I bought an almost new "McCulloch" MAC-335 at a local auction the other day for AU$100, which is about half the price of a new one. The seller was the SA Police department, so I assumed it was unclaimed stolen property. Unfortunately, I wasn't observant enough at the inspection to see that the chain-brake didn't work properly (i.e. I didn't start it). I only realised it was stuffed when I got it home and tried it... sometimes the chain wouldn't stop when I pushed the brake handle forward :((

As a chain saw novice, I initially thought the smoke coming out of the case near the chain's drive was just exhaust, but the smoke got worse after a minute or two, and then the chain-brake wouldn't work at all. When I looked at the casing on the chain-side, the sticker that the auctioneer had put on the case was bubbling and the case was melting! (I can only assume they put the sticker there to cover up previous heat damage to the plastic case!

Removal of the casing revealed a charred mass of melted plastic inside, which had seized up the chain-brake mechanism :((

To rub salt into my wounds, when I rang around for McCullough spare parts, I was told McCulloch went out of business ages ago, and it would be nearly impossible to find any spare parts. But, after I was told that Husqvarna had bought the McCulloch name I was more optimistic.

I took the saw into a guy who said he might have parts from wrecked machines. He took one look at it and said it was in fact a re-badged Poulan, also owned by Husqvarna!

So off I went to the Husqvarna distributor, and after a bit of searching, he found out that the parts I need are available for AU$70.

The moral of the story is... Do your research before buying a brand name, and buyer, be VERY aware at auctions.

I bought one of the Mcculloch MAC 335 about ten years ago and it has given me 10 faithful years of good service. In the last five years I have been gardening/landscaping for a living and this chainsaw has been with me through this. It has even been dropped out of a tree with no ill-effects. Its on about the fifth chain, no problems there.

BUT about 6 months ago it stopped idling reliably. It would start/run everything except idle well. Now I could just have taken the carb apart for a look but saw new ones on sale for £79 plus vat so I bought a second one. Big mistake. Exactly the same model number as well.

First of all it would not start out of the box. Eventually after much cursing it did cough into life but compared to the old, used one it was rattly, noisy and vibrated like crazy. Anyway satisfied it would start it went back in the garage waiting for the first job. About 3 weeks later the job came and guess what, on site in front of the customer, third pull of the cord and the starting cord broke. It went into the back of the Landrover from about ten feet away and straight back to the shop for a refund. The old one was pressed back into service and now idles reliably again (still dont know what the problem was) to boot.

So do I rate the old one (10 out of 10 all round) or the new one (hmmmm). I'll rate the new one as it is those that are on sale now.