Well, I'll be spanked by a Dolmar...

windthrown

I was over in Oregon City the other day and saw a Stihl dealer out of the corner of my eye so I did a U turn and dropped in to get some odd parts. And lo, looking on the saw shelves next to the Stihls, what was there but a series of new Dolmar saws. The legendary 7900 and 5100s were right thar on that thar shelf. I'll be damned, new 'real' Dolly saws here in the Portland area! That's a first. Seems that the shop was paring down on Stihls and working up on Dolmars now. Its a rental shop mostly, with saws on the side, rather than a full-on chainsaw and small engine shop like I am used to on this side of the river.

Anyway, had a look-see. The 5100s was spendy; $500. Same price as the Husky 346xp seriesII. Looking the saw over, it has a LOT of plastic on it. Hmmm... well, after looking that saw over, I am not gonna give up on my 026s just yet. And I think the 346 has it beat. Now, easing down to the 6400, then the 7300, and then the real McCoy, the 7900, now there is a saw. Never seen one of these babies before. Only the little brother 6400s Makitas for rent at Home Depot. The granddaddy of the line, 79cc, 6.3 HP. Dayum! Bigger than a 460... but seemed lighter.

Well, I guess I can finally shut up about never finding any Dolmar saws around here. Seems that Dolmar is finally supporting logging and logging shows now in the states, and maybe getting more serious about selling saws here??? It helps that they are on the shelves anyway.

Cut4fun

7900 weighs the same as my 372 when weighed PHO.

Cut4fun

Eye candy for you. This was one of those strong stock one from the get go. Now that it has been woods ported by someone that knows what they are doing. look at it now. You ought to see his 361's run .
No generic porting here like others do for big money elsewhere.

STOCK cutting yellow poplar not ash using LGX
Woods ported with HD filter kit.
Then for fun.

windthrown

DQ'd on that racing block cut! And I bet that guy's ported 441 could... well... maybe *try* to keep up!

You can hear from the start that the ported 7900 is a different beast before he even makes that cut. Like a funny car on the starting line, hopping and popping. And the cuts make the wood look like soft butter, but then poplar is pretty soft wood. Impressive though, especially when using it as a comparison. A light saw with a wallop.

windthrown

I found this Dolmar ad online today...

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Drouin Tree Service

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

rick

Nice one Windy, and it looks like a good old PS115. The nearest dealer has one of those new on the shelf ATM, if anyone's into old school saws, like the MS260 .

Cut4fun

Dont ever let no one tell you the concrete cylinders on the 375K cant be made to run. before the 372xpW was ever around there was guys already making their own. Here is my 375 woods port saw with a good chain being tested in yellow poplar. By the way windy that 7900 will eat my 375 alive.

I have only owned 1 7900 and loved that saw for the 0-80cc class as my go to saw, my top pick of class. But even with having a dolmar dealer 12 miles away that was clueless, put a bad test in my mouth. I had to order parts from a dealer in the know out of state. Cutting Edge.

SawTroll

I am no big fan of the 5100S because of they way they handle in the woods (for a 50cc saw) - and it has became pretty clear lately the the "blow-up" issue is true.

The Dolmar related news I have "heard" the most lately is about dealers abandoning the brand because of that, and Dolmars warrenty record on the subject.

Anyway, afaik the 5100S is in the process of being replaced by the 5105 by now (US version has a cat muffler) - lets hope they did it right this time, and don't send those as well out way too lean, to meat EPA demands........

rick

Niko, I'd reckon you could guess there's been an issue of sorts as they've updated the saw, changed the model name, and made a point of saying/advertising the 'new' version has better cylinder cooling, although i tend to think Tom Hall on AS has it right when he reckoned as a % the failures would still be quite small.

rick

Love my Mak 7901 and won't be getting rid of it anytime soon (if I can help it)

I usually try and shop locally, and yet I get the bulk of my parts from the US, usually the bits are in my letter box 7 days from placing the order.
The nearest dealer while supposedly a full service agent has nothing in stock, or at least nothing I've ever needed (they reckon they'd never sold a chain catcher for a 64-7900 ?? or the felts for the OE fuel filter ?? or ??)
It usually takes as long or longer than a week to get bits in (usually only one order a week to Makita, sometimes two) at between 30-100% more $ and there's something about their attitude that really rubs me up the wrong way. It also doesn't help that they've cocked up more orders than you can poke a stick at.

