Seanm
Minister of Fire
I was looking at those and thought they looked good but yeah flimsy would not be good. Report back oldman if they break. Enjoy that saw!
New 555 arrived today
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Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
So how is it working out for you? I'm thinking in a 365/372 thee saw plan to go with my 361/254 I have already.
I got a chance to run it today before the rain started. I thought I had plenty of wood set aside to buck so that I could do the heavy cutting 3 to 5 minutes straight for the auto tune to adjust. Live and learn, but I was able to improvise to get up to the 3 minute mark. That is one cutting machine compared to my 026. My buried in the wood tuning runs were about 18 inch diameter ash rounds that needed to be cut in half to be the right size for my stove. It took 8 of them to give me that 3 minutes run, which is all of the big ones I had.
No doubt it's a good saw. The AT plays havoc at first especially if you cut at different altitudes. I only run premium through mine and it sips fuel at an alarmingly slow rate.
Did you turn the oil all the way up? I can go near 2 tanks before an oil fill at full pelt.
Also how do you find the goofy starting?
I left the oil at the mid-position preset which is supposed to be about right for my 20 inch bar. The wide open setting says it is for the 24 inch bar in the manual.
So far the AT seems to be just fine.
I will admit it was strange using the starting routine when I was used to starting a Stihl. The only similarity was to get it off choke as soon as you can after a minor burp and never go back to it. The compression release is nice to have. One time I had the saw shut off while doing other things and when I went back to the saw I tried a pull before noticing the compression release. It sure pulls hard without it.
Clyde S. Dale
Feeling the Heat
Just my opinion, but given your current saw lineup if you want a 3 saw plan, I would look at the Stihl MS460 or 461 or a Dolmar/Makita 7900/01.
Jon1270
Minister of Fire
I'm with Clyde. A 365/372 will leave you with no reason to use the 361. If you really like the 361, then go bigger than a 372 for your third saw. If you don't need a bigger saw than the 372 and are lukewarm on the 361, then get the 372, sell the 361, and maybe pick up a nice smaller, very lightweight saw for trimming and limbing.
FWIW the biggest saw I use regularly is an 044, which is Stihl's answer to a 372. Just yesterday I put a 28" bar on it with skip chain and bucked up a dead red elm big enough to bury the nose, and it did fine -- not speedy, but fine. How big are the trees you'd like to cut regularly?
Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
I'm usually in 18-30" stuff on a regular basis .i really like my 361 and am just looking for a saw that I can swap back and forth with. Don't want to wear the ol girl out ya know
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