What 660 parts, if any, are difficult to find?

[Cerberus]

tl;dr -- Are any parts for 660's getting hard to find? To be clear I ONLY care about functionality, so something like bearings being "*s-wordty aftermarkets only, if you don't search for OEM" then I need to get-on that now, but if it's "OEM starters are better", well, I agree and I own one - and it works identical to the cheap AM one I have on my other 660 - I recognize the OEM will have better longevity but I don't care if I'm forced to just buy half a dozen AM flywheel covers/starters, and just swap as-needed, because failure here doesn't cause damage, causes almost no downtime, and the part is dirt-cheap.... But yeah if it's "aftermarket cranks almost always suck, and there's no pro-brands just OEM and they're getting hard to find" then I'm literally "in the market" the moment I read the reply (actually I may as well say that this is an open invitation for part-sales-solicitations if you think you've got something(s) that fit what I'm talking of here)

I dislike "the amazon machine" and IP theft of all of this but it is what it is (god I hate that phrase) and I'll buy half a dozen starter covers before an OEM at $100, but if it's a part that affects performance, safety, or could hurt the machine, then I need to ensure I've got them because I do not intend to give this saw up (fear the edit-timer will kill me so continued in post2)

 

[Cerberus]

"do not intend to give this saw up" as a platform, I wanna be clear I am forever grateful to MM an admin from this site whose generosity last year literally put me into this, I could not have afforded this on my own... And, subsequently when I ran into my 1st problems "as a kit-660 owner", another member (Ronie) steps-in and mails me the prettiest 660 piston I've ever seen in real life, molbydenum coated Saw Salvage pop-up, nice wide flat skirted slug w/ 20thou popup disc, beautiful...

But sentiment aside, I'd been into the 660 because of its specs & history (IE track record, proven long-term love, huge troves of online data, etc) so the clone-660 approach was my path, with the generosity of people here - neither of whom would even let me pay them for the premium shipping-fees they incurred!-- but after getting OK at making mine work well, and learning more, I cannot imagine wanting to swap "my top-end model", short of something crazy like lithium-comparables for 100cc class being a thing (IE having power/weight matching a 2-stroke), I simply cannot see any reason I wouldn't want to keep them, not only do I enjoy & get better at the platform over time but it's got more product-support & online-support than almost any other platform out there!! But wait, there's more.... lol.... I stumbled on some #'s that made me fall even harder for the 660, specifically that powersaw "power-per-pound" increases proportionally with displacement, for almost-all saws, I noticed this by-accident when mapping a few saw's HP/Lbs numbers, saw a trend so mapped more saws and they all fit it, except for just *2* anomalies, funnily enough the largest&smallest of the list actually:
- 2511t, at 25cc the lil beast out-powers (power-per-pound, I mean) a 200t/201t/355t, and:
- ms881, sure it's the most powerful Stihl saw, it's 1 unit/level above a 661 and like 50% more expensive, but it's also over 5lbs heavier and the power gain is barely over 1.5HP, in fact the 881's HP/LBS goes back down to that of a 440....
So I guess that's to say that I think it's a good plan, am of course sharing in case I'm missing things, obviously I've already "doubled down" and am "goin all in" lol so, now that I've got both saws thumping hard and no real tinkering left, want to drop back to learning more & gathering parts for future works

Thanks for any specific parts recommendations, and thanks to this sub & OPE posters for contributing to this awesome board, literally don't think there's another like it online (there's chainsaw subforums on 2 of my climbing-arborist forums, as that's my 'niche', but OPE is the only saw/2-stroke specific forum I'm aware of, probably in bad taste to ask if there's any others )

 

[Cerberus]

Oh also am hoping for a part-ID or part-#, my google-fu is too weak and I need another one of "the following" for 1 of my 660's:
Black plastic flap "sheath/cover" that is part of the 'top cover assembly', it sits on the top "in between" the top-cover and the airbox cover (it's what diverts warm flywheel air to the warm-air-inlet for Winter Operation mode)

Stinks because I know it's like a $1 part, but have tried & cannot find it's name....it's just a ~1oz thin black plastic 'ceiling/roof' that covers that gap in-between the two "full" top cover halves, but w/o a name I've never been able to order one so I literally just slap a piece of 1" painter's tape along that open slot between front-top cover & airbox cover!

