Why does the "Wild Thing" exist?

   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #1  

montanaman

Gold Member
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Aug 29, 2005
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421
Location
Butler PA
Tractor
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I did some service work on a Poulan Wild Thing. Customer has been called, but hasn't picked it up yet. Hope he doesn't stick me with it because I'd throw it away before I would sell it!! I even cut my labor charge down a lot out of guilt because I now know what a hunk of junk this thing is!

It all started with me selling a replacement chain for the saw. A day or two later, the saw comes back and the throttle is jammed, and I'm asked if I can look at it. Well the idle screw fell out of the carb and fell down the handle and jammed the throttle. Fix that and notice that the chain is climbing out of the bar groove. Look at the chain and notice the sprocket is so bad that the drive links on the chain are getting smashed by the sprocket, between the teeth. Now the chain is trying to climb out of the bar.

Track down the sprocket from Poulan and find out they want more for shipping than the part costs? I guess when you have a few dealers around, you have to handle your direct parts sales in a full list, high freight manner so the dealers don't get mad. Because it's a different sprocket than most Poulans, I can't get it through any of my usual sources, but I find it and buy it from ebay.

Get this junker back together and start it up to set the idle speed. Well right away I know why the idle screw fell out. There is absolutely no anti-vibration in this purple and green junker at all. I only ran it for a few minutes and for a few seconds at higher RPM to check the oiler and make sure the chain was tracking OK and my hands were almost asleep!

I hope this guy shows up and pays his bill soon!!
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #2  
I have a couple of friends that love those things and I was thinking about getting one :eek:
What would suggest for a low price homeowner say? I have an old yellow McCullough that wont start the second time and won't run any longer than 1 minute. I've been using my sawsall with a heavy wood blade but I don't have electric everywhere
:)
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #3  
"Low Price" all depends on how many hours you put on it. If you are getting by with a Sawzall, then I suspect you don't put too many hours on it.

My advice would be to check Craigslist and look for a used Stihl or Shindaiwa, maybe a Husky.

One of my friends is a district sales manager for Shindaiwa, and he's still got an old McCollough that he keeps around for limbing trees.

Myself, I've got a Stihl 036 that I bought used from the Stihl shop for $300. Probably over paid by about $50, but they went through it first and checked everything out, and that is worth $50 in my book. I also have a Shindaiwa 357 that I use for limbing and pruning. $100 on Craigslist, and I couldn't be happier with it.

That being said, I'm going to pick up a cheap $50 Remington electric chainsaw for use inside my shop. Manual oiler is a pain, but these are throw away saws. The nicer ones with auto oiler have so much plastic you can't even tighten the blade down tight without cracking the plastic.

-Steve
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #4  
Sometimes companies do, over a period of time, either raise or lower the quality of their products. The place I've noticed that the most over the years has been with RVs. I know about the cheapest piece of junk motorhome in 1972 later because much, much better quality. By the same token, I've seen some good ones go downhill fast.

So I wonder if that's what happened to Poulan and their chain saws. I had one of their chain saws 30 years ago and it never gave me any trouble at all. I gave it away, still working great, after 11 years because I sold the house and went to full time RVing. Then in the late '90s, I bought another one and it, too, never gave me a minute's trouble. I only sold it when I was selling the place in the country and moving back to town. So I guess you could say I've been a fan of Poulan saws; lightweight, easy to start, and dependable. However, if I remember right, this is the second or third time I've seen something about their poor quality on TBN. And last Fall, one of my brothers bought a new one, tore it up, and returned it for a refund in less than a month.:eek: I guess I'd have to think twice before buying one now.
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #5  
Big E, I purchased a Remington electric for my wife to use. What a piece of junk, I gave it away. Check Ebay for an electric Stihl or something reliable, you'll be glad you did.
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #6  
I guess mine is an exception. it starts and runs well. Its 4 years old and I leave the gas in it. It was a gift and I'm not going to complain. I do realize its a low end disposible saw and I don't think I'd bring it anywhere for repair. I would expect repair costs would exceed its value.
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #7  
I have one also. i think i paid $89 for it new. It starts and runs after sitting for months at a time. I only use it to cut down mesquite trees that make me mad every so often. I don;t think the cahin would standup to any real use, and mine will not idle period.
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #8  
I had a Poulan given to me about 4 years ago. Thankfully it was given to me because I would have been mad if I would have spent money on it. I did get a little use out of it here and there but it constantly had problems... the pull start recoil being the worst. Then Hurricane Rita hit and I had no choice but to go get a new saw. I bought an Echo CS440 and have loved it. The Echo probably cost twice as much or more than the Poulan, but, I have used it through two hurricanes and clearing 3 acres without even a sign of a problem or showing any real wear. I ended up giving the Poulan to a friend that wanted it... now I understand why it was given to me. :D
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I guess what got me the most was the complete lack of thought to vibration when they built this thing. They gave it lots of marketing hype with the "wild color scheme", but put no quality in it. I've run a few of their PRO models, and while there is nothing PRO about them, at least they don't shake apart!

I say if you can settle for a Poulan, at least get the PRO, with anti-vibe and it is supposed to have a better cylinder that should last a bit longer.

My biggest complaint is that for anything bigger than limbing, they just don't cut it. They put a big bar on a very weak power head in order to make it look like a great value. The only way they get this combination to work at all is to run a skip chain, with two links between each cutter. This causes it to cut painfully slow and want to bind when cutting larger diameter hard wood.

My dad had a Poulan Wood Shark, I think it was. I was glad when he asked me to set him up with a new smaller saw because the Wood Shark had no chain brake, and he is not an experienced operator at all!

I sold his like new Poulan for $50 to a guy who wanted me to repair the same saw for him. It a lucky day for both of us!
 
   / Why does the "Wild Thing" exist? #10  
I had a Poulon Pro and thought it was a very good value for the money. I got the idea that chainsaws were cheap enough to be throughaways. Kind of like electronics have become. I burned out the Poulon Pro ripping oak beams and cutting 1 1/2 inch slabs off of them over a period of time. It did the job with the wrong blade, so I'm not complaining at all.

I tried the wild thing along the lines of the cheap throw away. It didn't last the day, and all I was doing was de-limbing cedar trees on the ground. I took it back and got a full refund and bought another Poulon Pro. This one was either a lemon, or the first one that I had was a gem. It just wasn't the same saw. The chain wouldn't stay tight, it kept coming off and then the sprocket stripped out. This was in just a few days. I took it back and got a refund.

I had already had a huge disapointment with Husqavarna, so that was out. I won't give them anymore money.

Echo and Stihl were the two that I had to chose from. I have a local dealer that sells both and that I had just bought an Echo weed eater from. He said that for the same money, the Echo had a bigger gearbox and more power. I expected him to say the same thing when it came to buying a good chainsaw, but he suprised me. He said the Stihl was the better saw for the money. I have two Stihl's now and agree that they are quality tools. Lots of power without any quit in them.

Eddie
 
 
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