XL-98: Who fixed you?

[Mr_Huns]

I just bought a badly neglected XL-98A from Offer up.  I met the guy in a parking lot.   The saw looks like it got the shine and sell treatment;  They even painted the carburetor inside the air box.  The more I look, the more I find.  The compression feels a little low pulling the starter, but it does run.

My real questions are:

The idle speed screw was replaced with a piece of 3/8-16x1.5" bolt.  Is that the correct thread for the OEM?  Can I just buy a replacement, or do I have to make something?  Leon lists a replacement in stock, part number 63369.  It looks  little small.  Can someone tell me the thread size?



This image is from Leon's store:

s125002619232648050_p1912_i9_w640 by MR Huns, on Flickr



This is a picture of my unit:


IMG_20201121_175521 by MR Huns, on Flickr



This is the whole thing:

IMG_20201121_175248 by MR Huns, on Flickr


IMG_20201121_175553 by MR Huns, on Flickr


IMG_20201121_175601 by MR Huns, on Flickr


IMG_20201121_175539 by MR Huns, on Flickr


I also need a throttle boot, 58348.  I watched a Leon video where he was fitting a Stihl Ms660 replacement by trimming it to fit in the small hole.  I ordered the Stihl Boot and am waiting for it to arrive.  Is there a reason not to drill out the hole to make it fit correctly?  If the original is NLA, isn't this a long term solution?  I also ordered a "Firewall Boot" from Amazon:


www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JPS69CG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We will see what these look like when they get here Tuesday.

I plan on getting a replacement drive belt also.  I measured the obsolete OEM belt at approximately 812mm or 32".  Gates lists 7M800 and 7M825, but no 812.  I think the 7M825 is going to fit.  You can almost make out the label in the Chainsawr listing.

[ronaldt]

Somebody sure got after it with the rattle can! 😱

[charles]

Hope it was cheap !

[Mr_Huns]

I started following it at $200 and settled at $130. I thought it was a little high for the neglect, but it does run and I actually need one for a project at my new to me home.

The first thing was cleaning the paint out of the starter pin so I could start the machine easier. I just ordered some parts from Leon, I hope he is back up and running after the fire in September. That must be totally scary. I could never live on the left coast; Fires, floods, heat, earthquakes, just to name a few things. I love the northeast. just far enough over the Jersey border to get good pizza and bagels, but still have cheaper taxes and some land

[rowdy235]

Somebody certainly got a little carried away with the “aerosol overhaul”, however if the paints of decent quality you can pry get it to look decent with a little work. I think you did good at $130 for a running saw. I paid $80 for mine and had to do a total overhaul.

Off topic, I am partial to the left coast since I was born and raised here but not to say it doesn’t have its challenges!

[Mr_Huns]

First,

I would like to give a big thank you to the entire community for taking the time to help me on this journey into the Homelite world! Thanks to Leon for hosting this website and having a great parts store. Thank you to Joyce, the chainsawlady, for reaching out to me for the odd parts I need to get this saw usable. I asked Joyce to send me the correct parts for the throttle rod boot and the idle speed screw. It will be nice to see them when they get here. I will be able to see how the saw was supposed to work.

In the meantime I can never just leave well enough alone:


So, I remember saying that I previously ordered the MS660 throttle rod boot that Leon said he modifies to fit the smaller hole for the 58348 boot. I am still waiting for that to show up, but I did get the "firewall boot" from Amazon. It looks like a weather seal for a VW fuel injector connector.




IMG_20201201_150750 by MR Huns, on Flickr




This is the hole in my saw. I believe this is the smaller hole:







IMG_20201201_150807 by MR Huns, on Flickr





The accordion part fits the hole perfectly! Check out this short clip:



VID_20201201_151102 by MR Huns, on Flickr




I think the fit is great, but the center hole is a little large for the throttle rod. I put some heat shrink tubing on the rod to take up some slack and make a tight fit. I trimmed off the excess rubber from the boot and this is the result:




VID_20201201_151710 by MR Huns, on Flickr





The whole thing in action is here:





VID_20201201_151835 by MR Huns, on Flickr






It looks like I still need to get the right bend on the throttle rod and I think the trigger is worn. I cannot get the starter pin engaged at the right throttle travel setting, but this is a good start.

[sweepleader]

Looks like the throttle does not close all the way when the trigger is release, or is that with the stop engaged?

Does the throttle open all the way to the stop when the trigger is pulled?

Good fun, bad paint (maybe you heard that already...)

[Mr_Huns]

Sweepleader,

The throttle does not open all the way or close all the way. I think the trigger is worn out. I can see a grove worn into the throttle linkage. That grove corresponds to an enlarged hole in the butterfly lever. I cannot get the starter pin to stay engaged. I tried moving the eccentric around the trigger pivots on, but I cannot find a happy medium.

I may end up making something custom to compensate for all the worn parts. I am thinking about making a brass bushing for the throttle shaft pivot wear. Then, I can make a linkage rod that includes a shoulder to place the rod and a grove for an 'E' clip or a hole for a cotter pin. When I initially took the air filter off the unit, there was a spring on the throttle linkage rod that looked like it was from a retractable ball point pen. I don't know what that was for. It wasn't on an IPL and it didn't do anything so I left it off.

[Mr_Huns]

I had a little bit of time over the weekend to play around with the throttle on the XL-98 I decided to make a new throttle linkage to try and get WOT to work correctly.


Here's the result:

IMG_20201205_171809 by MR Huns, on Flickr






The OEM is on the left and the best working candidate is on the right. You can see they're all a little different. I Think lucky number 6 is the ticket. I didn't start it up yet, but the start pin works correctly and I used the 0.030" GMAW wire for the choke rod.

[White Trash]

I Answered a Craigslist ad that said he would trade an XL-98 multi-porpose saw if someone would help him get a stihl 031av to run for him. You do realize that your XL-98 is a Terry Industrys from Canada right? Making it a little more rare to find in America. Mine is in such good condition after cleaning off all the concrete dust that I don't want to further damage any of the factory paint!I own a chainsaw collection of around 70 saws and five cutoff saws. I have one that came off of a fire truck from back in the seventies! That is how they extracted you from a car accident before the jaws of life were introduced as the tool of choice for getting you out of a mangled car!I have a 1977 Remington Pow-R-Cut that matches the 1977 Remington SL-9 chainsaw as well,And a 1320K Husqvarna railroad saw that I scored for $10 Bucks!There's not too much you can't cut in half with these old Beasts!