Chainsaw for the truck

[Pinewood]

I have a Stihl MS170 for limbing and generally throw it in the truck or on the ATV. Honestly, it’s not enough saw for here. Ran into some blowdowns last week that were the end of the line as I was not willing to tackle them with my little saw. I have a ‘big’ saw, MS461 with a 28” bar and it’s generally too much saw just to keep in the truck. Need a ‘tweener’ and I’m not sure what it’s going to be other than a professional grade gas saw of some size and type.

You need an Echo 590 with a 20" bar.

 

[mtnlomo]

Just went scouting last weekend, between the fires and beetle kill, during early June scouting a chain saw is a must. We cleared out dozens of trees over the course of three days from the roads. So personally a gas powered one is the most reliable and if you have a truck the room sacrificed for the gas can and bar oil is worth it IMO.

 

[Squamch]

I keep an 200T in the truck, and a milk crate with a can of premix, container of tools, and a jug of bar oil. I wouldn't recommend a top handle for everyone, but it's great for me. In my one ton, I bring a husky 365xp. Electrics are for in town. 5L of premix is a lot of cutting of you're just opening up a road.

 

[Crusader]

Not wanting to hijack this thread but I have a couple of relevant questions. I inherited a little, Stihl MS 170 from my dad. I use it for small, odds and ends tasks at the farm. Would like to get something a little bigger.

Main question, what are the primary differences between homeowner and professional Stihl saws? Is it mainly power or are they tougher, with more durable components and the like?

What's a good, versatile Stihl pro saw recommendation, something big enough for cutting up firewood or felling a tree here and there, that wouldn't be at the top of the cost spectrum?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jlh42581]

Probably one of the best things you can do in an underpowered saw is go to a shorter bar. They will let you do this at the stihl dealer if you buy a new one too. My ms251 has a 16" instead of the factory 18" they wanted to give me. Anyone thats ever run it likes it a lot. You can get a 16" for an ms170 but id rather have a 14" if its enough for you.

 

[rayporter]

 

[tdot]

Silky Katanaboy 650. Yes it's a hand saw, but it takes up zero room and is always in the van. I can go thru a 16" fir faster then I could pull out my Husky, prime it and get it started if it's been sitting for a year.

I'll still take my gas saw if I'm going to be the first person in an area, or if there's alot of pine beetle kill in the area. But as a backup saw its pretty hard to beat. I've been planning on buying an electric for a few years, but just haven't been able to justify the cost. The Katanaboy was an easy compromise, plus it comes camping if we are based from the boat or close to the van.

 

[Blockcaver]

An ancient Stihl 180 or the newer 170 have opened a lot of roads during spring bear for me. Either has been adequate for that use where I hunt. Also great for cutting a bit of fire wood for late season moose and caribou hunts in Oct when its cold out.

My buddy capped my moose with his, as well as built a skid when he lost the wheel bearing and wheel off his homemade ATV trailer....pretty impressive even if it looked like Fred Flintstone designed it, the fix got us 30 km out of the back country with a couple of caribou.

 

[Billy Goat]

I settled on a battery stihl to carry in the truck. It's been right impressive. I have a bunch of oak tops down right now that I have been cutting up. I get a good 45 minutes of cutting out of it per charge. It's not going to last as long as saw with an extra gallon of gas, but in terms of just needing to clear trees from the roadway, unless it's a huge storm that you are cutting a few dozen, it should work fine.



What I don't know yet is how the batteries hold up to hot and cold cycles. Also since I have the bigger charger it doesn't work off the inverter in my truck.

 

[Sled]

MS261 18” bar, couple of wedges, with two MSR fuel bottles for fuel mix and chain oil.

Which wildland crew did you work on?

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Not wanting to hijack this thread but I have a couple of relevant questions. I inherited a little, Stihl MS 170 from my dad. I use it for small, odds and ends tasks at the farm. Would like to get something a little bigger.

Main question, what are the primary differences between homeowner and professional Stihl saws? Is it mainly power or are they tougher, with more durable components and the like?

