Please clean your air filters at least once every 20 years.

On Thursday I picked up a 2005-vintage Husky 257. The price was very much right and I was in a hurry to be somewhere else so be so I only gave it a few moments' inspection before I said I'd take it. Today I cleaned it up, and under layers of grime I found this:



And what had taken this fine machine out of service? I haven't started it yet, but as far as I can tell it was just a dirty air filter. That filter was so dirty it could hardly have been more impermeable if it had been given a coat of latex paint. I see things like this and it amazes me how little maintenance some people are willing to do. But hey, I guess I shouldn't complain too loudly.

 

So the seller unloaded it because it wasn't running?

 

Partly that, and partly because they didn't need it any more. Being 9 years old and in this condition it obviously didn't get used much. It came with a 20" bar and chain that were just worn enough to have been original to the saw.

 

If it makes you feel any better, the nut turns rather stiffly onto the rear bar stud. I think it might've been cross-threaded at some point.

Also the kill switch is chipped.

And the chain is dull.

Umm, there must be something else wrong with it...

 

Is there a Husky that you'd think would have more noticeable juice than my 257, that would run the same bar (I have many chains) and not weigh any more (17lbs wet)? My 257 runs really well and I'm not looking right now, but I wondered if you guys had a saw model you'd move up to.

 

Nice

 

I hear the 262xp is nice.

 

You will like that saw very much. Congratulations on the fine, the clean-up and on the restoratiom. What color is the lettering on the bar. IIRC HVA were still using orange until about the middle of that saw's production life.

 

Thanks. There's no lettering left, and about half the grey background paint is gone too. The bar was made in Canada. Assuming I'm interpreting the SN correctly, the saw was built late in the spring of '05.

I'm not sure whether my nose is especially good, or I just spend an inordinate amount of time sniffing. A find like this one is a potent positive reinforcement.

 

On second thought, it could be 1995. It's SN# 5200505 on a black tag. Any thoughts on how to interpret that?

 

I dug through a bunch of Husky dating threads on AS and found one that seems to clarify things. It looks like this is a 1995 saw, because a 2005 model would have the serial number in a different format. I guess I need to amend the thread title; please clean your air filters at least once every 20 years.

 

I clean mine every 5 years whether they need it or not.

 

Chainsaws need air...?

 

If saws ran on air we wouldn't need to put gas in the tank. Duh.

 

So... where the h*ll do we buy the air we have to put in it too? Saws are so complicated. Prolly even have to sharpen the chain cutter thingys too. Did you know they don't even have electric start available either... Like livin in the stone ages.

 

I bought a saw for $20 with an "oiler not working". Yep the bar oil hole was just clogged with chips and debris. Sadly it was just a poulan wild thing family saw but still... no clue on maintence.