One method that's worked for me when I bust a starter rope is to carefully lay it on its side on the tailgate, and then grab another chaisaw. 60% of the time, it works every time
Great demo. The PCT trail crew up here in Washington is having ourselves a field maintenance class with our local Stihl dealer later this month. Looking forward to the "hands on" with stuff like this. We usually keep spare air filters, fuel filters, spark arrestors and spark plugs in the saw kits that go into the field with the saws. Might have to add starter ropes as well, although in the last 13 years, we've yet to break one in the field, thankfully. Most frequent field failure for us is a clogged spark arrestor on the brush saws.
Two weeks ago my chain went off and i didn't have the key close by to put it back on. This past weekend my the starter rope got cut on my fathers chainsaw. It's like you know to put out just the right content I need. Thank you Wilson and greetings from Finland!
In the shop I consider the starter rope a maintenance item. Assuming I take the recoil off for cleaning, and it's not some special rope like the elasto, it only takes a few minutes to cut a new one and put it on. Then if the old one wasn't on it's last legs, I tie it to the saw and tell the owner to toss it in their saw box later. If I just replaced all the dryrotted fuel lines, the rope is probably not much better.
Great video! I got 2 minutes in and thought you were going to sell me on an electric chainsaw 😂. “What do you do when your starter rope breaks….buy an electric chainsaw!” I really learn a lot from your videos, keep up the great work!
Dunno if it is the same in the US, but here in the UK if you ask for a starter cord for your Stihl, you get one in a nice wee box with the Elastostart handle and everything. If you don't need the handle, you have to remember to specify 'cord only' for your saw. If you ask for several, you get several all linked together and you have to cut them and melt the ends with a lighter to get a 'pointy end' to feed through. If you're really cheap, you can get starter cord on a reel and cut off a length. Then you have to have two knots in the 'handle' end - a single one and a much larger one at the far end. They need to be the same distance apart as the wee plastic jobbies on the original rope. If they're closer, the elastostart doesn't work well. Too far apart and the rubber bit on the elastostart delaminates from the metal backing and the wee handle comes off leaving just the rubber bit that is no good as a handle. If the end knot is too small, it vanishes down the hole in the handle, the elastostart boingy bit is vulnerable and the knot gets jammed in the 'ole and is a pest to winkle out. I work a maintenance/repair magician for a firm that runs a lot of MS362Cs. The saws have a hard life. They last about 3 years, but if the casing isn't smashed, the recoil unit lasts well. So the workshop has spares - they're the same right through from the introduction of the pre-M-tronic saws. So I recondition/rebuild them with new string and maybe new starter pawls and pawl springs (both these eventually wear). Saw comes in and has a fraying string and the lucky operator gets a recon recoil start complete. Mr Wilson's tractor didn't try hard enough. I've had saws in that were run over properly by a forwarder, dropped out of a cherrypicker 'cos the saw lanyard was tying up the dog and the bit of 'found' blue polyprop came undone, had a tree dropped on it, jounced out of a pickup onto the road and dropped in a water-filled tyre rut.
I really enjoy your twisted sense of humor. I imagine you have very few good friends who can stand you. 😂 To replace the rope, I think it's easier to do it the other way around.
Your videos are educational, but more importantly for me anyway, very entertaining! Please keep posting! 👍 P.S. love your deburring tool for the handle... +1 subscriber here 😉
While cutting firewood in Oregon, my buddy and I were frustrated trying to get his 36" Homelite saw to start. My old 16" Mac 10-10A would run on the first pull. I told him if the truck doesn't start, and we got the Homelite to start, we could always ride out on his monster saw!
First time I changed a pull rope I was plenty confused about wrapping the cord. I thought you had to turn and preload the spring. It's much easier wrapping the cord around it.
I absolutely love it when you torch the trolls… I play music in a bluegrass band and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you shouldn’t mess with the person who has the microphone!!! 😂
i also like the Chainsaw starter rope hacks Btw, in today's world with battery powered electric drills and chainsaws and what not, would it not be easy enough to have an electric starter installed on it?
