming up on March 30th..

Never heard of knuckle replacements? What do they replace them with?

 

[Al Smith]

I've got aches and pains but I don't think it's arthritis .Just 75 year old joints and old war wounds acting up .Sitting on my duff in cold weather doesn't help any .

 

[edju1958]

Never heard of knuckle replacements? What do they replace them with?

You're not the only person who has never heard of knuckle replacements Ira.Most people I talk to (even in the medical field) haven't heard of them either.They use a carbon based "joint",no metal involved..I had one replaced 5 yrs.ago this coming June & it's been good so far.

 

[edju1958]

I bought a Super 10-10 back a couple of weeks agriginally it had spark,don't know how because when I took the points out for cleaning they werte filthy.I put them back in & ran paper through them to remove any oily residue & grit that might've been left behind & gapped them at .019.No spark,so I put a chip on & got spark back.This is the least of my concerns.The carb needed rebuilding & I did that.Of course it won't hold pressure,so I had several other SDC37 carbs to put on in it's place.I've tried 2 other carbs & I'm getting the same results.The saw will only start with a prime,but then it'll run very well but only on a high throttle.It'll initially idle for a little bit,but then load up & won't idle at all.The only way it'll restart is by choking it with the throttle held WOT.It doesn't matter how well the saw is warmed up.I may have a one problem situation,or it may be more than one problem situation.Today I'm going to pop the FW & tear the points & points box off & replace the FW side seal & see if that makes a difference.Maybe I'll find the no spark issue in the process.

 

[nbbt]

I bought a Super 10-10 back a couple of weeks agriginally it had spark,don't know how because when I took the points out for cleaning they werte filthy.I put them back in & ran paper through them to remove any oily residue & grit that might've been left behind & gapped them at .019.No spark,so I put a chip on & got spark back.This is the least of my concerns.The carb needed rebuilding & I did that.Of course it won't hold pressure,so I had several other SDC37 carbs to put on in it's place.I've tried 2 other carbs & I'm getting the same results.The saw will only start with a prime,but then it'll run very well but only on a high throttle.It'll initially idle for a little bit,but then load up & won't idle at all.The only way it'll restart is by choking it with the throttle held WOT.It doesn't matter how well the saw is warmed up.I may have a one problem situation,or it may be more than one problem situation.Today I'm going to pop the FW & tear the points & points box off & replace the FW side seal & see if that makes a difference.Maybe I'll find the no spark issue in the process.

Sounds like time for a crankcase vac test.

 

[edju1958]

I got the seal out alright,& what a biotch of a job to get it out! I never had a FW side seal come out so difficult as this one & I've replaced a few.It was as if it was a permanent part of the saw.I ended up stripping the saw down to the short block.The handle was in the way & it needed to be cleaned good anyway.I had to check the oil pump too to make sure the piston wasn't hanging up.It turned out to be working OK.I got the new seal in on the FW side & got spark back with the points.I had to pop the FW several times to get the points set right.Every time I checked the points they were either too narrow or too wide.On about the 3rd or 4th try I finally got 'em set right.Only thing left to do now is put the carb back on.A couple of things were missing or wrong on the saw.There was no lock plate in the air box by the carb,no lock plate on the handle brace on the bottom of the saw,wrong size screw in the rear handle brace,no plastic piece in the rear handle (gotta hunt one up yet),wrong size bolt in the handle brace at the bottom of the saw,.
I don't believe the crankcase has a leak because it runs too well on hi throttle.There's only 2 places it can leak - at the crank seals & where the oil tank bolts onto the engine.I suppose it can leak under the fuel tank at the spacer if the gaskets have gone bad too,but I had to replace those.

 

[Woodslasher]

I got a box from PA the other day, I'm too busy to start putting it together for a bit yet but I've gotta say I'm loving how the parts look.

 

[Al Smith]

On the 10 series it's just a matter of removing the bolts that hold the cylinder to the bottom portion of the crank case rather than trying to snatch them out with a screw. Again as usual I won't argue about it do it however you please .
IMO the 10 series McCullochs compaired to most others is the most mechanic friendly saws ever made .I can have one field stripped in about 20 minutes .Fact I spend more time looking for the tools than turning wrenchs .

 

[Al Smith]

I might further add depending on the age or whoever might have worked on them you can run into a lot of things .The early ones as a sealant they used what appears to be Indian Head gasket shellac later to be silicon ,usually blue in color .On the outside portion of a seal with Indian Head it might as well be welded in place ,red Loctite would be worse .On that it won't leak but it takes about 400 degrees of heat to release .

 

[Al Smith]

Rambling on about this ,I've only had to replace the seals on two 10 series both 10-10 . One was an early model ,one the newest 54 cc I had just prior to the 10-10S .Both clutch side and never ever found a bad bearing which says a lot about how they were made --for the long haul .

 

[Al Smith]

I had a look at the IPL & it shows a totally different animal than what I have.My starter has the big flat head screw going into to pulley.No spacer,no nut,the screw is screwed into the pulley.I don't know if someone decided to be clever with it,or if I just have an odd ball.

Along the same lines which I can't explain either, one of my 125's was a freak also .The threaded "pull holes " in the flywheel were number 12 screws and I had to pull the flywheel to get to the points because some yahoo installed a freakin atom arc .Try and find a long #12 screw ,I did but only pulled the threads .Tapped them out to 5/16" and still had a time breaking it loose .Points were okay plus it was west coaster with an offset key .Ran a lot better than that POS Atom Arc .

 

[edju1958]

Along the same lines which I can't explain either, one of my 125's was a freak also .The threaded "pull holes " in the flywheel were number 12 screws and I had to pull the flywheel to get to the points because some yahoo installed a freakin atom arc .Try and find a long #12 screw ,I did but only pulled the threads .Tapped them out to 5/16" and still had a time breaking it loose .Points were okay plus it was west coaster with an offset key .Ran a lot better than that POS Atom Arc .

I've run into stubborn FWs before,never on a Mac though.The way I break them loose is to back the nut off till it's flush with the crankshaft,then put a drift on the crank & nut & give it a good rap.Works every time on a Mac.On a Homelite SEZ or XL-100 series it's a different story.
On the Atom chip,I find it hard to believe that the saw ran poorly.It might've been the wrong chip,they were color coded.It might be possible that whoever put that chip in the 125 used the wrong chip.I've come across at least 3 saws that had an Atom chip in it & they all ran great.They were all different brand saws too,a Remington SL9,a Pioneer 1200,& a Homelite SXL.