Hope no one minds another old Homelite gear drive post. Had to share this one.
I’ve had this Homelite 775 G sitting in a box of parts for about three years, along with a clearing bow bar. I kept seeing photos online of old Homelites running bow bars, and every time I saw one, I wanted to get mine going.
Last night, things finally went my way. After sorting out the ignition and getting the rewind to work properly (always a pain on these older saws), I checked compression — about 150 psi — and the carb looked good. Gave it a little prime, and it fired on the second pull. It actually idled and revved nicely.
I didn’t run it long, just enough to know it’s a solid runner. No need to push my luck since I don’t know how long it’s been sitting. There’s still a crack in the gear oil case that I’ll fix later, but I had to finish assembling it just to see how it looked.
This thing is a beast. I’ve got both the bow bar and a regular bar with decent 1/2" chain. Feels good to finally have a working gear drive after fighting with it for so long.
Quick question for the old-saw crowd: what file size do you use for sharpening 1/2" chain? Will a 7/32" file work, or should I be using something else?
I’ve had this Homelite 775 G sitting in a box of parts for about three years, along with a clearing bow bar. I kept seeing photos online of old Homelites running bow bars, and every time I saw one, I wanted to get mine going.
Last night, things finally went my way. After sorting out the ignition and getting the rewind to work properly (always a pain on these older saws), I checked compression — about 150 psi — and the carb looked good. Gave it a little prime, and it fired on the second pull. It actually idled and revved nicely.
I didn’t run it long, just enough to know it’s a solid runner. No need to push my luck since I don’t know how long it’s been sitting. There’s still a crack in the gear oil case that I’ll fix later, but I had to finish assembling it just to see how it looked.
This thing is a beast. I’ve got both the bow bar and a regular bar with decent 1/2" chain. Feels good to finally have a working gear drive after fighting with it for so long.
Quick question for the old-saw crowd: what file size do you use for sharpening 1/2" chain? Will a 7/32" file work, or should I be using something else?
