I like your tractor! I've got the family 65' Super XL12, it was born same year as me, used it as a kid. Just got it running after it sat for 25-30yrs. Great old saw!
I saw a bumper sticker when I was working down south, Practice Random Kindness; It's Contagious. I've seen it proven so many times. Your videos are another example, thank you.
This old saw was a bit of a challenge, as it was in very poor shape, but because they were such tough ol saws, it came back to life, and is in useable shape again.
Just got me a mcculloch 10 10 with stock 20 inch hard noise bar with right hand side starting.Previous owner has had it in the box for 15 plus years, its basically brand new.i paid $165 bucks for her im so happy!!🙌
The XL 12 was a game changer for the consumer chainsaw market, and is a nice looking saw. RAT-SAWZILLA is just such a beater, it is hard to appreciate its true great form ! Still runs and cuts though.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 that was the first saw I ever owned. At 14 my father bought a used one for me. Before that, everything was cut and split by hand (3 cords a year), that made things soooo much easier for both of us. RAT-SAWZILLA is AWESOME. I just got done rebuilding another classic, a Stihl 028 type 1, ( 1979 or there abouts, ) it was produced before Stihl switched to T-27 cap screws, this one has 4 mm allen heads.
My first saw was a 1978 McCulloch Pro Mac 610 I bought used for $35 in 1980. Still on the job with me after all this time. Amazingly, after collecting and fixing old chainsaws since the early 80's I didnt have an XL 12 till about a year ago. They are certainly a tough well built saw with many still being used today. @@thomasgronek6469
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 As are the Mac Machines, I'm on the prowl for one, just have to clean up a few loose saws around here before I start a new project. A 610 sounds like a good introduction for me. Thanks for the idea.
Andrew is an amazing guy he just gave me a mac 10-10 i dont know y but o man am i glad and another great guy is mac 131 hes a super smart guy with a good heart he is doin the work on the mac Andrew gave me i can't explain how good theae guys made me feel over the last couple weeks they really have changed my mood as of late. An so many others to. This community is amazing. Hope u are well sir.
Great video man!! Those ol saws always keep a fella on his toes that's forshure lol she's got a nice sound to it!! I'm glad you like the package 📦 the homelite part should be there soon 😀 I got the box you sent I will open it soon!! Thanks man your a great fella!!!!
A relative volunteers on an excursion railroad, and the volunteers there arent to savvy mechanically, and both of their track inspection rigs were either unsafe or inoperable. Because of covid, they had no income for the trains, so I did a bunch of repairs on the rail speeder and donated time and parts to make it operational. The HI RAIL pick up truck had no brakes, so I donated time and materials to get it safe to operate. I benefit from this as I get free train rides if I am in the area, and also get to run my old saws when clearing trees for them. I will have a video up on this soon, and did a video about the speeder a while ago. Makes for good fodder for videos !
I sanded down the bar on my 926 and got all the rust off of it. I primed it with grey metal primer and out a couple of coats of epoxy paint on it to match the color of the 026. It looks nice and I put a chain on it the other day. It is an odd ball length of about 19 inches and runs 74 cutters. I understand it was the standard bar for the 026/ ms 260 Pro, which is what it is, now. I think bars look better painted and it protects them from rust.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 II used standard grey lacquer and Appliance Epoxy (Biscuit color) from Ace Hardware. It matches Stihl’s color, almost perfectly. I let it air dry and then hung it up in the shop for a month to cure out.
My XL12 is just like yours, except it is red. If I read the serial number right mine was built in 1973. It’s SN starts with 03. I put a new O ring on the plunger and mine oils fine with its 16 inch bar. I also replaced the fuel lines and cleaned up the carb.
My old Rat Sawzilla is a Super XL of 58cc. My regular XL 12 is a red one, 1972 model (the first red XL's). I run a 20" bar, and did the same repairs to get mine up and cutting.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 mine is a nice running saw but a little heavy for me, today. It crank easy, unlike some of my Stihl saws. They crank easy and run good but .I cannot handle the pull over, anymore. They just snatch the rope out of my hand orI I hit a brick wall after about a foot of pull. My younger friends can drop start them with one drop of the saw. My left arm is such I cannot drop start a saw anymore - can’t control where the bar goes.
