How slow is slow--26LCS refresh

[cbfarmall]

Not calling this a restoration because it isn't. I was tired of looking at the nasty silver paint and decided to clean it up. Tore it all down, cleaned, degreased, and painted. I ended up breaking the belt drive housing when reinstalling the bearings. Joyce found me a NOS housing (I believe from a 5-30 or 7-29/8-29 saw) which I didn't bother to repaint. I got stalled for a awhile waiting for the housing and then I had to motivate myself to finish the job. Anyway, I reassembled yesterday and put it to wood this morning.

I thought my 900G/3100G/Mac 890s were slow. This thing almost seems like it is standing still. Carby is a bit tricky to dial in. I know my fuel line isn't the right length for rotating the handle but I'll fix that soon enough.

Anyway, here's the pics. You can see in the 3 before shots why I had to tear it down. I have decals from Sugar Creek which I'll apply soon enough.

Chris B.

Before:

[cbfarmall]

After: note the different shades of red between the NOS case and the cover.

[OBR]

Looks pretty slick chris.

[mikem]

Chris,

Looks a lot better. What do you figure the RPM is ?

[cbfarmall]

I believe the 7-29/8-29 are somewhere in the neighborhood of 4800 RPM and those represent the final incarnation of this series. I'll put a tach to it and find out. The short answer is slow as hell. Pay no attention to the crappy looking bar. Obviously, I did nothing to it, but it isn't hurting anything.

Chris B.

[OBR]

4200 rpm according to acre's...she's a real hotrod for sure

[MCS]

It is interesting to look back and think about how the saw cutting theory has changed. It used to be big teeth in the chain that were forced into the wood using gear reduction and dogs. The 20MCS and the 26LCS were equipped with 9/16 pitched chain and were governed to 4200 RPM engine speed but as saw technology advanced the chain got smaller and the engine speed went up and the gears disappeared. The 750 is about the same size engine as the 20MCS but there is no comparison to actual cutting speed. With all that pressure on the bar and manual oilers, those bars did not have the life that we see on direct drives. Of course everything is auto oiling now too.

[cbfarmall]

I think a lot of it had to do with the engines that were available. Wasn't it McCulloch who finally started making some real hotrods like the 44s?

When I made my cuts, I first had to get the engine tuned for power and this was harder than it sounds. Once I got that squared away, the only way to make it cut was to dog it and pull up on the rear handle hard. Really had to brace myself. If I tried to pick the saw up out of the cut, it would catch at the top of the bar and try to knock me over. This was with a decently sharpened chain.

I'm thinking of securing a 5-30 full wrap and fitting it to this saw. Should be easy enough. Half wraps look out of place on the vintage stuff.

Chris B.

[MCS]

Oct 27, 2009 20:40:29 GMT -5 cbfarmall said:

I think a lot of it had to do with the engines that were available. Wasn't it McCulloch who finally started making some real hotrods like the 44s?

Chris B.

Interesting comment at the bottom the Mac D44 page on Acres site
COMMENTS:
This was the first of a series of engines that kept McCulloch a leader in Professional Chain Saws for years.
===
Mac started running direct drives in the middle '50s with a governed operating point of 6500 RPMs
Seems to me that I remember someone in my home town using those McCullochs for go kart engines.

[RandyMac]

The McCulloch Super 44A was a true hotrod, first of a long series of 87cc powered models. There were two completely different geardrives, the 1-80s and 650/660s, both models could use 48" bars. There lots of direct drives, multiple variations, the last and best was the Super 250. At night, the singing in my ears is an 87cc McCulloch

[inkstech1]

It looks nice, do your cutting with a newer saw and enjoy LOOKING at this one.

[inkstech1]

Have not seen many with the rubber plug cover still in place, wonder what that would be worth on ebay?