Echo CS-7310P Pro Chainsaw: Questions & Thoughts & Things You`ve Done With Yours.

[BX23S-1]

Hello folks
I just bought a brand new Echo CS-7310P saw. (20" bar 3/8 .058 ga) This saw starts very well, runs very good.
I would like to hear from the folks in here if they have this particular saw, and what they think of it after running it for awhile.
The saw is only using VP 50:1 Fuel in the 1 gallon tin can. I did pick up a 6-pak of the Echo Premium 2 stroke oil to mix (NON CORN) fuel later on after the VP fuel is used up.

Muff Mod: Is the muffler mod really worth doing? Anybody have pics of their muffler mods? How does your saw run after the muffler mod? Was there that much of a difference?
I`m not into porting the saw, so as to make that clear right off the bat. I cut trees down for firewood when needed. I saw up storm damaged trees. I`m not interested in costly porting mods.

So far, mine is untouched, exception to adding the Westcoast 3 Bark Dogs.
Be very careful if you decide to change out the bark dogs, Echo really dumped gobbs of some form of white loctite in the bolts to the inner dog.
When i took the OEM dogs off mine, the top inner hole stripped most of the thread out of the case just getting the bolt out. I had no clue they filled these holes so full of loctite.

I was able to run a tap in the holes to clean up Echo`s loctite mess. When i installed the new WC3 dogs, i used loctite when i put the inner dog bolts back in the case.
The outside dogs have a bolt and a nut, (nuts are hidden behind the nylon chain guides within the chain case cover) those were no problem removing/reinstalling when i installed the WC3 dogs.

What chains are you running, or have tried. What worked best for you. I picked up a couple extra of the Oregon 73EXL chains for mine. Haven`t tried those yet.
I noticed right away, that the OEM bar seems a bit stiff in certain spots. I`m trying to find a better quality bar for it, not had great luck finding any in stock though.
I hand file my chains, always have. Maybe someday i`ll step up to a grinder. They seem quite pricey though, so i`ll hold out on that for awhile. Might find a nice used one somewhere.

Does anyone know who makes a hard-shell case that actually fits these saws? I`ve had zero luck finding any.

This thread is intended to talk about the Echo CS-7310P & CS-7310PW Pro saws. I`m not interested in conversations about other brands as a comparison. Thank you.

 

[BX23S-1]

I`m looking for the part number for the Tsumura 28 inch (light weight) bar.
If there are better bars than this for this Echo CS7310 saw, i`m all ears.

 

[JJT]

I've had the Echo 680 for 6+ years, still stock and using standard 20" bars and chains. I'm happy with the saw. A logger friend borrowed my saw for a day and the next day bought his own 680 with a 28" bar. 5 years later it's still in use daily.

It's a heavy saw, great for felling and bucking. I reach for a smaller saw for limbing and cutting small stuff.

I only run echo 2 stroke oil and ethanol free gas. The logger uses ethanol gas and the cheapest 2 stroke oil he can find. Neither of us has had any issues. I've worn out many chains, and a few bars.

 

[5030]

SawAgain as well as Baileys and Saw Salvage sell lighter weight replacement bars. Far as chains go, I now make up my own, saw chain is cheaper in bulk rolls but you need a rivet spinner to make them up.

At least all the Echo 'Pro' saws don't have built in cats in the mufflers and neither does the 590 I just bought.

Far as chain grinders go, I now have 2 because everyone around here (as well as the arborists) I sharpen chipper knives for, have discovered I sharpen chain loops so I seem to have a ton of loops hanging in the shop presently to sharpen...lol

I took a change and bought a second grinder as the Oregon grinder (which is a Tecomec rebranded to Oregon) is quite expensive. I bought a 'Veyvor' off of Amazon and it was 100 bucks and an exact Chinese copy of the Tecomec/Oregon.

Works very well and actually, the chain vise is more substantial than the Oregon and grips the chains much tighter.

I have one (Veyvor) for grinding teeth and I use the Oregon / Tecomec for setting rakers and both are running the Diamond Wheel, Inc., CBN wheels. The CBN wheels are a bit pricey but never need profiling unlike the OEM stone wheels.

If anyone wants the OEM stone wheels, I'll send them to you as I have quite a few that I'll never use.

 

[BX23S-1]

I've had the Echo 680 for 6+ years, still stock and using standard 20" bars and chains. I'm happy with the saw. A logger friend borrowed my saw for a day and the next day bought his own 680 with a 28" bar. 5 years later it's still in use daily.

It's a heavy saw, great for felling and bucking. I reach for a smaller saw for limbing and cutting small stuff.

I only run echo 2 stroke oil and ethanol free gas. The logger uses ethanol gas and the cheapest 2 stroke oil he can find. Neither of us has had any issues. I've worn out many chains, and a few bars.

The 680P was what i went to buy because i got tired of waiting for the CS7310 saws to show up, and low an behold, i walk in the echo dealer, and they were setting a brand new CS7310 on the rack that had just came in that morning. I wasn`t leaving without it.

 

[5030]

I've 'coerced' my Kubota dealer into carrying the Echo line of saws, trimmers and blowers. They are looking for retail dealers in this area and he already sells Cub Cadet mowers and tillers so why not.

