I have fairly new, 5 or 6 years old, not used alot, stihl farm boss. Hasn't been cranked in about 2 years, I've been using my kobalt electric saw since all the tasks have been smaller trees and limbs. Anyway, got it out to use it last week and it was very hard to pull so hard that I thought I might break the pull rope, so I gave up. I used trufuel the last time it was used and it still has some fuel in it. Any thoughts or suggestions? A man living in the country needs a real chainsaw from time to time

Could just be a gummed up flywheel. I’d pop the case up and clean all the gunk off and lube it up. I’d probably empty what gas is in it and put fresh in there before I prime it. Check your fuel lines and primer bulb too. You can’t kill a Stihl so it will probably go with minimal maintenance

I would pull the plug and see if it pulls. It could have some fuel in the cylinder. I use no ethanol gas and BRP XD100 2 stroke oil exclusively and I fired up my Husky 445 last sunday, and its easily sat as long as yours, if not longer and it fired right up. Need to crank up the 455 Rancher and see how it does.

They are great saws, but leak bar oil something awful.

Does it have a compression relief button?

Husqvarna or stihl for gas burners

Dirt dobber

Is the safety brake engaged? The safety bar between the top handle and chain bar? You can pull it back or push it forward to see if it disengages . Hit the decompression button if equipped. The clutch could be gummed up with trash. Take the spark plug out then try to pull it if everything else is good. Those are hard to pull anyway, maybe you just got weak 😊🤣

2 years is a long time not to crank one!!

Stihl is a great saw but cranking em can be a pain sometimes

You be surprised at how helpful a little lighter fuild will help with that .

^ This. My late Daddy used to do this in the 60's sometimes to Crank our 2 stroke Jacobsen Mowers.

Couple of Youtube small engine Mechanics swear that can fuel will screw a small engine up.

^Yessir. Not to mention it is EXPENSIVE.

When you buy a saw get the professional model everything else is piece of junk. I don't care who's name is written on the side of it. That's just the world we live in.

All mine crank cold in 2-3 pulls max