880 mod

Scott, hopefully your the proud owner of a lightly used 3120 that you got for a smokin deal. But if that didnt work out for you my buddy Mike does a good job making these 880s run right:

MS880 CFB style

Been quite a while since I did thread. I figured it was time for one. Here’s the victim. A bone stock, 1 year old MS880 This saw belongs to a local fella that uses it in his firewood/tree work arsenal. The biggest bar he uses on it is a 36” .404.
opeforum.com opeforum.com

Hopefully posting the link is okay as it could really help Scott out.

Before and after vids:


 
Barc Buster said:
Scott, hopefully your the proud owner of a lightly used 3120 that you got for a smokin deal. But if that didnt work out for you my buddy Mike does a good job making these 880s run right:

MS880 CFB style

Been quite a while since I did thread. I figured it was time for one. Here’s the victim. A bone stock, 1 year old MS880 This saw belongs to a local fella that uses it in his firewood/tree work arsenal. The biggest bar he uses on it is a 36” .404.
opeforum.com opeforum.com

Hopefully posting the link is okay as it could really help Scott out.

Before and after vids:


Click to expand...
I am still deciding. Either way i will keep the 880 and mod it. Thank you for the info it is helpful. I will look into.
 
rico said:
Mike's modded 880 does sound good, but what is the point of running a 120cc saw with a 25" bar. We need to see how it pulls a 5 footer to see if it has the goods.....
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Erik I recommend reading through the thread. It's a good illustration of why these saws are turds stock and you will see what Mike did to address those issues.

Believe it or not 60" wood doesn't grow on trees everywhere like in your neck of the woods. I've run an 880 build by Mike and I have no doubt it will pull 60" with authority. I believe Mike says he's running the b&c the owner sent the saw with. It's pretty easy to tell the saw is night and day different before and after.

Scott already has an 880. His cheapest options are to either have the saw he owns fixed/modded or sell it and buy a 3120. Just thought I'd point him in the right direction should he decide to mod.

I personally wouldn't own a 880. They aren't terrible, but I've run both stock 3120s and ported 3120s. If I ever needed a saw that big I know what I'd spend my money on.;)
 
Barc Buster said:
Erik I recommend reading through the thread. It's a good illustration of why these saws are turds stock and you will see what Mike did to address those issues.

Believe it or not 60" wood doesn't grow on trees everywhere like in your neck of the woods. I've run an 880 build by Mike and I have no doubt it will pull 60" with authority. I believe Mike says he's running the b&c the owner sent the saw with. It's pretty easy to tell the saw is night and day different before and after.

Scott already has an 880. His cheapest options are to either have the saw he owns fixed/modded or sell it and buy a 3120. Just thought I'd point him in the right direction should he decide to mod.

I personally wouldn't own a 880. They aren't terrible, but I've run both stock 3120s and ported 3120s. If I ever needed a saw that big I know what I'd spend my money on.;)
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There can be no doubt that Mike did some beautiful work on that 880, but my comment was more about the fact that running a 120 ccc saw with a 24-25" in a demonstration video really tells us very little about what the modded 880 is really capable of..The saw sounded great but I wanted see/hear it when it was forced to hunker down and use some of that low end torque it has in tap. This is after all what these bigger saws are all about, and I am mystified why anyone would put a 25" bar on an 120cc saw.... I have always felt that bigger saw need some resistance to start show their true colors, and anyone who has run an 090 with a 25" bar and also run one with a 5-6 footer knows what I am talking about.
 
rico said:
There can be no doubt that Mike did some beautiful work on that 880, but my comment was more about the fact that running a 120 ccc saw with a 24-25" in a demonstration video really tells us very little about what the modded 880 is really capable of..The saw sounded great but I wanted see/hear it when it was forced to hunker down and use some of that low end torque it has in tap. This is after all what these bigger saws are all about, and I am mystified why anyone would put a 25" bar on an 120cc saw.... I have always felt that bigger saw need some resistance to start show their true colors, and anyone who has run an 090 with a 25" bar and also run one with a 5-6 footer knows what I am talking about.
Click to expand...

Agree a big work saw typically shows better the bigger the wood gets. You don't see these 880 get modded very often.