Mr Obsolete, Thanks for sharing another informational video. It actually is good to see the old saw didn't run perfect after you did your magic on it. It shows that we live in a imperfect world, and sometimes it takes a 2nd or 3rd look to get the bugs out. I thank you for being that guy who comes back at it, instead of doing the smoke and mirrors trick, where amazingly it comes out perfect every time. P.s. where did you get your bar tuning tools and what do you think of them, I need to find a good set to repair a couple of my old Macs
Projects dont always turn out perfect, and this old XL had some features that I have not run into on other saws that I have repaired. I had some old repair manuals that had the info I needed to figure out the strange fuel system this saw has. Actually as bad as this old saw is, getting even running was quite the challenge. I will look into the saw at a later date, as all my gardens need to be harvested and do some canning. The saw bar rail tool I got off ebay, and wasnt very expensive, but the file in it is poor, so had to be replaced. The rail closer is the second one I bought. The first one was off ebay and is a cheapo chinese junker that wouldnt work properly, so the second one I bought at a saw shop, and is good quality, and works fine. Do some looking and buy the better stuff.
I just found your channel and I love it! I'm a big fan of the blue Homelite XL's. My Dad bought one in the 1970's that was an older saw from the 60's that had a fresh rebuild but had been rebuilt several times before we got it. It was originally traded in to a local dealer, now out of business, called "Ideal Hardware". The mechanic there had figured out a way to bore the cylinder past the last oversize available and install a larger 2 stroke motorcycle piston and rings. Everyone wanted one and good old Dad came thru and bought one either by luck (or because it was cheaper than a new one more likely). I don't know what piston he used or what the bore ended up being but that saw was POWERFUL and we used it for years until Dad traded it in on a Stihl sometime in the late 80's. I've always wondered what the combination was. The type of motorcycle piston and bore size he used. Have you heard of any mods like he was doing or have any info on the details? I've always wondered but I don't have the saw to open it up and see. Thanks Chris B.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 This is my name, written in Cyrillic letters, because I am a Bulgarian guy. Otherwise it will be : Vladimir Manoilov. Or maybe my question is not clear? I think that mechanic can not reproduce the thin Chrome layer inside the cylinder after he bored it to the larger size. Talking about the Kentucky Fried Fixes story.
You probably have the fuel problem and an air leak as well. If you find you need seals part number SKF 6119 I believe will be the best option for both sides. It would convert it from single lip seal to a double lip seal.
Thanks for your expert advise. One thing I havent checked yet is the fuel cap .This old saw is going on the back burner for now, and will be a winter project. It is interesting how much more power the later XL,S have, compared to the real early one. A lot of changes were made in the 1965 saws, from the 1964 model, which made them a lot more powerful. Finding out all the nuances and changes on the early XL,s was a fun adventure. Thanks again.
I will at some point address the fuel pick up problem. This saw was quite a challenge, just to get it running because of the deplorable condition, and I have never had any XL 12,s in all the years of cutting firewood , till about a year ago, so I had to learn all about them . Challenges-challenges !
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 Well, I know you have the experience to figure it out. Did my 2004 Wrangler valve cover gasket yesterday. It was a tight squeeze. Not as easy as the one on my old 225 slant six Valiant way back when!
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 The 4.0 six is easier to work on than many engines, but doesn't have the accessibility of a slant 6 Valiant or Dart. The only things I can do on my wife's Honda is put in a new battery every few years and top off the windshield washer fluid.
I like your tractor! I've got the family 65' Super XL12, it was born same year as me, used it as a kid. Just got it running after it sat for 25-30yrs. Great old saw!
Very cool!
I saw a bumper sticker when I was working down south, Practice Random Kindness; It's Contagious. I've seen it proven so many times. Your videos are another example, thank you.
Thanks for the kind comment.
The xl 12 saws were very good ,built to last, and had excellent power, nice job getting your's back running.
This old saw was a bit of a challenge, as it was in very poor shape, but because they were such tough ol saws, it came back to life, and is in useable shape again.
What is great today you can get an aftermarket cylinder/ piston kit as well as oil seals etc. I have rebuilt several with excellent results.
Good to know.
Awesome Video Mr Obsolete 😊😀😊 Kindness and Generosity Make The World A Great Place 😊😊😊😀 Love The Video 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
You are spot on about kindness and generosity, as it makes our lives and others better. Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for watching.
Just got me a mcculloch 10 10 with stock 20 inch hard noise bar with right hand side starting.Previous owner has had it in the box for 15 plus years, its basically brand new.i paid $165 bucks for her im so happy!!🙌
An excellent find for sure !
Always an educational experience. I appreciate ya👍🏻
Thank you
Thanks for the video. I guess beauty really is ' in the eye of the beholder', My opinion is; this is about one of the handsomest saws ever made.