I find Stihl to be overpriced and over rated anyway. Why pay 50% more for a comparable Stihl? Makes no sense to me.

Have not even fired the 580 I bought. Waiting for the air cleaner mod as well as the Billet aluminum muffler deflector and the offset key to show up.

7310 is a bit big for my use, the 580 is just the right size for my uses. I like a 20" bar myself.

 

[BX23S-1]

SawAgain as well as Baileys and Saw Salvage sell lighter weight replacement bars. Far as chains go, I now make up my own, saw chain is cheaper in bulk rolls but you need a rivet spinner to make them up.

At least all the Echo 'Pro' saws don't have built in cats in the mufflers and neither does the 590 I just bought.

Far as chain grinders go, I now have 2 because everyone around here (as well as the arborists) I sharpen chipper knives for, have discovered I sharpen chain loops so I seem to have a ton of loops hanging in the shop presently to sharpen...lol

I took a change and bought a second grinder as the Oregon grinder (which is a Tecomec rebranded to Oregon) is quite expensive. I bought a 'Veyvor' off of Amazon and it was 100 bucks and an exact Chinese copy of the Tecomec/Oregon.

Works very well and actually, the chain vise is more substantial than the Oregon and grips the chains much tighter.

I have one (Veyvor) for grinding teeth and I use the Oregon / Tecomec for setting rakers and both are running the Diamond Wheel, Inc., CBN wheels. The CBN wheels are a bit pricey but never need profiling unlike the OEM stone wheels.

If anyone wants the OEM stone wheels, I'll send them to you as I have quite a few that I'll never use.

Thank you for your post, very informative! I don`t cut enough firewood to make it worth having a large bulk roll of chain sitting around, let alone all the tooling to make complete chains. I`ve always held off even buying a grinder. I don`t run my saws hard. A quick touch up on the chains keep me rolling for what i have to do. What i DO want, is a better, lighter bar. A lighter 28" bar will hopefully still keep this saw pretty balanced. The 20" on the saw right now, is perfectly balanced, and i like that. So by putting a light weight 28" on it, will hopefully bring a nice balance to it. I`ll check out those 2 you mentioned about the bars. Thank you for that! I`m kinda new to the Echo chainsaw brand, and still learning. I`ve owned Stihl saws for over 40yrs, but they`ve gone beyond what i want to pay for a decent pro saw. I own a couple old Echo weedeaters i`ve had for many decades, they refuse to die, lol, still using them today! When i saw that the echo`s were still made in Japan, i knew i couldn`t go wrong with the brand. I know the echo saws are bogged down due to EPA (ridiculous) rules, but as i say, i`m old, and i`m not into chainsaw racing. I want reliability, and to also be able to adjust the carb mixtures to my liking. I`m not a fan at all with all this electronic carb tune stuff. Just more stuff to go wrong in my opinion.

 

[BX23S-1]

Tell me how i would benefit by going to the .050ga vs the .058ga bar an chain.
Seems the standard is geared more towards the .050ga rather than the .058ga with alot of saws. Mine came with the .058ga.

Would i have to change the clutch sprocket if i switch to the .050ga ?

 

[5030]

depends on how the drive tangs are configured.

 

[5030]

I still own a couple Stihl's but won't buy any more. Good saws just over priced today. I used to be a devout hand filer myself but the inherent accuracy and repeatability of a chain grinder far exceeds any hand filing, jig or not... and just because your grind the chain, don't mean you have to remove a substantial amount of tooth each grind either. The amount of tooth removal is entirely dependent on how much you advance the tooth into the grinding wheel and that is controlled by the tooth pawl on the machine.

I just advance the tooth to where the grinding wheel just contacts it and then a tad bit more, unless of course you 'rock' a loop, then you have to determine the 'bad teeth' and advance the teeth to restore them as well as the rest of the loop.

One thing to keep in mind and that is, you only grind a little at a time with each grind pass or you'll 'blue' the teeth and unlike the You Tubers say, bluing a tooth don't make it soft, on the contrary, it makes them harder and if you harden them, you cannot hand file them ever again.

Very careful about not getting into dirt when bucking but there is always a chance that there will be something metal in the wood you are cutting and that will also 'rock' a loop.

I have a buddy who runs Carbide saw chains. With a carbide chain, you have to dress them with a Diamond wheel and Diamond Wheels, Incorporated also sells diamond dressing wheels (what he uses). The rakers on a Tungsten Carbide chain will still be mild steel. Nice thing about carbide teeth is, they last a long time but the initial expense is quite high.

I believe that is what fire departments run when they cut into roofs during a fire. Roofing will dull a conventional chain very quickly. Kind of like putting a saw chain in the dirt or hitting something metal (like a nail) in a chunk of wood you are cutting.

One thing about professional arborists, when they dull a chain, they just change them out for a new loop but new loops are getting pretty expensive so I'm getting regrinds from the arborists I sharpen their chipper knives for. Stand to reason that regrinding chains is more cost effective than buying new loops.

The only chains that are a PITA to regrind are the low profile, reduced kickback PICO chains and not because of the cutting teeth but because their Rakers are odd shaped, but then most professional arborists don't use them anyway.