Friday, November 6, 2015

Fixing a Pull Cord for a Vintage Homelite Super XL-12 Chainsaw
Unknown3:24 PM

The first chainsaw I had purchased for our off-grid property was an used 1979 Homelite Super XL 12 for $75.00. It worked great, lots of power (54 cc), a 18" bar and with a sharp chain, it cut through Pine logs with ease.
The only negatives, no chain brake and the pull cord rope breaks. I used it for firewood season and the rope broke twice. We had a handy family friend that fixed it the first time, but after the second, the saw was parked and the backup electric Poulan chainsaw was used.
Four years later, after an aggressive purge of the work shop, I saw the protective plastic chainsaw case sitting in the corner. Thought I would pull it out and take another stab at fixing it. Started to dismantle the case that housed the pull cord. It was easy enough, but, after removing the last bolt and taking out the round pulley that contains the pull cord, a coiled up banding jumped out and unravelled all over the shop. I watched a few YouTube videos on how to fix the coiled up spring inside for the pull cord. I took a stab at coiling up the spring, off camera. Had to put the pull cord pulley flat on a board. I kept turning the pulley until it was pretty tight. Then with the aid of zip ties and my spouse's help, I managed to slip the coil into the pull cord case. Wow, that was difficult for a beginner. I wonder how the old timers do it? There must be an easier way.
Once the white and blue case was back on, bolts tightened, chain was sharpened and fuel mixed, I tried it out on a fresh piece of Douglas Fir. Boy, did it tear through the wood. Only had a the throttle open a quarter and it made easy work of the log.
The bar is 18" long. Good length for the weekend warrior.

The exhaust adds a cool sound to these saws!



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About The Author Scott Symmes Scotts career is based in the Graphic Design and the home finishing industry. Afterwork, he steps away from the computer and work on random projects. On weekends, Scott and his family head out to their small 420 sq. ft. cabin in the mountains to relax and test out DIY solar panels/wind tubines projects. In the year 2011, Scott combined his love "building Stuff" and a few videos to create a YouTube channel, cedarworkshop. After a few months, the channel had over 250 subscribers and was quite popular. A few months later a web site and Blog was added for more information. P.S. Scott is more of a "do-er" than a "talk-er", so the writting or grammer may not be the best. Thank you for your patience and feel free to comment or make suggestions. Enjoy! Facebook and Twitter