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In the past, i have bought same model saw and they have come with different gages. Whether this was a shop error or not doesn't matter. Always double check the bar figures on its base.
Got a new XP346 today
- Thread starter Tollster
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In the past, i have bought same model saw and they have come with different gages. Whether this was a shop error or not doesn't matter. Always double check the bar figures on its base.
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
Will do, I check them both when i swap in the 346...weather permitting!
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
Still waiting for the 550,its been just over a week, and he still did not get it in, so maybe this week.
Bluegill2
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Around here the Husky dealers set them up with .058 gauge, but can go with .050 also. I run .058 on all but one saw, the 357xp, it has .050. But yes, one needs to know what gauge he as.
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
I compare the info on the bars when I trade in (up?)
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Super Member
Looking forward to your observations Tolly.
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
It came in today, the chain swapped out, bar for bar (LOL), so I came home and put a stihl RSL on, its a full chisel. Did not have a chance to cut with it and perform the 5 minute computer baseline run in. Hopefully soon.
I am liking what I see and feel, its considerably lighter than my 51,and lighter than the 346 by one pound, it also feels more nimble as the overall mass is also smaller and narrower with some nice features (Bar nuts ya can't loose, adjustable oiler, side adjust chain tension, tree felling line, better gas economy, and a few others, it was 589.00 locally). I read up on the starting proceedure as most have trouble there, it is different once its warm compared to my 51, where ya place to "ON" and pull. This one you move to choke,then push down to shut off the choke and use the "tickler", this activates (The switch,not the tickler) a high idle from what the tech said.
I'll figure it out. If this performs like anything I have read,its gonna be a nice meaty saw in a small package. I had rotator cuff surgery in the spring and now have arthitis in my hands (Seems to have come on all of the sudden since March),so this may be a good rehab for the shoulder, and easy on my hands....
I will keep ya posted...I wanna do a side by side with the 51 and fresh chains.
I am liking what I see and feel, its considerably lighter than my 51,and lighter than the 346 by one pound, it also feels more nimble as the overall mass is also smaller and narrower with some nice features (Bar nuts ya can't loose, adjustable oiler, side adjust chain tension, tree felling line, better gas economy, and a few others, it was 589.00 locally). I read up on the starting proceedure as most have trouble there, it is different once its warm compared to my 51, where ya place to "ON" and pull. This one you move to choke,then push down to shut off the choke and use the "tickler", this activates (The switch,not the tickler) a high idle from what the tech said.
I'll figure it out. If this performs like anything I have read,its gonna be a nice meaty saw in a small package. I had rotator cuff surgery in the spring and now have arthitis in my hands (Seems to have come on all of the sudden since March),so this may be a good rehab for the shoulder, and easy on my hands....
I will keep ya posted...I wanna do a side by side with the 51 and fresh chains.
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Tollster
Veteran Member
Did the run in today, I had an 18-24" oak blowdown on a side hill,so I was able to work waist high, I ran the saw wide open for 1 tank of fuel to let the digtal fuel system self calibrate. I then check the restart on the machine while it was hot, turned on the choke, push down to disengage choke and set high idle,tickle it a few times and off she went.
I stopped by a buddies of mine who is timbering nearby to let him have a run at it (had to show it off,and share the technology as he lives by the timber), by then the machine had cooled off as I spent some time with the 51 working some old log cluttering up the ground where I was working. The 550 fired up well, but seemed to have some lag at times when he used it, it stalled twice (Was outa gas), Refueled it, then once he warmed it up and stopped reving it up, it seemed to improve. He was fast on the throttle and the machine seemed to lag until it stalled. We talked about it and he said the first week or so on a new saw is working out the kinks, so with the self adjusting digital, we seemed to think it will improve over time,based on the short improvments we saw while he was running it.
Compared to the 51 it like a butter knife versus a steak knife when it comes to cutting, my 51 has a 3/8" chain and 16" bar, versus a .325 18" bar on the XP. The XP is also more ergonomically friendly, very narrow and much more nimble to wield around while cutting off branches. My 51 felt like a brick compared to the 550, big and lacking feedback you could say.
I am excited, but have to say, it ate through the first tank of fuel in no time, maybe I lost tract of time with my new saw,I recon I made about 18 cuts on that blowdown, only wacking off 4" sections as I wanted it to calibrate and keep it on the pipe with little idle time.