Thanks, am pretty OCD about keeping (some) parts clean&protected and this is one!! Can take a photo if necessary but am sure anyone on this sub knows what I mean, it's that wiggly black plastic shield you jam-over the spark-plug, kinda jam in-between the two top-covers....don't think I've yet found the way to properly insert it ROFL

 

[Funky sawman]

If I was to invest In 660 parts so my saw was good for life, it would be OEM fuel tanks, back muffler halves, starter pawl stud, PTO crank bearings and the aluminum air filter mount. These parts will be going away in OEM form, leaving only aftermarket to fill in the void. The above parts are the ones I've had the most trouble with if they are made in China.

 

[Cerberus]

If I was to invest In 660 parts so my saw was good for life, it would be OEM fuel tanks, back muffler halves, starter pawl stud, PTO crank bearings and the aluminum air filter mount. These parts will be going away in OEM form, leaving only aftermarket to fill in the void. The above parts are the ones I've had the most trouble with if they are made in China.

I'm having trouble being sure what the PTO is, are there synonyms when buying them? (PTO is the "machine-side" of the starter, it's the clutch-sized(kinda) thingie affixed to the shaft, the (removable)flywheel starter spins the PTO, the PTO spins the shaft which starts the engine, which then spins the PTO which spins the flywheel fans to cool things....right?) Thanks!

Re muffler halves and tanks, especially tanks, what are the problem area(s) most commonly found? Have 3 muffs and have done some butchering, not found issue yet but if it's a mating-up issue I am using big heat-shields instead of a gasket so mating is easier that way (although I did have to re-mount 1 once, exhaust was getting past/out, but in hindsight am not sure if I put any heavy grease on and the way I mount things I sand&clean them like I'm doing a paint-job so the lightest wipe-on, wipe-off of grease seems to help flat surfaces mate/bite better, am guessing the heat quickly fills/cooks/carbons these areas and the grease just makes it go a bit quicker)

Thanks a lot for the reply, my plan revolved around being able to replace things as-needed and realizing OEM as-necessity for some parts changes the timeline so to speak (plus just the idea of breaking my gas tank and then having to source and probably overpay for OEM...that just certainly makes sense to buy in-advance when I'm using (2) chinesium tanked units )

 

[Funky sawman]

The mufflers crack around the mounting holes, the fuel tanks are brittle especially in cold weather, and alot of them leak brand new. The PTO is power take off aka clutch side proprietary bearing.

 

[rogue60]

Want a reliable clone 660? Just buy a genuine new old stock Stihl ms660 and sleep easy...
Actually make that 2 ya need a backup saw no matter what ya run...
Actully make that 3 - main saw, old main saw now backup saw, and clapped part sawS..
No one has time for waiting on parts to show up chit needs doing/done yesterday be a good way to starve if ya didn't have part saws to rob parts off to keep ya going lol

 

[qurotro]

PTO bearing is the same as 661 I think?

 

[Ronie]

h also am hoping for a part-ID or part-#, my google-fu is too weak and I need another one of "the following" for 1 of my 660's:
Black plastic flap "sheath/cover" that is part of the 'top cover assembly', it sits on the top "in between" the top-cover and the airbox cover (it's what diverts warm flywheel air to the warm-air-inlet for Winter Operation mode)

Is this what your looking for, 11221416300?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164639679141?epid=1724519631&hash=item26554a22a5:g:9VQAAOSwOOFfKJu4

 

[Sagebrush33]

Is this what your looking for, 11221416300?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164639679141?epid=1724519631&hash=item26554a22a5:g:9VQAAOSwOOFfKJu4

He is looking for the plastic blocking plate. Prevents warm engine air from feeding the carb during normal seasons. Remove it for winter use in very cold weather. Some have a square hole on one side so all ya have to do is reinsert in the opposite direction.