What yer cheap saw favorites?

[mainer_in_ak]

Whats your cheap saw fix?

I like runnin and wrenching on the grey cs 6700's cs 670's and cs 8000's. Quality Made in Japan parts are readily available from scores of online vendors and the saws are cheap.

They cut good, really wake up with basic mods, are easy to work on and have filthy good oilers. Manual oilers too. The round automotive style filters flow well and never let in dust.

Unlimited coils on all and ive never seen one fail.

I've milled with em and cut lots of firewood. The cs 8000 even made it's way on a paid job last year, where I had to plunge cut 32" diameter leaning cottonwoods with a 36" bar.

Paid $400 for my cs 8000 $220 for my cs 670, $120 for my 6700 type 1 e, and $240 for my mint cs 6700 (in mill frame).

The 6700 type 1 e is torn down for a rebuild.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

milling white spruce with the $240 6700.
Base gasket delete.
Ignition advanced
Muffler opened up
Intake widened, lower transfers opened up, exauhst widened and only raised to to factory bevel.

G777 small mill
Gb 20" 3/8 low profile milling bar, gb 3/8 lp rim sprocket, redbeard bar adapter, stihl pmx 3/8 lp riping.

She just sings through bar-length Alaska birch and white spruce. That small exauhst port, pretty lame fart-knocker exauhst tone though.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Random CS 8000 observations:
Entire fkn things are solid magnesium cinder blocks. Yes even the recoil, and the fuel tank are magnesium.

Once you start peeling back the mundane cinder block lines:
The flywheel is a sophisticated work of art. Never seen lines like that on on a flywheel on any other saw.

Wherever a wire passes through something solid, a nice rubber grommet protects it from vibration damage. Even at the unlimited coil, a rubber grommet is integral to the housing where the plug wire enters the coil.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Forgot a coupla more tidbits regarding the 81 cc mundane monster:

1. CS 680 filter set up is a direct bolt swap. If u upgrade the carb, it has to be opened up slightly.

Stock 153b carb is a waste of good port work. HDA 45 carb is a direct bolt swap. I have 3 of them. I paid $45 a piece for my last 2.

AV is purdy rigid, has no problem with a 36" solid bar. The saw will over oil a 36" bar.

 

[smokey7]

Dang good saws. I have a few old echos as well. That flywheel air filter and the build quality is so sweet

 

[hacskaroly]

Whats your cheap saw fix?

I guess "cheap" is relative as the most I have paid for a chainsaw is $85 and have gotten over half the saws I own for free at the dump. Granted they all needed work and I am not a pro-logger/serious wood cutter, but I would say that my Husky 272xpg is my favorite to use. It was free from the dump and needed about $100 in parts and that included splitting the case and putting in new bearings.

I am glad you post about the Echo saws you use and abuse. If I buy and off the shelf/out of the box new saw (as the first owner), then I will probably go with an Echo.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

I guess "cheap" is relative as the most I have paid for a chainsaw is $85 and have gotten over half the saws I own for free at the dump. Granted they all needed work and I am not a pro-logger/serious wood cutter, but I would say that my Husky 272xpg is my favorite to use. It was free from the dump and needed about $100 in parts and that included splitting the case and putting in new bearings.

I am glad you post about the Echo saws you use and abuse. If I buy and off the shelf/out of the box new saw (as the first owner), then I will probably go with an Echo.

Nice save bud! Does the husq 272 take the common 6202 or 6203 crank bearings?

 

[FergusonTO35]

Whatever the pawn shop or Fleabay has in stock with low miles and a reasonable price. Scored a not even broken in 2024 Stihl MS-194C today for $175.00. Some others that come to mind are a very nice 2021 MS-250 for $200.00, a dirty but great running Echo CS-501P for $230.00, NIB Echo CS-500P for $265.00, and very low miles 2023 Echo CS-400 for $130.00. All of these saws still had the original bar, chain, and other parts as far as I could tell.

 

[hacskaroly]

Does the husq 272 take the common 6202 or 6203 crank bearings?

It has been a while since I worked on it, had to look it up, they are the 6202s.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Dang good saws. I have a few old echos as well. That flywheel air filter and the build quality is so sweet

Yep, good ole saws. If a fella likes a husq 266 or a husq 181 or a 281, these are very similiar. Ill probably never get into the clone saws, with these 67 cc and 81 cc Echos floating around for next to nothing.

Echo 6700: dual port.
670: quad port
Cs 8000: duel port or quad port depending on the year.

I won't run fancy expensive light bars on the grey echos. 24" versacuts on the 6700/670, stock echo 28" and 36" bars on the 8000. All bars were $50-$60 a piece.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I sold this Echo CS-4500 a few years back. The new owner loves it and it keeps going and going...:

I recall it had a bar oil booster button. He says he seldom uses that but it works. He paid me less than $200 for this saw.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

On the echo cs 6700/670:

Look at the lightweight flywheel for blippy-zippy throttle response. Out of the cut they tune up burblin rich 14k rpms and they get there fast.

Look at all the the reinforcement on the case halves. They NEVER had to redesign the case halves a half million times like husqvarna. They don't crack.

Look at those alignment pins. They sure do help during assembly of the case halves.

Look at that 7th av buffer under the carb pan. It rests between the case and the magnesium fuel tank/handle assembly. It's purpose is to limit the av when you reef on the handle.

 

[hacskaroly]

Look at the lightweight flywheel for blippy-zippy throttle response.

Is that a plastic flywheel? I see an Echo in my future... I just have to figure out which one I want or which one comes across my path first!

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Just the fins are fantasticy-plasticy

 

[hacskaroly]

Just the fins are fantasticy-plasticy

That is awesome, I like that idea!

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Bout to tear down my cs 670 for an overhaul.

She's clapped the fk out. Pto bearing sounds like a baby rattle. I kept running it till the crank seal leaked bad enough where the carb wouldn't hold a tune.

Just a heads up:
I use the exploded parts diagrams from Jack's small engine site to cut/paste the part numbers onto the SEPW site. Their prices are cheap!

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Holy sht this thing is filthy.
When the grey 6700 was retired and the 670 came on the scene here's the upgrades u get:
Giant round automotive filter.
Air injection
Quad port
Hybrid spring+rubber av
Side chain tensioner
High idle at the choke lever
17 mm clutch nut, as opposed to needing special clutch socket.

Its like going from the 1980's 266 se to the 266xp, then going beyond that like yer fking mad, and carry the platform into the freaking 2000's!?

If that wasnt a long enough run, the cs 680 is the same platform that is still made today. So 1986 to fking 2025, this platform has been plodding along.

 

[FergusonTO35]

That's one big thing I like about Echo, they tend to stay with a proven design for years. My little CS-303T is the latest in a long line of venerable small saws of this design going back to the 1980's.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

If yer dumb enough to buy one of the surplus quick vent saws (i bought two), save the 3/8 .063 carbide chain. Its enough drivelinks to make one 28" loop.

These qv 670, 6700 and qv 8000 saws were mishandled by a bunch of mentally retarded firefighters to not only cut into roofs, but even vehicles. They have all sorts of unique damage from cutting ashalt shingles and sheet metal.

With a hardnose bar, makes a killer stump cutting or muddy wood cutting set-up like cutting out beaver dams or wood piles that block the rivers.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Today I saw an Echo chop saw on a construction site for the first time ever. Around here, Stihl has that market zipped up tight and its pretty rare you even see a Husky chop saw. Used to see alot of Smurf blue Dolmars in that role but we know what happened there!