XL-100 Circular Saw

[jerrycmorrow]

Just got one. Really wanna start it but gotta perform due dilugence
What weight gear oil?
How high is the tank to be filled?
I assume its to be tuned just like an xl12 regarding h, l, and la?
Any other tips/pointers?

Thanks much

[onlyhomelites]

I used 80W-90W in mine...seems to be fine. In fact I've used that in all of my gear drives too.

On the top of the gearcase is the filler plug and the level plug is on the back of the gearcase on the muffler side. Remove than little pipe plug and fill it slowly till oil runs out.

Tuning will be just like the XL-12.

Tips? Hold on tight! If one of these pinches in the cut, you want to have a damned good grip!

[jerrycmorrow]

Cant get it to idle low enough to stop the blade from spinning and wants to die when tipped sideways. So anyone know crossover numbers for the seals. Homelite numbers are 58688A (2 ea) and 56256 (1 ea)

[onlyhomelites]

The 58688-A crosses to the 12282-A seals, which are pretty easy to find. You can also use an SKF 6120. The 56256 has been an issue of debate lately. SKF's website says a 7414 will work, but Ed indicates that it didn't fit his saw. I have one of the SKF's on hand, but I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet.

[jerrycmorrow]

Got seals done now have other issues

Anyone know what these are f0r? Searched in my homelite shop service manuals and the saw ipl to no avil

1. This is mounted on a hinge on the air box and is actuated by the connector shown in the 2nd pic that is connected to the throttle shaft, 3rd pic. It "opens" and "closes" as the throttle is opened/closed.









2. This has a spring mounted to it that is also connected to the throttle . Seems to be in addition to the trigger spring to close the throttle.

circular saw - 4.jpg

I can't see where either of these are even useful but what do i know?

any help appreciated.

see next post for other pix

[jerrycmorrow]

[rowdy235]

I believe that is a governor unit, probably to prevent the saw from spinning up too fast for the circular saw blade. I’ve never seen an xl100 before but from your description and what I can see in the photos that is what it sounds like. The flap in the air box closes when the engine hits a certain rpm and thereby closes the throttle plate.

[sweepleader]

Its similar to the XLBC Brush Cutter but that uses a long throttle cable, not the trigger the circular saw uses. Here is the IPL for the XL-120, it has the governor parts shown. The XLBC throttle closes the throttle via a spring when it is released, the cable is not connected to the carburetor when the trigger is pulled. I don't know if the XL-120 works the same, allowing the governor full control of the engine speed when under load. I have never seen a Homelite circular saw in the flesh, either XL-100 or XL-120.

Leon has the IPL for both but the governor parts are only listed on the XL-120: www.leonschainsawpartsandrepair.com/uploads/3/9/7/9/39792537/homelite_xl-120_circular_saw_ipl_23890_2.pdf

[jerrycmorrow]

So how do you tune the carb with a governor. Chainsaw I can do by sound. Circular saw with governor ive never done

[jerrycmorrow]

Oh btw. Thanks guys

[jerrycmorrow]

I’m guessing that operates like the old lawnmowers did.

[sweepleader]

You should have a tach to get the top speed, I don't know what that speed is supposed to be. Adjust the spring via the two screws on the bracket to get the speed right. Then tune the carb the same way you would without the governor, 4 stroking when free running, smooths out in the cut. Once that is set, adjust the idle speed for smooth running slow enough so the clutch allows the blade to stop.

The throttle on the XLBC releases the carb for high speed and forces the throttle closed when the trigger is released. If your throttle is connected directly to the trigger, it may not close like it is supposed to, thus the blade will not release. The trigger is not supposed to be pinned to the throttle, only touching it at idle.

If you look closely at the pictures above you can see the throttle cable reaching over the throttle lever and holding it against the idle speed screw. There is a spring in the grip that pulls the cable when the throttle is released to close the throttle in the carb. Any time other than idle, the governor is free to control the engine speed.

Looking at the IPL, it appears that the throttle linkage in the handle has a gap and a spring in it, perhaps that is what releases the governor to run the engine speed.

[5terrysupersaws]

 Early XL-100 Circular saws were non-governed. Maximum governed no-load speed should be set to 5000 rpm.

Refer to the Homelite Service Shop Manual 4th Edition Part-2, beginning on Page 117, for more info.

