Chainsaw Repair

This past spring I dropped by the local Dolmar Dealer. I had a Sachs 3.2 model airplane engine to show him. A polished out beauty.

He had me go back in the shop with him and he gave me an old Dolmar 111i which is a Sachs 3.2 chainsaw. I looked at the serial number and it was 1997. He said that it was a trade in. That it didn't run and had been under the work bench on the floor for years. That a few weeks back, his shop was flooded and the saw was partially submerged. It was complete.

Getting it home, it had been well used. It cleaned it up nice with few scratches. Surprisingly, there was no water damage. With new fuel and oil, the saw started right up. Ran fine. I checked the compression and it was at 150 lbs. I sharpened the chain and stuck the saw in a log and on the second cut it started acting up and running erratically. After reading around on the Internet about Tillotson carbs, I finally decided it was the check valve of the high speed nozzle in the Tillotson carb. I went back to the dealer a couple weeks later and told him what I thought the problem was. He said that he had never heard of one going bad. I got a diaphragm kit from him and put in the carb but that didn't change anything. A couple weeks later, there were several Dolmar things I needed so being as the saw was pretty nice except for the way it ran, I ordered a carb for it. The Tillotson cost more than the average Walbro. With the new carb, the saw ran perfect.

The Dolmar 111i comes with a 15" bar and this one was .325 pitch and .058" gauge with a 8 pin rim. But it had a worn out .050" Oregon chain on it. I had a like new .325 X 18" X .050" bar from a John Deere hanging on the wall and it fit perfect. I removed the John Deere stenciling.

This past week I had three yellow pine trees in the yard that needed to come down. So I decided to see how the Dolmar would hold up. I ran 3 gallons of fuel and one gallon of bar oil through it. The pines are all cut up into little chunks. The limbs are all burned but the trunk chunks are still in the yard. Except for touching up the chain a couple times, and having to add gas and oil, the saw ran perfect.

Today, I cleaned it up and put it away.

The pictures below were taken this past spring with the original  B & C before I put the black 18" John Deere B & C on the saw.

I don't think that is right. I have a 540 (same basic saw) and it is about 11.5lbs PHO. I really like these saws. They are very comparable to a 260: a little heavier and a power comes on lower.

I consider the Dolmar 111, 111i, 115i saws to be right in there with the best all time 50cc saws.

I have a newer Husky 350 and a Dolmar 5105 as well as a couple 45cc plastic Homelites. The plastic Homelite Timberman's are not in the league with the other saws but my 111i certainly is right up there with the best.

The "i" model Dolmars have Tilly carbs and the other Dolmar's in this series have Walbros.

The only difference between a 111 and a 115 is the clutch shoe design and the bar length. The 111 has the "U" shaped clutch springs and the 115 has a coil spring loop. The bell is the same. I'm running a 18" X .325 bar and the 111 type clutch pulls it just fine. It even has a 8 pin rim.

I'm retired and serve no schedule except except to go to the doctor and to go fly back behind your house.

LMK when you want to run them and I will show up at your house

I enjoyed playing with all the different saws like a mini GTG