As far as why Mike did the videos with a 25" b&c, as I said it looks like that is what was given to him by the owner of the saw. Typically a saw builder will show a before and after video like this for the owners benefit. You can still clearly see how much better the saw is from the video's provided though.

Don't take my word for it though. Mike's a good guy ask him nice and maybe he'll shoot another vid for you.
 
Again no reflection on Mikes work. He did some beautiful work on that saw, and the before and after performance was undeniable. I still wanted to see it with a 5 footer pulling through some big wood though.

Running big saws with small bars must be more of an east coast thing, because out here we generally run the longest bar with can get way with.
 
rico said:
I still wanted to see it with a 5 footer pulling through some big wood though.
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Preaching to the choir there bud. Who wouldn't like to see that. Like I said pop over there and ask Mike.

rico said:
Running big saws with small bars must be more of an east coast thing, because out here we generally run the longest bar with can get way with.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the owner of that saw, but as far as I'm concerned screw that noise! I'm reaching for a husky 562 or a stihl 462 for that size bar. But hey what do I know I'm just a dumb midwest tree guy :)

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rico said:
Running big saws with small bars must be more of an east coast thing, because out here we generally run the longest bar with can get way with.
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I think it is an east coast thing, because we have nearly all big hardwoods here, as opposed to all the big softwoods you have. Ripping through a 48” Oak or Locust takes a lot of power.

However, I’m not about to put a 25” bar on a 120cc saw. I will put a 25” on a 90cc if I feel the need to seriously cut some wood in a hurry, but typically we run 25” on a 75cc, and 36” on a 90cc.
 
Reach said:
I think it is an east coast thing, because we have nearly all big hardwoods here, as opposed to all the big softwoods you have. Ripping through a 48” Oak or Locust takes a lot of power.

However, I’m not about to put a 25” bar on a 120cc saw. I will put a 25” on a 90cc if I feel the need to seriously cut some wood in a hurry, but typically we run 25” on a 75cc, and 36” on a 90cc.
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Agreed.. You east coasters generally see much harder and denser woods than west coasters. I worked in New England many years ago and it took me awhile to get used to the hardness and density of the trees I was working with, and forget about running a super aggressive chain profile out there.... No bueno..
 
rico said:
Agreed.. You east coasters generally see much harder and denser woods than west coasters. I worked in New England many years ago and it took me awhile to get used to the hardness and density of the trees I was working with, and forget about running a super aggressive chain profile out there.... No bueno..
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For me, it would be hard to get used to dealing with soft woods, and all that pine sap every day! Although there is definitely something to be said for not taking ten minutes to make a stump cut on a 60” diameter tree.

We’ve found one very aggressive chain that actually works: Stihl RSK chain. It’s far faster than anything else we have found, but one touch of dirt or a rock and it’s off to the grinder we go!
 
Yea I am thankful that I don't deal with Pines much these days. The Reds have basically no sap and the Firs around here are hit and miss as far as sap...Some will produce buckets of sap and some very little.

I was commenting on how I sharpen my chain...Working with the Reds and Firs around here I can get away with being very aggressive with my raker height and tooth profile/angle... Try that with your hardwoods and your in for a miserable, unmanageable ride.
 
rico said:
Yea I am thankful that I don't deal with Pines much these days. The Reds have basically no sap and the Firs around here are hit and miss as far as sap...Some will produce buckets of sap and some very little.

I was commenting on how I sharpen my chain...Working with the Reds and Firs around here I can get away with being very aggressive with my raker height and tooth profile/angle... Try that with your hardwoods and your in for a miserable, unmanageable ride.
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Interesting. I’ve never really worked with Redwoods, besides a very occasional Dawn Redwood, and I didn’t realize your firs didn’t have much sap either. Our Pines and Spruces are nothing but sap buckets.

My misunderstanding, but very true. An overly aggressive chain here is nothing but a big fight all day long.
 
We can get away with an aggressive cutter profile out east, but rakers certainly have to be adjusted to the saw and wood. When I bought my 394xp from a farmer in the cornfields in central Ohio, it was wearing a 24" with what I would call normal profile but uneven cutters and super low uneven rakers. It would cut anything you put in front of it, but it wasn't a smooth ride at all. Heaven forbid you had to try to bore cut with that chain. Ol' farmer didn't care about a smooth ride, just wanted to power through it. That saw lives a much happier life now...
 
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