What's on your bench now?

Nice! That should throw some chips.

 

This is how I restart my 562xp

 

Last May I picked up this 372XP. After a few test cuts I realized that it needed crank seals. It sat under my bench, untouched until last month when I got motivated. Upon seeing the intake side of the piston, I decided to pull the cylinder off and ordered a new piston and ring while I had it apart. I’m trying to get everything cleaned up but this is hands down the dirtiest saw I’ve ever dealt with. I sprayed super clean on all the grime several times and it won’t touch it. Out of desperation today I brought it down to the car wash and blasted it with the high pressure power washer with warm soapy water. Most of the grime is still there! It’s like hard carbon buildup, and has to be chipped off with small screwdrivers. I wonder if this saw cut a lot of pine and the grime is a mix of pitch, sawdust and oil, cured onto the cases after many hours of heat cycling? At this point I’m tempted to split the cases, order new bearings and start from the bottom up… Or just get whatever I can easily get off and call it good enough. I dunno. Hard to put a saw back together with junk in all the crevices.

 

Doing another Husky 365 Special. Will post more pics when I’m done with it.

 

Looking good bud.

 

Thanks! These things run pretty darn good after the treatment. The vibration of a 372xp never bothers me, but I can definitely tell that the 365 has less which makes them a very nice firewood rig.

 

Less vibration the better.

 

You make this full-time machinist wish he knew how to build a mean saw I'm certainly not done learning yet....

 

Definitely sawing pine when the sap is running. It's like concrete. Once the sap is on the saw it just starts collecting anything and everything the saw comes in contact with. It will take gasoline and penetrants like WD40 and mechanical scraping to get it all off. Acetone will work but it will also hurt the paint. Good luck!

 

Wow! That is awesome! Looking forward to seeing more on this build.

 

I’m still learning, and I don’t do a lot of saws, but they are fun to transform into wood eating machines.

 

Thanks, I will try to remember to post some more on it.

 

Fixing it, genuine Husky. All better now

 

I ended up biting the bullet and splitting the cases. The connecting rod felt just a little too sloppy on the crankshaft so I ordered a crank, bearings and gasket kit. Also a new West ignition coil since I’m spending money So now it’s going to be my first bottom up rebuild.

 

365 special cylinder finished

 

Excellent choice! 372's are great saws and yours will be like new.

 

365 Special muffler mod.

 

NIB 550xpg for mods.

 

I'd be interested to know how you like the 550. Is it a worthy successor to the 346?

 

This 026 was bought for the dad by my mom back in the early 80's. He only used to for a few years. Fast forward to 2000 and my wife and I moved into our first house. We were in the mountains and needed to burn wood due to not being able to afford the propane bill. Dad gave me this 026 that had been sitting for 20 years. Me being an idiot threw fuel and oil in it and proceeded to seize it in just a few minutes. Big air leak from the cracked fuel hoses and intake. At least I learned what a lean condition sounds like At the time a Stihl piston and cylinder cost more than a new saw so rather than fix it I bought a Husky 350. I kept the saw hoping some day to fix it. It turns out the aftermarket makes piston/cylinder kids for older 024's now. The time has come!

What do you think- go ahead and replace the crank seals? They are 40 years old. I have a carb rebuild kit, new fuel lines, intake boot, piston and cylinder and gasket and seal rebuild kit. Anything else I should do while I have it apart?