What's a good, versatile Stihl pro saw recommendation, something big enough for cutting up firewood or felling a tree here and there, that wouldn't be at the top of the cost spectrum?

Thanks in advance.

The professional saws are built with a magnesium chain cover, have way more power then evenly sized home owners saws, are lighter per cc size, and are built to run higher rpms then homeowners saws.

The cost spectrum for professional saws are typically brand specific. With stihl being one of the highest. In other words, unless you find a deal, any size pro grade stihl is going to be higher then most competitors per size class.

Personally, if you want as good as or even better professional saw as a stihl, at about 75% of the cost, choose husqvarna. They cut just as ling, often times harder, and weigh no more then a compatible stihl. And got what you want, a 562 xp would be a good one.

 

[ktm450]

Love my Stihl 026/260 pro’s with a 16”-18” bar here in MT for that purpose. Picked them up used throw a new carburetor from Amazon and they never fail. Ride around in the truck/Jeep/ATV 100% of the time.

 

[Pflum]

Not wanting to hijack this thread but I have a couple of relevant questions. I inherited a little, Stihl MS 170 from my dad. I use it for small, odds and ends tasks at the farm. Would like to get something a little bigger.

Main question, what are the primary differences between homeowner and professional Stihl saws? Is it mainly power or are they tougher, with more durable components and the like?

What's a good, versatile Stihl pro saw recommendation, something big enough for cutting up firewood or felling a tree here and there, that wouldn't be at the top of the cost spectrum?

Thanks in advance.

Stihl MS261

 

[Wyobuckhunter77nm]

The Milwaukee saw is great. I have used it for house duties and really trust must of Milwaukee tools. The battery last long and can just throw it in the truck no worries about gas.

 

[Southern Heritage]

I’ll chime in. I have the Stihl electric saw. It lives in my truck 365. Holds a great charge when not in use as in months. Had a pine fall at the church one Sunday morning. They called me to see if I could bring a machine to move it and I thought let’s cut it up and roll it for now then I’ll bring a machine Monday.
I went over there electric saw in tow. Preacher man laughed when I I started cutting like no way this will make it. 30 min later I had the whole tree cut in 30” ish rounds. The tree was about 30”s across and had to be cut from both sides.

Lastly my farm got hit by a tornado. I cut 6 large oak tops out of the roads for access.

When I went to cut the: up for fire wood and manageable pieces I used my gas saw.

I’ve had the electric saw for 3ish years

 

[Travis Hobbs]

The Milwaukee battery power saws are unbelievable and imo the perfect “truck” saw.

I like them so much I recently bought the new Milwaukee “hatchet” for my saddle bags.

I’m blown away at the quality, ease and how great they cut.

 

[Dalen88]

i bought a sthil 170 this year for cutting trail and for the quad, nothing but inpressed after it having to go through some 14" logs the other day, not the quickest but i got it cause it was light for packing up the mountain. Also my wife can limb trees with it while im bucking up firewood.

 

[Blockcaver]

So does ever Stihl MS170 and MS180 always leak bar oil? Every spring I’ve got to clean all the bar oil I put in the previous time I used the saw out of the saw case. Normal? Or is there some maintenance or component I’m missing off my two saws that would keep all the bar oil from leaking out after using the saw? The saw rides around in the SxS, quad or truck quite a bit or sits in the workshop. Seems to leak out wherever over a period of time. Thanks!

 

[Collins10jm]

Second the Milwaukee battery powered saw

 

[Sled]

So does ever Stihl MS170 and MS180 always leak bar oil? Every spring I’ve got to clean all the bar oil I put in the previous time I used the saw out of the saw case. Normal? Or is there some maintenance or component I’m missing off my two saws that would keep all the bar oil from leaking out after using the saw? The saw rides around in the SxS, quad or truck quite a bit or sits in the workshop. Seems to leak out wherever over a period of time. Thanks!

Depends on the viscosity of what your using. If you still have winter oil in when spring comes it will leak a lot. If you have your typical oil in it will leak a little. My Stihl gas saws seem to leak a little more when I turn up the oiler. It leaks a lot more when I run out of bar oil and use snowmobile oil.