The XL 12 was a game changer for the consumer chainsaw market, and is a nice looking saw. RAT-SAWZILLA is just such a beater, it is hard to appreciate its true great form ! Still runs and cuts though.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 that was the first saw I ever owned. At 14 my father bought a used one for me. Before that, everything was cut and split by hand (3 cords a year), that made things soooo much easier for both of us. RAT-SAWZILLA is AWESOME. I just got done rebuilding another classic, a Stihl 028 type 1, ( 1979 or there abouts, ) it was produced before Stihl switched to T-27 cap screws, this one has 4 mm allen heads.
My first saw was a 1978 McCulloch Pro Mac 610 I bought used for $35 in 1980. Still on the job with me after all this time. Amazingly, after collecting and fixing old chainsaws since the early 80's I didnt have an XL 12 till about a year ago. They are certainly a tough well built saw with many still being used today. @@thomasgronek6469
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 As are the Mac Machines, I'm on the prowl for one, just have to clean up a few loose saws around here before I start a new project. A 610 sounds like a good introduction for me. Thanks for the idea.
Andrew is an amazing guy he just gave me a mac 10-10 i dont know y but o man am i glad and another great guy is mac 131 hes a super smart guy with a good heart he is doin the work on the mac Andrew gave me i can't explain how good theae guys made me feel over the last couple weeks they really have changed my mood as of late. An so many others to. This community is amazing. Hope u are well sir.
we are lucky indeed to have such nice people in our vintage saw community
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 perfectly said sir.
Random acts of kindness make both people feel good. I should do it more.
Nice works I have 2 xl 12s and a super xl all of them are red and in good condition
In 1972 the XL,s became red in color and were that color till 1988 when production ended.
I never new that I'm getting about another 20 home lites for 100 bucks and 3 pioneers
I love the stack muffler, cool old saws!
This saw is the loudest one I have ever run. Ear protection is a must.
Haha, my kid has a Pioneer 1100 with the same thing, super loud but very cool. Classic machines! 🍻🇨🇦
Great video man!! Those ol saws always keep a fella on his toes that's forshure lol she's got a nice sound to it!! I'm glad you like the package 📦 the homelite part should be there soon 😀 I got the box you sent I will open it soon!! Thanks man your a great fella!!!!
Your welcome
You will get it sorted out
How right you are, thanks for sharing.
Dang Shes loud! You've been visited by Santa Saws, you must have been a good boy this year!
A relative volunteers on an excursion railroad, and the volunteers there arent to savvy mechanically, and both of their track inspection rigs were either unsafe or inoperable. Because of covid, they had no income for the trains, so I did a bunch of repairs on the rail speeder and donated time and parts to make it operational. The HI RAIL pick up truck had no brakes, so I donated time and materials to get it safe to operate. I benefit from this as I get free train rides if I am in the area, and also get to run my old saws when clearing trees for them. I will have a video up on this soon, and did a video about the speeder a while ago. Makes for good fodder for videos !
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 Good job! Yeah, I saw the speeder video...trains are fun too!
I sanded down the bar on my 926 and got all the rust off of it. I primed it with grey metal primer and out a couple of coats of epoxy paint on it to match the color of the 026. It looks nice and I put a chain on it the other day. It is an odd ball length of about 19 inches and runs 74 cutters. I understand it was the standard bar for the 026/ ms 260 Pro, which is what it is, now. I think bars look better painted and it protects them from rust.
I had polished some bars I had a while ago, and they started to rust in just a few days. Painting the bars is the way to go.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 II used standard grey lacquer and Appliance Epoxy (Biscuit color) from Ace Hardware. It matches Stihl’s color, almost perfectly. I let it air dry and then hung it up in the shop for a month to cure out.
My XL12 is just like yours, except it is red. If I read the serial number right mine was built in 1973. It’s SN starts with 03. I put a new O ring on the plunger and mine oils fine with its 16 inch bar. I also replaced the fuel lines and cleaned up the carb.
My old Rat Sawzilla is a Super XL of 58cc. My regular XL 12 is a red one, 1972 model (the first red XL's). I run a 20" bar, and did the same repairs to get mine up and cutting.
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 mine is a nice running saw but a little heavy for me, today. It crank easy, unlike some of my Stihl saws. They crank easy and run good but .I cannot handle the pull over, anymore. They just snatch the rope out of my hand orI I hit a brick wall after about a foot of pull. My younger friends can drop start them with one drop of the saw. My left arm is such I cannot drop start a saw anymore - can’t control where the bar goes.
