What's on your bench now?

Grab the end of the connecting rod, quickly rotate the crank a few times and listen/feel for any sound or vibration. If it’s suspect I’d put new crank bearings in. If it’s smooth and silent, flush out the bottom end to make sure nothing from that scored piston ended up down there and proceed with the top end. Definitely change the crank seals, they’re easy enough.

 

Have you ever salvaged a scored cylinder? If no, check out all 3 videos by Randy. This method works great and I've saved many this way. Might just need a new piston. Meteor makes a great one, typically $40ish.

 

I personally prefer the 346xp or any of the other saws that can be converted to the 346 top end. That being said, the 550 can be made into a powerhouse just like the 346…they are smoother and heavier, so probably don’t feel as violent as the 346 while still getting the same amount of work done.

 

I need a violent saw...

 

I like to call them "angry"

 

Can anyone tell me what’s the difference between the “YK” and the “OL” on the back end of these two Stihl chainsaw bar numbers?



Everything else is the same.
Thank you.

 

Measure the thickness of them. Not a Stihl guy but guessing one could be made for narrow kerf chain.

 

Good news- the bearings are silky smooth. I will flush and flush and flush that bottom end. Would hate to smoke the crank bearings. I'm waiting on parts for now. Thanks!

 

Don't we all!

 

The 346 is hard to beat. I went from an 026 to a 346xp. Huge improvement. It has been so long since the 346 came out I thought maybe there would be a similar leap. Smooth is good but more power is more better!

 

I don't think this one will come back. The scoring under the exhaust port is deep enough to catch my fingernail in four places. Back in the day I cleaned out the aluminum transfer with some acid and scotch brite. That revealed how deep the scoring went. I'll watch the video and give it a good think. Thanks!

 

Built this today.

 

Fuel pump?

 

Jenny would kick my azz if I stole one of her cutting boards like that...

 

Yep. Portable tranfer pump that runs on a Milwaukee 12 volt battery

 

She got a new set of J Henckles cutting boards from Costco yesterday. I took the castaways

 

eBay 288XP Lite that came in this past weekend. Giving her a quick cleaning and going through the basics. New fuel line on order, and OEM carburetor rebuild kit. I can see from the intake side that it’s going to need a piston and ring sooner than later, although the saw has a lot of compression by the feel of it. I don’t see any scoring on the cylinder from the intake or exhaust ports. The plan is to get it back together and fired up, and go from there. If it needs crank seals then I’ll do the top end at the same time. I’m hoping that I can run it as is for a season though. Whoever owned this before me down in Maryland got a little kooky with fasteners and mixed and matched whatever they had. I can’t take anything for granted at this point But hey, these have a good reputation so I think it’s worth salvaging…

 

I had a nagging feeling that I should just bite the bullet and pull the cylinder off. I go to put a 5mm allen key in and it doesn’t fit. 4 goes with a mile of slop. WTF?!?! I knew right away what that meant. Sure enough, 3/16” is a perfect fit. Someone drilled out the cylinder mounting holes in the cases and tapped them 1/4-20!
The crank bearings sound like garbage too. I don’t need to be doing 2 full rebuilds simultaneously so this saw is going to sit in a box until I get my 372xp back together in the coming weeks.

 

Welcome to the world of cobbled together xp’s. My experience is limited to the ones I have and had. I’ve seen non oem and different sized bolts in top covers, clutch covers, mufflers, carburetors, plastic intake boots, felling dogs….
It’s almost like they earned their reputation

 

Most 2 series husqvarnas came with 1/4 x 20 cylinder bolts. Crazy, but true.