[sweepleader]

jerrycmorrow said in OPE (https://opeforum.com/threads/homelite-thread.685/page-49#post-1065935), "Thanks. My throttle rod from the trigger is totally different and can be hooked into the carb linkage but wasn’t; was placed atop the carb linkage. Can’t really tell from your pic how the trigger rod is connected to the linkage. Can you send a pic of that connection? Also thanks for the ipl. Not convinced yet that mine isn’t a cobbled together mess but it did run, poorly. Gonna rebuild the carb. another question if you will. When running it smoked heavily no matter how the lo/hi screws were adjusted. What gives?"

If you look carefully at the pictures I posted, you can see that the throttle rod reaches over the throttle lever and touches it at the front. It does not "connect" to the linkage. It cannot open the throttle, only close it. As I said, this allows the governor to control the engine speed when the trigger is pulled. The spring that you feel at the trigger is actually at the trigger, not the carb. The very small/light spring at the carb tends to open the throttle, not close it as in a "normal" saw. That spring should be connected to pull the throttle open, not against the idle speed screw.

The air vane opposes the spring and, once the engine is running, tends to close the throttle. This allows the throttle to be opened by the spring for starting and be pushed toward lower speeds by the vane when the engine gets too fast. The top speed is thus controlled by the opposing forces of the vane and the spring.

I am sure yours is wrong, at least in the pictures you posted. You did not include a picture of how it was connected but since you say "...My throttle rod...was placed atop the carb linkage...", I think it is possible it was correct before you pulled the carb out. I have had 3 of the XLBCs and 2 of them were assembled wrong, it took a while to understand what was supposed to be happening. I have since seen several other Homelite governor setups and they all have worked similarly, that is why I think yours should be the same.

As 5terrysuppersaws says above, "...Refer to the Homelite Service Shop Manual 4th Edition Part-2, beginning on Page 117, for more info." www.leonschainsawpartsandrepair.com/uploads/3/9/7/9/39792537/homelite_chainsaw_service_shop_manual_4th_edition__pages_77-154_.pdf

On the following page 118 are pictures of several governor setups that all use the same spring and vane parts, at least visually, including the XLBC. The pictures I posted above should be pretty close to what your saw is supposed to be. There are several other people here on the House of Homelite who have XL-100's and I am hoping that if I have something wrong they will speak up and post pictures of the correct setup.

The smoke can only come from two places in my opinion, neither is related to the mixture screws. Since this saw does not have an oiler, that is not a possibility. It does have a gear case that may allow gear oil into the crankcase. I presume that if the crank seal on that side is bad, that could be a source. The other is the fuel mix ratio. It would have to be a long way off for a lot of smoke. I suspect that the original recommendation was 16:1, that is pretty rich and can smoke. That much oil is not needed using modern oils, I run 40:1, others here go as lean as 80:1 with synthetic oil.

If the engine continues to run poorly after the carb rebuild, you may have a leaking seal under the flywheel or the oil problem may be causing firing to be erratic. Take a look at the plug, see if it is oil fouled.

[jerrycmorrow]

Tore it down today. I did a horrible job when I installed the pto seal between the gear box and the crankcase. I mean HORRIBLE. The lip was looking at me from the end of the crank. Guess I got careless, in a hurry, or a bad case of stupid or all of the above. As long as I been installing seals I’ve never done that.
I know how it happed. Instead of pulling the inner race I pulled the drive case. Then installed the seal without removing the race. Just no way to keep the seal lip from flipping when done that way. Oy vay. Never do that again

When I drained the drive case I got couple spoon fulls of gear oil. Nothing looks to be seared. Stopped early enough; I hope. We’ll see.

[jerrycmorrow]

Planning to install carb tomorrow. Wondering what hole on the throttle the little spring goes to or does it matter. I can’t tell from your pic

[sweepleader]

My spring is in the bottom hole. I could not say for sure if that was factory or not. It is adjustable with the 2 screw bracket so it may not matter a lot. I think it would mostly affect the response of the governor, how jerky or smooth it was. I think the hole farthest from the throttle shaft would make the smoothest op but that is my theory not fact.

[jerrycmorrow]

Thanks. You and the others have been a great help and is well appreciated. Jerry

[jerrycmorrow]

Reassembly accomplished. Saw started right up. Don’t have a tac so just set it where I liked it. Had some stripped threads so had to fix them but pleased with the saw. Thanks again all for helping