Made me smile for the first time this year. I wish I still had my dads pull start "JLO" UK petrol welder from the 1970 it also gave 110v and 240v that would power a 8 inch angle grinder to clean up my bad welds ;-) We never snapped the pull start.
They ought to make starter ropes out of the same material your fancy socks are made of. Strong, long-lasting and would keep the....starter spring warm!
Heyyy would you mind opening the pull ropes spring housing and show how the spring is installed. My coworker broke the plastic housing of his saw and ordered a new one online. He couldn't figure out how to get the spring in there correctly. Then he brought the housing and the spring at work and we spent one whole lunch trying to figure it out. Turns out we're too stupid to install a spring. This video was so well explained and filmed whithout any hands blocking the view so a video of the spring installation would be appreciated! 😅
Here's a pro tip my dad told me about 1968: Never pull a recoil starter rope all the way out. Pull the rope out slowly to see where it reaches the end of it's travel. Then stop your starting pull stroke short of that point.
Hey! Pretty good video. I had to repair the pull starter on my MS362. I did not know how the elasto-start rope came out...always having the type where the rope just had a knot fixin it to the handle. anyway, good job showing how you have to put the knotted end in the pulley first, and then wind it up. Took me a bit to figure that out. I guess that's why I'm running a chainsaw, and not a nuclear physics lab. Actually my problem wasn't that my starter rope failed, but that little spring that returns the dogs, which also acts as the c-clip that hold the whole thing together. It had just snapped in half. But having a spare starter rope is a good idea. Having a spare gas/oil cap is also a good idea. They can leak, or get lost in the woods.
I run my Stihl with only one cylinder cover/shroud mount bolt instead of the two that it came with. Not sure where it fell out...keep forgetting to replace it. No worries though, it's lighter now and therefore I can work longer before getting fatigued.
Gas cap has a higher failure rate in my opinion, however they are inexpensive enough and easy to pack around so keep a spare or two since it likely fits the oil cap as well.
I have a 660 bought new in fall 07 . 25 -36 bars and chain for each. All for about 1350 out the door including tax. A bunch of people including the guy who ran the Stihl store asked why such a big saw your just cutting firewood. I couldn't afford to buy a decent midsize saw and a log splitter so I got the 660 so I can cut bigger logs into smaller pieces that are easier to bust with a mall. The benefits of a big saw are that you can cut a lot of midsize branches and logs without having to be bent over all the time and also you can use tourqe to keep the chain speed lower and it reduces heat on the chain and the teeth keep their edge longer . Sometimes when you're tired probably more mentally than physically you look at it and think dang that thing is getting heavy but I never regret buying it when I'm out cutting wood the pull cord and spark plug is still original have worn out one 25 inch bar and of course several chains also turned the bar oiler to max and have only adjusted the car a couple times. Bigger saws of any brand I think are just less finicky on the jetting because of the fact the carb everything is bigger it loads up a little idling on a warm summer day but would sit and idle for a couple hours it seems like on a typical MN winter day.
Yessir. Those stawz are really tough. John from FarmCraft dropped his Stihl from a hi-lift at maybe 40 - 50 feet. He still uses that stawz all the time. Sorry, i couldnt resist. Well ... Maybe i could have but wheres the fun in that? 🙃
I found a really nifty screwdriver set at Harbor Freight that has magnetic tips and fits square, torn & Phillips/ philister inserts in a carrier inside the hollow handle. I keep one in my truck's and my tractors tool box. Nothing worse than removing old screws with an Allen wrench, when you're already pissed off having to make field repairs. The whole set was like $9 twenty years ago. Probably no more than $399.95 today's prices 😂 (Thanks Dems).
I see it's the ms462.. good saw ..but I can't seem to get away from my old Ms 460 mag.. I have fixed an replaced the rope 10 times since I owned the saw.. more than enough power to make any tree chunks of wood and not cumbersome..
Let's face it things break sometimes and you can always use suggestions for a quick fix for use nonpro types. I only ever broke one when I was out away from home and having a spare wouldn't have helped because the pulley wheel broke and not the rope.
I see the deer didn't think it needed to know how to change a starter rope either. and it was sure nice of Stihl to leave room to wrap the rope around the spool. my old generator has the notch, and it's annoying. I don't know about the new generator because I haven't broken the pull rope, yet.