Cut4fun

Easy fix put a 5100S muffler on the 5105.

windthrown

And retune the carb! More flow will result in leaner running. Also some 5100s models seem to have cats in them too.

As the Troll says, the 5100s had issues running lean and burning up, at least here in the states. Whole series of them blew here in the PNW. The carb boot in the early models was one issue (air leaks), them being tuned lean on good German gas at the factory was another issue, and not-so-educated dealers not knowing that they needed tuning or how to re-tune them seems to be an issue. They are also a pretty highly strung saw by design, so running regular ethanol (E-10) USA low octane gas is not a good thing in them, or any modern chainsaw for that matter.

As for dealer support, that remains an issue here. The 'Dolmar dealer' where I found these saws was a Stihl dealer for a long time. Now they have Dolmar, so the learning curve is apt to be there for a while. Also they are a hack shop rental place, so one has to wonder how good they are at fixing stuff. I doubt that they have many parts for them, but I can get them back east no porblem. The main issue would be any needed warantee work. I use only super low ethanol (4-5%) Washington state gas and high quality Elf 100% synthetic oil. If I have to argue about a saw burning up becasue of straight-gassing or 'bad gas', I would not be a happy camper. I have never had to get a Stihl worked on under warantee. Also the Stihl dealers know their saws around here.

But that is the 5100s, and not the 7900 which is the Dolmar saw that I would get. The bad boy... that would also keep me from lowering my Stihl standards and getting a 441 for the anti-vibe. Who knows. maybe I would get a Husky 346xp Series II to go with it, and round out my collection. Best in class saws?

50cc: Husky 346 series II
60cc: Stihl MS 361
70cc: Stihl 044
80cc: Dolmar 7900
90cc: Stihl MS660

Only thing missing would be the:
75cc: Husky 372xpw

Cut4fun

The NE 346 comes non-cat and cat for same price. So buy the right one first time and save yourself some dough down the road.

SawTroll

Here, you have to pay extra for the cat version!

coloradotrout

Well.. I have a 5100S that "blew". After 1 gallon of gas, the saw stopped running. Dealer says cylinder damage and said he had another just like it.

I'm requesting a new replacement.

Cut4fun

Yep typical 5100S. Run good when they run but all kinds of recalls and updates. Not my 3 cube 0-50cc saw of choice by any means.
If you dont have a good dealer they come from the factory set so lean they self destruct . 5100S that is.

Sunraysia Tree Solutions

As far as a know Dolmar doesn't exist in Australia anymore, I think they were bought out by makita who now sells them in hardware stores ? I was thinking about giving one a go till I found out no repair agent in my town, postage for repair at my cost etc etc, not an option for me.

Cut4fun

Makita owns Dolmar and Dolmar makes saws for them. has been for awhile here.

In this thread is a place over your way i posted that sales and services the MaKita's.

I'm thinking of buying a bigger saw............

MCW

If you ever want to have a crack on a modded 7900 let me know, I have 3 of them and am only 150km away. I come over Mildura way every few months and have a mate at Dareton with a similar chainsaw business as mine. Or if you're coming Riverland way then PM me.

wellsy52

A friend of mine bought a Makita/Dolmar 65cc saw a while ago and speaks very favourably of it's performance. For many years he was strictly a Stihl man (031av, 045). I didn't even know Makita were in the chainsaw business.
If the product/servicing is as good other Makita products it will be a bonus here in the Blue Mountains of NSW.

SawTroll

Yes, but the last 5100S mufflers also were cat ones, so make sure you get the right one!

SawTroll

Dealers have reported up to 80% of the ones sold, but I don't think that is typical!

MCW

If dealers have reported an 80% failure rate then those dealers must be 99% idiots. I still believe any failures on the 5100-S is tiny - remember that no matter where you are there is always the "vocal minority" that make things sound worse than they really are. I am yet to see the photos of all these toasted 5100-S saws and this is the modern era, everybody has a digital camera or even mobile phone with a camera.
That failure rate simply cannot be correct unless the local town had a major fuel issue or something like that.

SawTroll

If both the dealer and the owner are doing what they should, I believe the failiure rate would be a lot smaller. I believe the main problem was that the factory had to set the carbs too lean, because of the US EPA rules, and the dealers were not warned properly. With a good dealer, I believe most of the issue goes away!

MCW

You are most certainly correct Sawtroll but I am yet to see any photos of all of these burnt up 5100-S saws.

SawTroll

Yes, and the early 5105s continued to fail - I guess that is why they started limiting them at 13,800rpm and probably lowered the compression after a while......