Poulon 446 pole saw question

[Richard]

My wifes cousin next door has this Poulon 446 pole saw. It's actually a power head with the pole saw attachment.

If you saw an old thread of mine, this is the one where he said "it doesn't work" to which I wondered:

1. Does it not work, as it it doesn't run or
2. It doesn't work as in, it cuts poorly?

I finally talked with him about it yesterday and it cuts poorly (if at all)

He said when he put the saw on a branch that it simply stopped sawing while the engine kept running. He said he looked at the chain saw part looking for anything slipping or broken.

It dawned on me that it's probabaly the clutch on the engine that is slipping as opposed to being at the saw end.

I've not found a manual for this (don't have the saw in my hands yet either, picking it up tonight)

Anyone know this unit and know if/how you can adjust the clutch on it? or does the description of the problem suggest something else?

Oh, in addition, it was leaking gas like a sieve... turns out the hoses from the tank to throttle had rotted and the more he squirted the primer bulb, the more gas squirted out.

Today, I bought new hoses for it.

 

[nybirdman]

Bought one last year...biggest waste of $200.00 ever..junk new.Don't waste your time;buy a manual saw or spend $500.00 for a good one.Doesn't have enough power to do anything.

 

[TracTrac]

Richard, I'm not being disrespectful and I am truely sorry to be so blount. It's his problem. Hand it back to him. Plain and simple. If you know him well enough might even ask him if he is trying to start a family fued. Second thought, just hand it back to him and don't say anything. Mumble, "Keep the peace". When he asks "what did you say". Tell him to "Keep the Peace".
I see more poulan saws at the dumpster than all other saws combined. Correction. I only see poulan saws at the dumpster. One time I saw a man with an embarrased look on is face lie something that ressembled green blank on the ground beside the dumpster. I hollared " you missed".
Richard, be glad you only lost $200, easy lesson learned.

 

[Richard]

heh heh heh...

Perhaps I painted the picture wrong...

I'm looking to mooch on using it so I won't have to buy one. If I buy one, I'm pretty stuck on the big Stihl which is something like $700.

I want to see if this one will work so I can skip buying one and use this. Since he also lives on the family farm (3 houses on 250 acres) I'm ok with using his tool so I can help trim "his" farm! Since I do most of the cutting of the fields, it's my face getting wacked.

With due respect to Poulon owners, I will admit that the moment I saw the brand, my heart sunk... I've never been too impressed with the brand either. It does however, represent the way some people think.

Some folks think a saw is a saw and look at price rather than the substance behind the price. I think he tends to fall into this catagory. Nothing really wrong with that line of thinking as long as the tool for the job is capable of the job. I personally don't think this one is.

Aside from all that...

I DID finally get it to sputter.

Seems the fuel lines had rotted/cracked. I bought enough to replace them....or so I thought.

Seems they actually string THROUGH the fuel tank. I presumed there would be a nipple at the tank and I presumed wrong. Therefore, I did not buy enough length since I didn't take the length in the tank into account.

Fortunately, I didn't cut the length I had in half so I'm able to use the return line. I just got done stringing it through the hole in the tank. Tomorrow, I'll get the other hose replaced and see what happens.

I can't really use the sputtering of the engine as a barameter on how well it runs since the fuel lines were still screwed up.

My goal is to walk the permiter of the fields and cut the branches off that have grown over the fence. Toss them into my loader bucket and drop them at a burn site. This will take some of the drama out of cutting the fields AND give me something to burn... :thumbsup:

 

[TracTrac]

Home depot will rent an echo for $38 per day.
You will need to replace all the fuel lines, buy a kit with strainer. The carb will need to be soaked over night in some solvent. Preferable "power tune" from an out board dealer. If it has lots of hours might clean the spark arrestor. Make sure the chain oiler is pumping. Lots of prayers.

 

[OKnewguy]

I have one of these saws (got it used, for almost nothing at a garage sale). It works very well. Anyway, if the clutch is not working, you could test out the saw if you have any other trimmers with removable attachments. Just swap this saw on to the other head. I belief that these trimmers all use centrifugal clutches. I do not think they are serviceable (they would need to be replaced), but I wonder if the motor is really winding up. I could also be that the clutch material got contaminated with oil.
Good luck, Dave

 

[2manyrocks]

Go buy a good power head and then when prices get really, really bad in a couple of years, be glad you got it at today's prices. In the meantime, use it. A lot of these interchangeable power heads can be used to power trimmers and other things besides the pruning head attachment.

 

[Richard]

Here's the rest of the story (or at least, all I'm going to bother myself with!)

Bought some new fuel lines to replace the rotted lines on the unit. I did this without taking anything apart.

Went to replace them....turns out that the fuel lines are not connected by nipples to the tank but rather, are inserted THROUGH the tank. This meant I did not buy long enough pieces (since I cut the one foot piece into four pieces)

I DID however, get the engine to sputter with an intermittent supply of fuel. So, yesterday, I go back to buy more hose.

Last night I bring the unit to my house where I can get to my tools if need be.

Got the hoses restrung through the fuel tank and finally inserted onto their locations (probably using smaller ID hose than original OR the original was heated to soften it....)

Anyways, get the hoses on and same thing. Sputter sputter. Maybe a few RPM's when I turn the choke off but it dies almost immediately.

I then put a new spark plug in. The existing spark plug was original but, he told me the other day he has used this thing for only a handful of times. The condition of it agrees with his comments. Looks barely used.

So, in went a new sparkplug and still....sputter sputter...

I noticed the primer bulb would spurt out some gas when it was depressed. Seems it has a very small hole (or more) in the bubble. I don't know if that means air can/will get in there and stop it from pulling from the tank or not...

I then took the entire nose of the unit apart to get to the clutch. Found out it is indeed, a simple centrifigal clutch with no adjustments. Tried to unscrew the part holding it on but had wrong size tool. I don't know if it uses a hex or torx or other...but none of mine worked.

Finally, I decided I was simply wasting too much time on something I'd personally never want to own myself. I have also "dumped" about $3.00 of new hoses into it.... (how's that for a mid-life crisis )

I pulled my new spark plug out, put his original back in, put the unit together and took it back to his house.

I don't care what he does with it as long as it never crosses my eyes nor propertly lines again.

 

[TracTrac]

I pulled my new spark plug out, put his original back in, put the unit together and took it back to his house.

I don't care what he does with it as long as it never crosses my eyes nor propertly lines again.

Wise decision. Did you mention anything to him about "keep the peace"? LOL

 

[MossRoad]

That's too bad.
Did you look on the Poulan website for the manual? I saw about a dozen manuals there for 446 model pole saws a few minutes ago.

I have a Poulan string trimmer/pole saw combination. I like it. It works fine. It is heavy, though.

I also have a Poulan Pro 18" chainsaw that I like. It works fine, too.

Granted, I would never buy these things if I had to make a living using them, but for homeowner use, they work just fine.