Just bought a new MS-261CM and nearly immediately my starter rope failed. I had problems starting due to my inexperience. The rope didn't 100% fail but I brought it to the dealer.
Man I kept seeing deer in the background super close to you starting at 2:54. Are they your friendly "domesticated" property deer or they just brave wild ones?
Don’t know if you notice comments on old videos, so I thought I would post on the latest one… Do you not think of commercialising the sawdust that you create… rather than giving away Sawdust mountain, you could create briquettes or fire starters and sell those along with the firewood??
That old knot in the cord was a thing of beauty, it would have stayed on my grandpa's saw until the saw failed or the rope went entirely. When guys complained about the dangling handle, he'd say, "Ya know there are just too many pickin' peckerheads in this world, who like to beat their brains against the post of correction." That usually left them scratching their heads. They didn't know whether to laugh or be insulted?! Gramps was pretty smart and was offered a free ride scholarship to university, but he preferred working in the woods. He had more practical common sense than many a more "educated" fellow. Can't say I admired him much tho, he was so full of bs and smart- alleck remarks, it was hard to tell when he was telling the truth, and he liked to pull nasty practical jokes. Thanks for another hilarious video, where you tell it like it is! 😂
@@biglouie9547 lol, it just comes natural to some folks, ( what to do if a rope breaks?) well you only have 2 options, 1, tie it back together or 2, have two short ropes
Did that ONCE with a truck with a borrowed saw back in the Jurassic Era. Cost me big bucks to have the Stihl Dealer make it pristine new. Lesson LEARNED! Check your work area for equipment before moving vehicles! Buddy that I borrowed it from was thrilled about having so many new parts on an old saw. LoL
I've never had a problem with them in Commercial use. I also did a stint working for a power equipment dealer who sold all the commercial brands. The tree companies used Stihl saws. The landscapers used Husky or Echo because they trashed them and they were cheaper.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
The humor is good. I think you're my favorite comedian.
I've used a boot lace in an emergency situation. Great video.
Hey, saw cord for boot laces. Why didn’t I think of that 35 years ago. Or at least before I switched to orange caulks.
I should mention, this was recorded if front of a live studio audience. Thank you dear, deer audience. And thank you for this well produced video.
One method that's worked for me when I bust a starter rope is to carefully lay it on its side on the tailgate, and then grab another chaisaw. 60% of the time, it works every time
Great demo. The PCT trail crew up here in Washington is having ourselves a field maintenance class with our local Stihl dealer later this month. Looking forward to the "hands on" with stuff like this. We usually keep spare air filters, fuel filters, spark arrestors and spark plugs in the saw kits that go into the field with the saws. Might have to add starter ropes as well, although in the last 13 years, we've yet to break one in the field, thankfully. Most frequent field failure for us is a clogged spark arrestor on the brush saws.
The starter ropes I purchased from Amazon didn't last a year on my saw, and I don't use my saw very much.
Two weeks ago my chain went off and i didn't have the key close by to put it back on. This past weekend my the starter rope got cut on my fathers chainsaw. It's like you know to put out just the right content I need. Thank you Wilson and greetings from Finland!
In the shop I consider the starter rope a maintenance item. Assuming I take the recoil off for cleaning, and it's not some special rope like the elasto, it only takes a few minutes to cut a new one and put it on. Then if the old one wasn't on it's last legs, I tie it to the saw and tell the owner to toss it in their saw box later. If I just replaced all the dryrotted fuel lines, the rope is probably not much better.
And here I thought the hole in air cleaner cover was a performance modification... 🤣
High flow!
You should see all the performance modifications I've made to my truck.
It isn’t, but it also is.
Great video! I got 2 minutes in and thought you were going to sell me on an electric chainsaw 😂. “What do you do when your starter rope breaks….buy an electric chainsaw!” I really learn a lot from your videos, keep up the great work!
I love you, Wilson. “Bro love” that is. Is that creepy? Naw dude, it ain’t.
I run a Husky and the notch in the starter pulley made perfect sense. Didn't realise that Stihl has so much space around the pulley.
