Chainsaw Repair

When we first started out the weather wasn't all that bad with the temperature around 19F with the wind SW 4 mph and hazy.

Honestly I couldn't tell much difference in power between the 550 and the 346XP NE.

The 550, which had little more than a tank of gas through it, was rather cold natured on start up.  (I'm not used to the new style switch yet.)
After a little warm up which amounted to walking to the wood pile with the saw running, the 550 ran just fine mixture wise in the cuts. No lean out, rich flutter or anything. This saw had the 3/8  RSC X 60DL X 16" Power Match bar.

I played with pressure and feel versus cutting speed while in the old silver maple. The 550 cut very well to let it more or less feed itself. If you pushed much, it would slow and the clutch would slip. But to ease up, it cut very fast. Overall it was pleasant to use.

The 346XP NE responded almost identical in the wood with the same bar and chain.

What I did notice about the 346 was that it started up cold with the choke on. It was 19F outside air temperature. I flicked the choke off and let it run at a moderate speed until I got to the wood pile. We checked the RPM and it was 14,000 (No limiter on the coil). In the cut the feel of the torque, cutting speed and cutting action were not enough different from the 550 to notice.

I had the impression that the 346 had gone a little lean as the engine temperature built up for to lift up on the saw in the cut, it would scream beyond 14,000. It needed to be richened up for the cold outside air temperature?

This makes you appreciate the newer 550 with its Auto tune feature. There were no mixture events with the 550.

Then cut4fun got out the Poulan 3450 Bad Boy. It was lean too but with the stops still on the carb, all he could do was put the needle as rich as it would go against the stop. Before the cut the 3450 seemed to be very healthy as I think it has the same carb and boot as the Poulan 3750? In the cut the mixture was OK.

The 3450 though it is 5 cc bigger than the 550 and 346, did not have the RPM in the cut that the Huskies did. It was noticeably slower though still a nice chainsaw. We would have thought it great if we were not following the newer Husqvarna chainsaws with it.

While running the 3450, the wind picked up and made it miserable out at the wood pile. So we wrapped things up and I went home.

We did not have any nice cants to time cuts in between the 550 and the 346. That might be the only way to tell any difference in their action?

The 550 was essentially out of the box and the story may be different as it gets more time on it?

But I did notice that if I had a 550 that I would be running a 3/8 X 16" bar on it.

 Thanks for the input guys. So what do ya think of that new 550 ya got from me since ya got a chance to run it Kevin?

Youall should have pulled the limiters on that 3450 and given it something to eat!LOL
It probably would have made a little better showing with a few groceries down its neck!

Were the two Huskys $300.00 better than the Poulan?


Mike

Mike by the time we had gotten to the 3450.  The wind had picked up and my fingers were frozen with my brown jersey gloves on. The 3450 and 346xp were both a little lean, 3450 more so though. 3450 right around 14k when checked on tach to see (even though our ears knew so)  max is 13.8k and I like to run them fatter then that. The 346 started around 14k too.

$300-$400 difference in cutting firewood. Nope  to be honest.  Where the 2 huskys shined imo is the almost 2lbs less pho weight and balance.  The balance of the 550 is even better then the 346 imo. Now if were testing a 3000 305 3300 335 the pho weight would have been less then a lb difference.

IMO I felt the 550 had a slight edge on the 346 on torque in the cut even though the 550 was on it's 1st tank and 346 was broke in.  Seemed dead even in the cuts self feeding. When pushing I noticed the 346 was has  much softer AV and gave. The 550 I didnt notice this, but they are new av.  The 3450 had less torque in the cut, but the chain speed and cut still seemed to be right on the tails of the other 2.

The reason I like 3/8 on the small 3 cube saws that have the balls to pull it. Besides being quicker in the cut is that I deal with firewood cutters bucking hardwoods, we aint worried about limbing etc.  If I am limbing I am using a smaller saw then anyways with 3/8LP or 325 too. Mine decision is based on quicker cuts and bucking hardwoods for firewood for the 3/8.

I have firewood guys wanting me to switch their saws from 325 to 3/8 all the time  if their saw can handle it I do. None has never ask to go back afterwords either. 

3 of us had a mini gtg today running  muffler modded 550, 550 stock muffler, 346 50cc stock muffler,  346 45cc woods ported, redmax 5000 woods ported. The 2 550's and 346 ran the same chain for testing. Everything ran 3/8 16

We ran a stock with muffler mod 550xp and a stock muffler 550xp back to back with 3/8 16" bars buried for most of whole cuts. 

550 with muffler mod quickest was 12.46 seconds

550 with stock muffler and 1st tank  13.89 seconds