Chainsaw Repair

The chain brake and clutch side case also had a # of changes in the 154-254 xp evolution.

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One other thing I'll check tomorrow are a few IPLs and owners manuals. If as I suspect, the cover pages and such refer to these saws as XP's, then that's how they should be defined. At least here in the US, I think that the transition from SE to XP was pretty much like I said earlier. Other markets may be different, as it's really nothing more than a marketing term to begin with.

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I have looked at all the IPLs I can find earlier, and there are no trace of a 268SE there.

As I see it, you very well could be right. The second halv of 1987 "sounds" like a bit late for a SE model.

In all I have "collected" info of 3 saws with 268SE on that tag, and two of them could easily be the same saw (Ken Dunn and Gypo).

I'm betting that Cut4's 268 is a 1987 model. They may have continued putting SE on the ID tag for part of the year, as they had been doing with the 266.

Easy to read those tags. The first number, in that case would be a 7, indicating 1987. The second two numbers indicate the week of that year that the saw was produced.

I went an looked at a bunch of IPL's and such, and I'm satisfied that there never was a model 268SE. All of the top cover and starter decals from the earliest 268 IPL are "XP", up until the open port 268 came out.

The 266 of course does show both SE and XP model decals, with the change taking place from 1986 to 1987.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g289/doemaster789/Clinton268272xp/clinton268272xp002.jpg[/img]
/i59.photobucket.com/albums/g289/doemaster789/Clinton268272xp/clinton268272xp003.jpg[/ihttp://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g289/doemaster789/Clinton268272xp/clinton268272xp004.jpg[/im]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g289/doemaster789/Clinton268272xp/clinton268272xp006.jpg[/img]
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g289/doemaster789/Clinton268272xp/clinton268272xp005.jpg[/img]

Saving info Aaron posted on husqvarna 266 268 272 full wrap handles =   There are two full wrap handlebars for this series.

The early version (probably just used on the 266SE/SG and early 266XP) has the bottom bracket ends meet at one central point under the saw (like a 181-288 full wraps).

The later 268XP/272XP full wrap has the two bracket ends offset fore/aft of each other and requires an orange plastic spacer bracket. Two screws (same as the half wrap screws, but longer and with a different part #) pass through the handlebar and plastic spacer into the fuel tank botton (where the 1/2 wrap screws would attach). Two machine screws pass through the handlebar and plastic bracket and into two nuts contained in said bracket.

I suspect Spike is right - 7 47 is even later than Gypos saw, and well into the XP area!