Well played Mr. Wilson! Can’t wait for the high performance, tractor tire, ram air intake modification video! Sounds very economical, but risky.😮
Dunno if it is the same in the US, but here in the UK if you ask for a starter cord for your Stihl, you get one in a nice wee box with the Elastostart handle and everything. If you don't need the handle, you have to remember to specify 'cord only' for your saw. If you ask for several, you get several all linked together and you have to cut them and melt the ends with a lighter to get a 'pointy end' to feed through.
If you're really cheap, you can get starter cord on a reel and cut off a length. Then you have to have two knots in the 'handle' end - a single one and a much larger one at the far end. They need to be the same distance apart as the wee plastic jobbies on the original rope. If they're closer, the elastostart doesn't work well. Too far apart and the rubber bit on the elastostart delaminates from the metal backing and the wee handle comes off leaving just the rubber bit that is no good as a handle. If the end knot is too small, it vanishes down the hole in the handle, the elastostart boingy bit is vulnerable and the knot gets jammed in the 'ole and is a pest to winkle out.
I work a maintenance/repair magician for a firm that runs a lot of MS362Cs. The saws have a hard life. They last about 3 years, but if the casing isn't smashed, the recoil unit lasts well. So the workshop has spares - they're the same right through from the introduction of the pre-M-tronic saws. So I recondition/rebuild them with new string and maybe new starter pawls and pawl springs (both these eventually wear). Saw comes in and has a fraying string and the lucky operator gets a recon recoil start complete.
Mr Wilson's tractor didn't try hard enough. I've had saws in that were run over properly by a forwarder, dropped out of a cherrypicker 'cos the saw lanyard was tying up the dog and the bit of 'found' blue polyprop came undone, had a tree dropped on it, jounced out of a pickup onto the road and dropped in a water-filled tyre rut.
Funny 2nd half.
I didn’t expect you to show how to replace a starter rope.
I really enjoy your twisted sense of humor. I imagine you have very few good friends who can stand you. 😂
To replace the rope, I think it's easier to do it the other way around.
Your videos are educational, but more importantly for me anyway, very entertaining! Please keep posting! 👍 P.S. love your deburring tool for the handle... +1 subscriber here 😉
While cutting firewood in Oregon, my buddy and I were frustrated trying to get his 36" Homelite saw to start. My old 16" Mac 10-10A would run on the first pull.
I told him if the truck doesn't start, and we got the Homelite to start, we could always ride out on his monster saw!
Michael you have some nimble fingers,very nice and informative video my friend.
I love your sarcasm!!!
Glad you are fixing it you were driving me crazy😂
First time I changed a pull rope I was plenty confused about wrapping the cord. I thought you had to turn and preload the spring. It's much easier wrapping the cord around it.
I absolutely love it when you torch the trolls… I play music in a bluegrass band and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you shouldn’t mess with the person who has the microphone!!! 😂
i love the Chaisaw starter rope hacks
Those are the best.
i also like the Chainsaw starter rope hacks
Btw, in today's world with battery powered electric drills and chainsaws and what not, would it not be easy enough to have an electric starter installed on it?
Made me smile for the first time this year.
I wish I still had my dads pull start "JLO" UK petrol welder from the 1970 it also gave 110v and 240v that would power a 8 inch angle grinder to clean up my bad welds ;-)
We never snapped the pull start.
Grinder and paint make me the welder I ain’t
They ought to make starter ropes out of the same material your fancy socks are made of. Strong, long-lasting and would keep the....starter spring warm!
Deer love the sound of a chainsaw running.
Heyyy would you mind opening the pull ropes spring housing and show how the spring is installed. My coworker broke the plastic housing of his saw and ordered a new one online. He couldn't figure out how to get the spring in there correctly. Then he brought the housing and the spring at work and we spent one whole lunch trying to figure it out. Turns out we're too stupid to install a spring. This video was so well explained and filmed whithout any hands blocking the view so a video of the spring installation would be appreciated! 😅
Here's a pro tip my dad told me about 1968: Never pull a recoil starter rope all the way out. Pull the rope out slowly to see where it reaches the end of it's travel. Then stop your starting pull stroke short of that point.
