Bunch of forgotten Homelites

[shakyhandz]

Hey everyone! I'm hoping I can get a functioning saw out of this mess, ideally one of the blue super XL's. My grandpa left a couple small Homelites in a shed and my dad let them get covered up in chicken poop and wood chips for decades now. I've always had the option of borrowing a newer saw, but I would really rather have my own. My gramps is 91 now and I know he'd enjoy seeing it used again.







I found one of the older super XL's just wasn't picking up fuel, I was surprised when I put a cap full of gas in the carb and it popped off. It had clogged at the metal line inside the tank. None of the other tanks had corrosion inside, but this one was awful! I did everything to loosen the fuel cap and ended up breaking it to remove it. Yikes. I'm hoping the leak is just the missing duckbill valve and not me damaging the threads or something.  I have a temporary rubber fuel line to the carb and a filter from one of these Stihls at the moment...

I put a carb kit in and I just set it to the initial 1.5 and 1 turn adjustment. It's doing a lot better, before it would only run partially choked. It seems to idle fast, but I'm not too sure because I've never done this and I have the bar and chain off. If I tamper with the Lo screw it tries to die, if I loosen the idle screw it dies. A couple times I got it to where it would idle for about 10 seconds on its own and then just sputter and die, and I couldn't make it any better unless I bottom out the idle screw.

I keep finding tons of damage, the oil tank is JB Welded on this saw but seems to be holding up. It must have thrown a chain at some point because a hole for the tank bolt was broken out,and there is a fin missing on the flywheel, etc.

[kevinm1980]

Those look like a whole lot of winter project fine.. Apart from fuel lines and carb kits crank seals could be toast which can cause a high idle and make them a pain to tune, you have come to the right place,information on here will be higher quality than the Facebook pages, if you search the individual saw topics you will learn anot, and don't be afraid to ask any questions!

[blythkd]

The red ones obviously appear to be the most complete. The Super XL may be the easiest and cheapest one to get up and running. The Super EZ may be a viable option as well but they can tend to be a bit more cantankerous than a Super XL.

I'm not saying that it's not possible to get a blue one running right again but they're older and appear to be in poorer condition as well as incomplete so will likely take more tinkering and patience.

[shakyhandz]

The red SuperXL is the only one I'm trying to leave alone. You're right about it being the easiest and cheapest. My dad got it from his work and it came with its own saw box and log book so I know it's barely been used. It's dirty and sat but it was at least half-@$$ stored properly. It has no sentimental value to me though and I enjoy the tinkering. I'm mainly doing this because I want something of my grandfathers to keep around.

I think the first thing i'm going to do is replace those seals, it looks pretty easy to do and if i'm lucky it could be all of my problem. It will be a good opportunity to swap the nasty tank out for the good one. I have the duckbill valves, fuel line, and a couple gaskets to order while I'm at it.

[blythkd]

So which one of the 3 blue ones are you starting with? The center one in the picture is a Super XL and the other two are XL-12's. A few parts are different. I'm sure you've seen that.

Edit: Oops, after looking again the center blue one appears to be a Super XL, still not sure about the right one.  I guess if they all look the same then they are all Super XL's. 

[shakyhandz]

Correct. The two on the right are xl-12 I think. My dad just told me he got these at some point free for parts, but I'm not sure what is shared between xl-12 and my grandpas SuperXLs until I read further. So far all I know is the tanks are smaller, there's a slight displacement difference, and I definitely have more than 1 type of flywheel..


I've only touched the one in the middle with the floppy rope. It was more complete with covers and a bar while sitting. The muffler came apart when I started it, so I took the small xl-12 one until I order a replacement.

[rarefish383]

I'd have to get that Super EZ going. Those buggers work way above their pay grade. We used them as climbing saws back in the day. I might pull one of mine off the shelf tomorrow and play with it for a while.

[xl130]

Agreed. The Canadian version the XL-1 is a very impressive little saw. I think they are in the 34cc range. They cut amazingly good!

[edju1958]

Just to let you know there's always hope for a poop covered Homelite.Just about a yr.ago I got an XL-12 from my old high school biology teacher's estate.The bar was stuck in a pile of deteriorated manure & it lay on it's clutch side like that for yrs.I had a lot of cleaning to do & the saw fired on a prime.I had to replace the recoil (I later pulled the original recoil apart & got it working again),rebuild the carb,install new fuel line & filter,put a different bar & chain on & I had a running saw.The seals went bad later & I haven't replaced them yet.