Chainsaw Repair
Husqvarna - Stihl - Poulan - Jonsered - Dolmar chainsaws and more => Husqvarna => Topic started by: oldfarmer on February 06, 2018, 10:25:23 pm
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I need to replace the cylinder on my Husqvarna 254XP. I anticipate heavy use in the next year as will have recently logged timber and need to cut & sell the tops for firewood. Nikasil cylinder kits are about twice as expensive as chrome cylinder kits. Is Nikasil worth the extra money given that the 254XP is high rpm saw?
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I'd get a oem cylinder over aftermarket. Heck I would even clean up used oem cylinder first and use a meteor piston kit before a aftermarket kit. JMO afm cylinder is a last resort for me.
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Twenty-two people have looked at my post below concerning the difference between Nikasil vs Chrome replacement cylinders and only one person as responded? Come on. Chrome cylinders are half the price, do they last half as long, do they hold up with heavy use in hot weather, for instance?
Surely somebody has some experience?
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MY dad is still running a chromed piston in a bare bore for 26 years. But are you talking aftermarket cylinders?
merged threads
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Yes, aftermarket chrome plated cylinders. Can they handle the high rpm & heat of a husqvarna XP machine?
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aftermarket chrome peels pretty easy in the past.
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FWIW Mcculloch towards the end had problems with chrome plating .I imagine due in part with a curltalement of hard Rhodedsian chrome .I personally would not take a chance on an aftermarket cylinder ,a good aftermarket piston yes .Far be it from me to argue the point though .
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Go with Nikasil cyl. Not worth the loss of production to save a few $ on rebuild. I'd replace the crank seals too cheap insurance.
Shep
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Thanks, everybody for your comments. Yes, I paid the extra and went with Nikasil. I'm going to have a couple hundred face cord of hardwood tops to cut soon and a 254 is good lighter saw to cut the smaller ends down without breaking my back doing it.
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Good AM PC don't know on bore plating would have to message seller. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tecomec-CYLINDER-PISTON-RING-Kit-for-Husqvarna-254-254XP-Chainsaws/282334978267?hash=item41bc79e0db:g:H6kAAOSw8w1YB9v9
Shep
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Info from @Grandedog
Nikasil is only about .010 - .012 thick. Chrome is harder and also more difficult to do correctly. Chrome doesn't bond as well as nikasil. If you look at cross sections of cylinders under an electron microscope, chrome has a very defined line where it bonds to the aluminum. A cross section of nikasil blurs the line and, shows the nikasil actually impregnating the aluminum cylinder. This is one of the main reasons why chrome will flake and nikasil won't. Chrome cylinders are more likely to fail with port mods because you expose the edge of the chrome.
Regards
Gregg
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i know this is a late reply but i just replaced a top end on a 254sg. i used an aftermarket rocwood kit. the finish seems very good
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cylinder-Pot-And-Piston-Assembly-Fits-Husqvarna-154-154XP-254-254XP-Chainsaw/312463623838?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
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I don't know how it's done on aluminum alloy .However over steel the process was dubbed "triple chromed " .First a thin layer of copper followed by a thin layer of nickle then the chrome .Chrome being very hard would tend to crack if it were not for the softer metals under it . The process of using hard high silicon content nickle came along later in the evolution of plated cylinders .
If you look back historically at automobiles you can see the demise of chrome .For example the late 70'e Olds Cutlasses etc in about 6-8 years the bumpers would rust right off of them because of using the less robust chrome caused by curtailing the use of hard chrome because it was in short supply .You don't see many chrome bumpers these days .
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More on the subject .A few years back Kevin and I did a little horse trading .I ended up with a pristene McCulloch 805 .Unknown to both of us the chrome had delaminated in the engine .McCulloch it seems had some quality control problems towards the last years in business and bad chrome was one of them .It wasn't a big deal because I landed an early model Mac 850 on the cheap and just stuffed the complete engine under the 805 shrouding with the best parts of two model designs and ended up with a very powerful 80 cc sized saw . If it means any thing I've never had hard nickle plating fail and I've wrenched on a lot of saws of many makes and models .
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Another example .Maybe 10-12 years ago I landed a McCulloch model 125c from flea bay from Oregon .It seems the chrome had failed on it it also but it had a lot of hours on it .My fix which is on this site was to make a cast iron cylinder liner and it worked very well although it took a long time to do it .If it were not the fact the saw was relatively rare I'd have never taken the pains to do that .However it proves ,mechanically speaking nothing is impossible although it might not be practical .