Another saw rebuild- Husky 55 Rancher

SkwerI

Treehouser
Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Messages
19,276
Location
central Florida
Last week one of my clients gave me a saw he had burned up. I figured it was seized before he gave it to me because I've watched him use a saw and he is not very good. Also, most of his saws are running too lean and he refuses to adjust them or even let the dealer adjust them. He thinks that holding the throttle wide open and making the saw scream while holding it up in the air will somehow make it run better when it's running too lean to make a cut.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the jug and piston. There is a small chunk of aluminum or something that wedged between the piston and cylinder that finally seized it up. Any ideas where it may have come from, or am I ok just slapping a new top end on it? I have a new aftermarket piston and cylinder kit on order from Bailey's for $99. OEM was $140 for just the piston and rings without a new jug.
 
Ouch.... I feel bad for that dude's saws.

Looks to me like that came from the piston where it welded itself to the cylinder.

A new jug, slug, and plug and the correct carb settings should do.
 
Check to make sure that the connecting rod looks ok, and not an inordinate amount of play where it attaches to the crank. I'd replace the bearing where the piston attaches to the connecting rod. Be sure to do a thorough cleaning of the crankcase.
 
Look at the right side of the picture .There is a chunk of tramp aluminum right above the ex port .That's where it piled it up from running lean . Kinda like mud on your feet ,it just keeps picking up more and more tramp aluminum as it siezes up .
 
A point to ponder .The piston is essence is nothing more than a slide action valve of sorts which rides on a very thin layer of oil .Once it breaks the surface tension of the oil in this case from running lean ,failure is immanent .
 
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Al, that's the chunk I was trying to show. It corresponds with the shiny gouge in the top of the piston. I assumed it was a chunk of aluminum from a different source, but you guys say it just came off the piston and welded itself to the cylinder?

The rest of the saw is almost like new. Very little oil residue in the crankcase though.
 
The mill where I started sawing had a ton of those 55's. When properly tuned and sharpened, they were little rippers. When dull, however, they wouldn't cut worth a dang. Not their fault though. That seems to be the way of those little high rpm saws with .325 chain.
 
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The connecting rod and lower end seem ok. The saw looks almost new. My buddy Mike wants it so he's buying the parts. :)
 
The phenominum of tramp aluminum is kinda hard to explain .It just kind of pulls off a little a time and piles it up .Like mud really .

The sooner people get over that idea they have to have the saws cranking on at 14000 rpm out of the wood the less saws will get siezed up . It may sound big and bad but all it is is noise .

You could most likely clean up the cylinder .I think however that the new P and C is much better approach in the long haul . Too bad it got cooked .Looked like it was in too good of good shape to meet a sudden demise like that .:(
 
That will make a great saw once it's done. Does look like new. You need to keep an eye on the previous owner, seems like a great source for "junk" saws to fix up for peanuts.:/:
 
A kit here would be well over $200...

Lower rod bearing is usually OK, but have a look when you assemble just to be sure.

Make sure there are no leaks in seals and tubes etc...
You know all this...

Does it have piped outlet or just sliced side?

What letter is stamped on top of cylinder?

How old is it? Is it Sweden made?
 
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The jug is a Mahle 46ZDS and the s/n tag says Sweden. The muffler just had the stock side opening, which I've enlarged. No piped outlet.
 
Look on top of cylinder. There could be a letter stamped in there.

If it is made here and have this muffler since start it should be the middle version.
There were three made versions of mufflers on the saws made here.
First had the pipe outlet, second the opened side and third version was with opened side and split muffler, not welded.
There were some in the end of series with the pipe outlet, but I doubt it was many.

The stamp intop is there to make sure you have correct piston to cylinder. Pistons were stamped too.

The reason for this is that parts rotate between all brands in E-lux.
Sometimes it is even speced in IPL that this or this is only replacement part...
 
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This one is better than the Olympus I had before. I just throw it in Macro mode and let the auto focus handle the rest. It's a little Canon Power Shot SD750.
 
Brian I have a question for you....

Is the Husky 455 the same bottom end for the Husky 460?

Very curious because I just got a low comp reading on my last 455. And I also have a customer that might trade out some work (if she still has it) for a Husky 460... Would be nice to have redundancy :D
 
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Stephen, I don't know. But I bet you can find the IPLs online and compare parts numbers.

I was supposed to have parts this week but the backorder was delayed. Now they say the parts should ship by May 1.
 
Ok that solves some problems on my end.. Thanks again Jay..
I will try and get that one 460 from my customer and then tear down the low comp 455 and make it into a 460. Then I will be back in the game on my mid range saws... I am down to one 455 and the 036 Pro in my mid range. And I will NOT brush with my 036. It would fug up a perfectly good saw I often use aloft on TDs.
 
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