Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Another chainsaw thread!

My dad has a Stihl MS280. He bought it new about 8-10 years ago and it’s been mostly a POS. It’s been in the shop 5-6 times over the years for carb troubles, ignition issues, and lately a bad coil. When it would run it would run like a raped ape, when it would run.

Now it’s getting weirder. Last winter he broke the pull rope. Bought the right length and size rope from Stihl dealer and installed with help from Utube. Second time out the entire recoil starter swallowed it’s ass. Replacement ordered and bolted on, saw ran until last month when the coil crapped out. He took it to a dealer who put a coil on it and cleaned the carb. Upon return it fired on the second pull and promptly ate the recoil starter, plastic pieces everywhere and puked the rope out. Back to the dealer.

Picked it up this time and it fires right up after a tug of two. Problem, it runs backwards! Kill it and try again and it’ll normally be running in the right direction but is a gutless wonder. Makes no power and smokes like a freight train. Try to cut with it and now the bar will slide and let the chain slack off within the first couple cuts.

I’m voting that he yards it off in the creek and buys an Echo, mom’s in my camp. He wants to keep fiddling with it but is frustrated and down $230 for the last couple trips to the shop.

Ideas?

i've never heard of that type of thing from stihl. i'd cut my losses and get a husky.

Husqvarna 372xp.

Sell it and get a MS261.

Get a husky

No husky dealers around besides Atwoods. They don’t carry anything but homeowner saws and don’t have a service dept. so probably a negative on the Husky. We can basically choose between Stihl and Echo if we want parts and service in this neck of the woods.

I told him it was possible for a 2 smoke to run backwards, which of course we knew because we watched it run backwards. Just can’t figure out why it would start doing it all the sudden.

ditch promtly and get a stihl 360

i've had NO problems with mine in the last 10 yrs.

Order a 550XP(or larger) from Baileys.

That POS would be on Craigslist tonight and gone tomorrow.

Ditch a sthihl to buy another sound advice

Sam liking the husky

Bad keyway?

Mebbe so BigJim. I watched some English dude on the YouTube explaining it but I couldn’t hardly understand him and his pictures he drew weren’t great either.

The thing was a first year for the model I’m pretty sure and has more or less sucked from the get go. Maybe it’s just a lemon.

Sounds like a 180 our of time , the 280 was not made long and sthil proudest moment

like mose of the responders have said get a husky,the dealer of non commercial saws can still service it ////no brainer/// a 255 Farmer is a great saw 20 inch blade or anything from 16 to 24 inch good luck

norm

The only dealer around here doesn’t service anything, commercial or otherwise. Not that the Stihl dealer service has really done him any good, but He isn’t buying anything without service available.

TheKid;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day's treated you well other than the nettlesome issue with the saw and all in your world that matter are well.

Since I've heated with wood for several decades and have been doing a fair bit of yard cleanup this past year on our wooded acreage I've been getting more into saws.

For whatever it's worth, Echo have a good reputation up here and if you have a dealer you trust I'd absolutely recommend it.

Usually Stihl make a decent saw, I've got a little one for limbing in fact, but my bigger saws have been Husky - the current one an '06 made 372XPG with a 24" bar.

Again however, if I had a local Echo dealer I'd have no issues buying one.

Hope that was useful, good luck whichever way you decide and all the best to you all.

Dwayne

Thanks Dwayne. I run an Echo myself, this is only it’s second season but so far it’s been a good unit. The guys at the shop where I got mine are great guys and carry both Stihl and Echo, on their recommendation I bought an Echo as they said of late they’d had less warranty work on them.

I’m in the camp that says it’s time to cut his losses but ultimately it’s his call, I’ll help him work on it if I can but I don’t really know how deep I want to get into it.

TheKid;
Thanks for the reply.

Indeed I learned a bunch about saws when our eldest daughter worked in a local shop that sold and serviced Stihl and Husky.

There's a vast chasm of difference between the commercial and home owner grade saws nowadays too, so much so that they refused to sell me a little 30cc Husky which they termed "disposable" and that's how I ended up with the MS170 Stihl.

I want to say that your dad's saw is a home owner grade and possibly not Stihl's best effort from what I've read, but again everyone seems to make a less than wonderful product from time to time.

Again good luck with it whichever way your father ends up going.

Dwayne

I've got an Echo CS-490, no issues at all. Other one I really liked was a Jonsred, it was a beast. Not the same now.