Or just install the rope properly and avoid all that nonsense.
Good video, sorry about the short cord. Lol
So how effective are chainsaws when used as a wheel chock?
Did you ever try a boot lace. They are pretty strong and fit well.
Hey! Pretty good video. I had to repair the pull starter on my MS362. I did not know how the elasto-start rope came out...always having the type where the rope just had a knot fixin it to the handle. anyway, good job showing how you have to put the knotted end in the pulley first, and then wind it up. Took me a bit to figure that out. I guess that's why I'm running a chainsaw, and not a nuclear physics lab. Actually my problem wasn't that my starter rope failed, but that little spring that returns the dogs, which also acts as the c-clip that hold the whole thing together. It had just snapped in half. But having a spare starter rope is a good idea. Having a spare gas/oil cap is also a good idea. They can leak, or get lost in the woods.
5:43 Next time, tie a figure "8" Stopper Hitch. It'll NEVER let go.
Thank you very much for the video sir
I run my Stihl with only one cylinder cover/shroud mount bolt instead of the two that it came with. Not sure where it fell out...keep forgetting to replace it. No worries though, it's lighter now and therefore I can work longer before getting fatigued.
Gas cap has a higher failure rate in my opinion, however they are inexpensive enough and easy to pack around so keep a spare or two since it likely fits the oil cap as well.
Damn, you ain’t kidding. The caps are junk. Hate em. Rather just unscrew them.
@@scrappydog175 Yeah Husqvarna did a much better job with a flip cap design as it fits most of their old saws as well as the new ones I believe.
I have a 660 bought new in fall 07 . 25 -36 bars and chain for each. All for about 1350 out the door including tax. A bunch of people including the guy who ran the Stihl store asked why such a big saw your just cutting firewood. I couldn't afford to buy a decent midsize saw and a log splitter so I got the 660 so I can cut bigger logs into smaller pieces that are easier to bust with a mall. The benefits of a big saw are that you can cut a lot of midsize branches and logs without having to be bent over all the time and also you can use tourqe to keep the chain speed lower and it reduces heat on the chain and the teeth keep their edge longer . Sometimes when you're tired probably more mentally than physically you look at it and think dang that thing is getting heavy but I never regret buying it when I'm out cutting wood the pull cord and spark plug is still original have worn out one 25 inch bar and of course several chains also turned the bar oiler to max and have only adjusted the car a couple times. Bigger saws of any brand I think are just less finicky on the jetting because of the fact the carb everything is bigger it loads up a little idling on a warm summer day but would sit and idle for a couple hours it seems like on a typical MN winter day.
I do not remember ever replacing a starter rope, but I have replaced many a chain tensioner in my earlier days.
Yessir. Those stawz are really tough. John from FarmCraft dropped his Stihl from a hi-lift at maybe 40 - 50 feet. He still uses that stawz all the time.
Sorry, i couldnt resist. Well ... Maybe i could have but wheres the fun in that?
🙃
You could always sell the saw to someone with short arms. The single ear plug could be useful for someone who is deaf in one ear (still useful also).
I found a really nifty screwdriver set at Harbor Freight that has magnetic tips and fits square, torn & Phillips/ philister inserts in a carrier inside the hollow handle. I keep one in my truck's and my tractors tool box.
Nothing worse than removing old screws with an Allen wrench, when you're already pissed off having to make field repairs.
The whole set was like $9 twenty years ago.
Probably no more than $399.95 today's prices 😂
(Thanks Dems).
PRO TIP: Applies to any starter cord.
Straight pulls out from the starter will save rope wear.
Side pulling wears it against the starter grommet.
I see it's the ms462.. good saw ..but I can't seem to get away from my old Ms 460 mag.. I have fixed an replaced the rope 10 times since I owned the saw.. more than enough power to make any tree chunks of wood and not cumbersome..
Nice video.
Whoa, we need a video on the Chevy truck pulling that trailer.
Maybe a list of spare parts for the saw box?
Let's face it things break sometimes and you can always use suggestions for a quick fix for use nonpro types. I only ever broke one when I was out away from home and having a spare wouldn't have helped because the pulley wheel broke and not the rope.
