My Stihl 021 is 'stringing' me along

[jinman]

I had not used my Stihl 021, 16" chainsaw in about two years. Recently, I gassed it up, put on a new chain, added chain/bar oil, choked it and pulled the starter. After about 6 pulls, it sputtered to life and then roared. It runs perfectly. I have several trees piled up in a nice neat parallel pile. Using my grapple, I grip a trunk and move it to my cutting area. I put the at the ideal height and get off to cut. Things are working perfectly. I cut up three small trees in a hurry. Between each tree, I stop the saw and set in a safe clear area. As I began the 4th tree, I pulled the start rope and SNAP! The rope broke.

Today, I got to my local Stihl dealer and bought 6' of 3.5mm starter rope. It was $11. I could buy a 100' spool for that online, but what would I ever do with 100'? Removing the pull rope cover was a snap and removing the old rope was easy too. The only problem was threading the new rope into the spool because I melted the end of the rope an it flared. I should have threaded through some mono-filament fishing line, but kept trying until I lifted the spool just enough and SPRANG!!! The spring popped out! Sheesh!

So, I got to wrestle the spring back in place after more attempts than I care to admit. The spool went back together and tension was set perfectly. With a couple of pulls of the rope, the saw fired right off and made happy saw sounds.

Tomorrow, I get to try again. I have too much wood and dry standing dead trees to have a busted chainsaw.

[LD1]

Sounds like you need a backup saw.

I hear dolmar makes a fine saw

[xyz123]

Your learning. Keep it up.

I've never paid over .20 a foot for starter rope local. Dealer got you for sure.

[Treemonkey1000]

There are some good Youtube videos on replacing those. I have done it the hard way and the easier way before. Still once that spring is out the opportunity for cuss words does goe up in quantum leaps.

[jinman]

Here is a photo of my bucking stand. This works so slick because I can even cut between the teeth on my rock bucket/grapple. My post oak and blackjack oak trees are perfectly sized for cutting rounds this way before splitting. I learned a lesson in another thread from someone who said to touch up the chain with a file every time you fill with gas/oil. I can easily make a touch-up to each tooth (55 on my 16" saw) and be back to cutting in 5 minutes or less (I think that tip came from LD1...Thanks!). It keeps my saw so sharp that it goes through these hard dry oak trees like butter. This little saw is all I need. I have 3 or 4 other saws that people have given me with not much wrong, including an old McCulloch 110 that I have not used in forever. This Stihl is so good, it rarely needs anything, but the pull rope was the exception.

[cqaigy2]

Geeze, if i tried that with my "tractor" it would nose forward. Looks like just the right height for bucking. Now you need to set up so the pieces fall into a wagon for you to hall back to the wood shed.

[newbury]

I've only had to rethread starter ropes about 4 times. I learned real quick to beware of that spring to prevent it going sproing.
And I've found my old 021 to be one of the most reliable saws. It takes "old" gas better than the others.
If you feel the need to get rid of that old useless Stihl 021 I'll take it off your hands
I could use another, then I would have a pair of 021's, a pair of 660's and an 088