😮😮😮 mantaapp
Good video thank you
Mr Obsolete,
Thanks for sharing another informational video. It actually is good to see the old saw didn't run perfect after you did your magic on it. It shows that we live in a imperfect world, and sometimes it takes a 2nd or 3rd look to get the bugs out. I thank you for being that guy who comes back at it, instead of doing the smoke and mirrors trick, where amazingly it comes out perfect every time.
P.s. where did you get your bar tuning tools and what do you think of them, I need to find a good set to repair a couple of my old Macs
Projects dont always turn out perfect, and this old XL had some features that I have not run into on other saws that I have repaired. I had some old repair manuals that had the info I needed to figure out the strange fuel system this saw has. Actually as bad as this old saw is, getting even running was quite the challenge. I will look into the saw at a later date, as all my gardens need to be harvested and do some canning. The saw bar rail tool I got off ebay, and wasnt very expensive, but the file in it is poor, so had to be replaced. The rail closer is the second one I bought. The first one was off ebay and is a cheapo chinese junker that wouldnt work properly, so the second one I bought at a saw shop, and is good quality, and works fine. Do some looking and buy the better stuff.
I just found your channel and I love it! I'm a big fan of the blue Homelite XL's. My Dad bought one in the 1970's that was an older saw from the 60's that had a fresh rebuild but had been rebuilt several times before we got it. It was originally traded in to a local dealer, now out of business, called "Ideal Hardware". The mechanic there had figured out a way to bore the cylinder past the last oversize available and install a larger 2 stroke motorcycle piston and rings. Everyone wanted one and good old Dad came thru and bought one either by luck (or because it was cheaper than a new one more likely). I don't know what piston he used or what the bore ended up being but that saw was POWERFUL and we used it for years until Dad traded it in on a Stihl sometime in the late 80's. I've always wondered what the combination was. The type of motorcycle piston and bore size he used. Have you heard of any mods like he was doing or have any info on the details? I've always wondered but I don't have the saw to open it up and see. Thanks Chris B.
That is a neat story about the saw. I dont know about the big bore mod, but the guy who did it was a real mechanic.
CYLINDER TYPE:
"Aluminum with Chrome plated bore"...And this makes me wonder how this mechanic made it?
@@БайВладунчо ?
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 This is my name, written in Cyrillic letters, because I am a Bulgarian guy. Otherwise it will be : Vladimir Manoilov. Or maybe my question is not clear? I think that mechanic can not reproduce the thin Chrome layer inside the cylinder after he bored it to the larger size. Talking about the Kentucky Fried Fixes story.
@@БайВладунчо got it
You probably have the fuel problem and an air leak as well. If you find you need seals part number SKF 6119 I believe will be the best option for both sides. It would convert it from single lip seal to a double lip seal.
Thanks for your expert advise. One thing I havent checked yet is the fuel cap .This old saw is going on the back burner for now, and will be a winter project. It is interesting how much more power the later XL,S have, compared to the real early one. A lot of changes were made in the 1965 saws, from the 1964 model, which made them a lot more powerful. Finding out all the nuances and changes on the early XL,s was a fun adventure. Thanks again.
The automatic oiler on my SXLAuto was not working because the pickup line had swelled and fallen off.
Won't take too much to fix it !
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 fixed already with parts from a thrashed donor XL from my FIL. Used the clutch drum from it too.
😎
Are you planning to convert the wick fuel systems to a modern system to get around that issue?
I will at some point address the fuel pick up problem. This saw was quite a challenge, just to get it running because of the deplorable condition, and I have never had any XL 12,s in all the years of cutting firewood , till about a year ago, so I had to learn all about them . Challenges-challenges !
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 Well, I know you have the experience to figure it out. Did my 2004 Wrangler valve cover gasket yesterday. It was a tight squeeze. Not as easy as the one on my old 225 slant six Valiant way back when!
Modern vehicles are very hard to work on in many cases. That is why I drive old cars and trucks as well.@@jeffreyrubish347
@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 The 4.0 six is easier to work on than many engines, but doesn't have the accessibility of a slant 6 Valiant or Dart. The only things I can do on my wife's Honda is put in a new battery every few years and top off the windshield washer fluid.
Just use a dime to check an .050 bar. It will show you how loose the slot is.
You are right. A dime is exactly .050" Neat ol loggers trick !