Unsafe Poulan Wild Thing

Sounds like just an idle screw adjustment.
Clutch springs may be week too.
Does it have a chain brake?

But any excuse to go look at the new saws out there is good

More justification:
Always nice to have a back up saw, the Poulan would make a good back up

I wouldn't give up on it just yet--the adjustment is not that complicated. You will likely have to (with the saw running) back the idle speed screw off until the chain stops running. I'm not an expert in small engines, but I've had to do this with every saw that I've owned.

I've never seen a Wild Thing without a chain brake.? Setting the idle speed is simple. It's marked "T" on the cover. Clockwise increases the idle speed, counter-clockwise decreases idle speed. Set the speed, then blip the throttle a few times to double check it. The "T" screw backs off/falls out of the Wild Things sometimes. If it's missing, turn the saw upside down and shake it. The screw should fall out.

The idle adjustment should go just fine with a standard screwdriver but adjusting the carb on newer Wild Thingies might require a special inverted spline drive tool. Not an expensive tool but more aggravation for sure. I've gotten some Wild Things running/cutting quite well. When they were on sale at TSC for $100 I thought about picking one up to play with for porting/a toy saw.

My dad has a Wild thing..... what a steaming pile of crap....

JV_Thimble said:

Found the T or throttle screw, so I can give that a go. This is an older Wild Thing, and definitely no chain brake. Manual is dated 6/22/98.

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That is indeed a Wild Thing that has survived longer than expected. A lot of firewood gets cut via Wild Thing for sure. But then again, a lot of folks got to work in Dodge Omni's too.

JV_Thimble said:

Mostly pretty light/infrequent use. Been using it much more the past few years.

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Funny thing is, as long as they get good mix, the engines seem to hold up just fine for a long time. It's the deteriorating fuel lines, carburetor gaskets/diaphragms, ignition module or lack of any kind of AV system that get's these saws tossed in the dumpster.

If you're using the saw more and more, you may want to consider upgrading to something with an AV system. The vibes that saw puts out are bound to leave you with permanent nerve damage of some kind.

They make AV gloves too that might help.