Husqvarna 288XP Update.

Well, decided I would try to tackle the saw today, and by that, I mean take it to a professional at the saw shop!!

We (owner, worker guy, and myself) all took a look at it during coffee this morning. When I finished building the saw 7 months ago, it tested out at 157 PSI, which was very good. This morning it tested at 64 PSI, clearly something is wrong.

Took the spark plug out, looked in there, still looks like new! No scoring, no heat marks/discoloring, nothing, clean. Take the muffler off, same story, everything is clean.

Now we are "sure" it is a crank seal / bearing, HAS to be, right?

Psssshhh. WRONG! The entire jug is LOOSE on the crank case!!!! It is a wonder it ran at all!!! Got a new head/jug gasket coming, and a new muffler stud, and it should be good to go....

When I put everything together, I torqued them to the specs of 25 Inch Lbs per bolt. Owner of the shop told me that I HAVE to use some kind of a Permatex / Thread lock, so, I bought some Red, high temp for the 4 bolts that hold the jug onto the crank case, and I bought some Blue, Medium Duty for the muffler studs (can't keep them tight, and lost one....

So, long story short, what could have been a costly, time consuming disaster turned out to be VERY lucky! Better bump up my cleaning and inspection schedule!!!

Hopefully soon enough it will be back to killing trees... Miss the big ole thing already!!

Bryce

Good to hear it wasn't catastrophic. I run a 272XP, that saw is ridiculous.

272's were pretty good saws! Buddy has one, it cuts some good wood. Then when they went to the 372 they turned into animals!! Ohhhhhhh ya!

Glad to hear that, I own stihls, never had a husky, but I have nothing against them.

Speaking of Husky saws, my neighbor bought one new a coupla weeks after I bought my new Dolmar 510 a coupla years ago. He has had nothing but trouble with that saw, and I have loved my Dolmar. Anyway he just found out what the problem was all along. The plug boot on the end of the plug wire was hanging on by a shred. He bought it at a big box named Family Farm and home, and he had returned it to them many times but they never found the problem. It's fixed now and runs great.

I have a Husky 562xp, and so far no problems, knock on wood. It's a wood hog.

Five years ago my friends gave me a Husqvarna saw for Christmas. It is still setting here without ever having fuel or oil put in it. I am fixing to use it but I just have not yet gotter done. No sense in being in a hurry is there? Happy farming.

Did you also order piston ring? If I went with a new jug, I would replace the ring, even if the ring was new on your rebuild. They wear in to the old cylinder.

I have had a Husky model 65 for many years. Not a big user like some here but at last count, I have used up at least 10 chains, probably more. I had been cutting hickory. With the Husky chain speed, you can watch sparks come off the chain. I have only changed the sprocket 2 times and still on the factory plug. I really like my Husky.

Glad to hear it will be up and running again soon. I love my huskys, I have a 353 and a 385xp both have been woods ported.

Lol! I've had excellent luck with my 385.

Except for the one time I dumped straight gas in it. (smile) That little moment of brilliance cost me a jug, piston, and rings.

You know, so many people have rivals between Stihls and Huskys, and if you like one, you HAVE to hate the other.

They both make very good saws, and they both have had a few BAD ones too!!

People around here claim that Stihls have more low end power, but Husqvarnas cut faster. Both of those statements are true, but it all comes down to chain speed. I have 8 tooth sprockets (instead of the stock 7) on both my 288's. They SCREAM through the little wood, and then slow down to "normal" in the big wood. Stihls have tiny sprockets, move the chain slow, have ALL the power in the world, little or big wood, but are slow!! Put a bigger sprocket on them, and you wouldn't know the difference.

I only have 2 "dislikings" towards Stihls, 1, most of the ones I have seen are very hard starting in the cold (20 degrees and colder), and 2, they are just kind of ugly?! I don't like the orange/white color scheme. I like my screaming orange ones!! Easier to find!!!

No, I didn't.. Going to pull the jug off this weekend and have a look at things with a micrometer, and see what it looks like.

Has a 4 ring higher compression Meteor piston in it though, not the stock Husqvarna one. That is where the saw gets a little more Umph. That and the 2 port muffler, which keeps it cooler, and the carb has a different main jet in it, supposedly a TINY bit bigger... Big air cleaner, more air flow, etc.

Did any of this help get more power?!? I think compared to me stock 288XP Lite, yes, it is a bigger saw, but, that other one still holds its own. I just LOVE the sound of this 288. 2 Stroke at its finest!

i have had both stihl and huskys seems like there pretty much neck to neck to me.depends on which one has the sharpest chain at the moment.
RICK

Take the red back and use the blue on everything. Red is the hard permanent type but shock and vibration will cause it to break like glass. We had one of the guy's use the red on a Deere tranny case the second time it came back years ago. A month later it was back in the shop with just two loose bolts holding it together. If it hadn't lost all the oil they would have fell out too. Had to tap and wash the holes to get the Loctite out. New bolts, dowel pin's and blue Loctite and she never came back.

I was a Husqvarna dealer back before they started selling to the boxes. All XPs were very good high production saws back then. I kept a couple, Used both yesterday, don't use often but they are always ready to go with a couple of pulls.