I see the deer didn't think it needed to know how to change a starter rope either. and it was sure nice of Stihl to leave room to wrap the rope around the spool. my old generator has the notch, and it's annoying. I don't know about the new generator because I haven't broken the pull rope, yet.
Just bought a new MS-261CM and nearly immediately my starter rope failed. I had problems starting due to my inexperience. The rope didn't 100% fail but I brought it to the dealer.
fluff is always good! 🤣
Why not electric start on high-end chain saws?
Man I kept seeing deer in the background super close to you starting at 2:54. Are they your friendly "domesticated" property deer or they just brave wild ones?
Now that's a knife 😅
@@BillHale-p9d I thought it was a bit small, but he is getting up in years🤣
That's not a knife... THIS is a knife!
Don’t know if you notice comments on old videos, so I thought I would post on the latest one…
Do you not think of commercialising the sawdust that you create… rather than giving away Sawdust mountain, you could create briquettes or fire starters and sell those along with the firewood??
Hey if you go out to a party don’t forget to properly pack yer starter rope🎉🥳
That old knot in the cord was a thing of beauty, it would have stayed on my grandpa's saw until the saw failed or the rope went entirely. When guys complained about the dangling handle, he'd say, "Ya know there are just too many pickin' peckerheads in this world, who like to beat their brains against the post of correction." That usually left them scratching their heads. They didn't know whether to laugh or be insulted?! Gramps was pretty smart and was offered a free ride scholarship to university, but he preferred working in the woods. He had more practical common sense than many a more "educated" fellow. Can't say I admired him much tho, he was so full of bs and smart- alleck remarks, it was hard to tell when he was telling the truth, and he liked to pull nasty practical jokes. Thanks for another hilarious video, where you tell it like it is! 😂
That un-tieable knot is somehow analogous to one's feeling about marriage, methinks.
Another visit to Mr. Wilson's inverse zoo where the animals come to see the human.....and I got to see sawdust......Yay!!!!
I don’t think I heard that compact torque wrench click or beep. Maybe it’s bluetooth.
I've been doing this trick since I was in the 3rd grade
@@biglouie9547 lol, it just comes natural to some folks, ( what to do if a rope breaks?) well you only have 2 options, 1, tie it back together or 2, have two short ropes
we need the story of why your top cover is cracked up...... did your saw fight a tree?
oh just a tractor..... classic heeh
He ran over it with his tractor. There's a whole video about it.
It happened on camera, he ran over the saw IIRC
Did that ONCE with a truck with a borrowed saw back in the Jurassic Era.
Cost me big bucks to have the Stihl Dealer make it pristine new.
Lesson LEARNED!
Check your work area for equipment before moving vehicles!
Buddy that I borrowed it from was thrilled about having so many new parts on an old saw. LoL
I still have saws with a bootlace starter 😂
I have to admit, I too have left them that way for a very long time. 😁
In one of these video cuts, one of the audience became venison I suspect.
Chain adjuster failures……pain
Service Manual says 6 turns clockwise.
The tractor tire won the battle with the Stihl, but Stihl keeps on ticking.
That knife is longer than Dads!
“Chaisaw” in the title - I thought you were going to sit on a chaise that’s also a saw ;)
Fantastic information! Thankyou!
Looks like I could improvise a starter rope with para cord.
What was that? A new species of animal no one ever seen yet? How dangerous might they be?
Chaisaw? I don't have a chaisaw.
Electric saws don't have starter ropes...
a pro would hav a spare in there pocket
A PRO would have spare saws!
"Chaisaw Starter Rope Hack" Chainsaw?
Chainsaw starter rope hack… buy electric saw, no rope needed 😉
Another benefit of staying woke with electric haha
Just another example of terrible Stihl design and build quality.
Yeah, they don't use magical unbreakable rope on the starter, and the cover cracks after it was run over by a measly little tractor. 😠
I've never had a problem with them in Commercial use.
I also did a stint working for a power equipment dealer who sold all the commercial brands. The tree companies used Stihl saws.
The landscapers used Husky or Echo because they trashed them and they were cheaper.
Arabian chainsaw knife tool!!!