I think I made the right choice and will give it more action tomorrow of this weekend.
Typically when I adjusted the 51, I would lean it out, then back it off the high side so it would not run maximum RPM at full throttle,then set the idle. It would bog under load on a buried 18" oak,and you would have to either let up on the saw even though it was feeding its way through the cut, or change the angle of the bar so the face was not in full contact (Walk it through). The 550 has more RPM to offer and I could not detect much change in the RPM when buried ( If I walked it, it screamed,maybe another 2k RPM),it pulled all the way through, after each cut, I lifted the throttle for an instant, then went right back in under full load. It also seem much quicker off the bottom for limbing than my 51.
I stopped by a buddies of mine who is timbering nearby to let him have a run at it (had to show it off,and share the technology as he lives by the timber), by then the machine had cooled off as I spent some time with the 51 working some old log cluttering up the ground where I was working. The 550 fired up well, but seemed to have some lag at times when he used it, it stalled twice (Was outa gas), Refueled it, then once he warmed it up and stopped reving it up, it seemed to improve. He was fast on the throttle and the machine seemed to lag until it stalled. We talked about it and he said the first week or so on a new saw is working out the kinks, so with the self adjusting digital, we seemed to think it will improve over time,based on the short improvments we saw while he was running it.
Compared to the 51 it like a butter knife versus a steak knife when it comes to cutting, my 51 has a 3/8" chain and 16" bar, versus a .325 18" bar on the XP. The XP is also more ergonomically friendly, very narrow and much more nimble to wield around while cutting off branches. My 51 felt like a brick compared to the 550, big and lacking feedback you could say.
I am excited, but have to say, it ate through the first tank of fuel in no time, maybe I lost tract of time with my new saw,I recon I made about 18 cuts on that blowdown, only wacking off 4" sections as I wanted it to calibrate and keep it on the pipe with little idle time.
I think I made the right choice and will give it more action tomorrow of this weekend.
Typically when I adjusted the 51, I would lean it out, then back it off the high side so it would not run maximum RPM at full throttle,then set the idle. It would bog under load on a buried 18" oak,and you would have to either let up on the saw even though it was feeding its way through the cut, or change the angle of the bar so the face was not in full contact (Walk it through). The 550 has more RPM to offer and I could not detect much change in the RPM when buried ( If I walked it, it screamed,maybe another 2k RPM),it pulled all the way through, after each cut, I lifted the throttle for an instant, then went right back in under full load. It also seem much quicker off the bottom for limbing than my 51.
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Bluegill2
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There really is no comparison! The 550 will just get better with each tank. These newer saws really need to break-in and it takes longer than it did with the older saws.
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
Thats good to hear, I ran it all day today, and it had a stumble off idle, but no issues under full load. I found myself keeping it in the mid-range more often than I would have liked to have delimbing and walking along the trunk with a saw at 5k requires attention to detail. It was very noticable delimbing the trunks. I love the "No Loss" side cover nuts,and the side chain tension is quick and non cumbersom, it also runs cleaner than the 51, very little saw dust and debris around the sprocket and inside the cover compared to the 51.
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Super Member
I dunno if this applies to as sophisticated a saw as the 550 but every saw I ever had that stumbled off idle was do to a lean condition upon acceleration. With a traditional saw, this is abated temporarily by pulling out the choke a bit. Then you know you either need a screw adjustment or you have a carb orifice plugged up a little. With your saw Tolly, I'd be at a loss to figure that one out. May be the saw needs time to sort it out on its own but after a half dozen tankfuls or so and its still doing it, I'd want to inquire about it at your dealers. If you do have an L adjustment somewhere on your carb, turn it out a quarter turn and see if your problem goes away. If you do and it doesn't fix, i'd go straight back to the dealers as no properly tuned saw should be doing that. You may also want to check that you are indeed "flooring" the saw where you have no more take up on the trigger. Some times a thick or soft glove can prevent full acceleration depending on what part of the finger the operator uses on the trigger itself.
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OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
I think its clearing up,I am on my 4th or 5th tank,and today it ran better. It stalled once or twice, and I had one time after a warm start it would not fire after a stall. I had it back to life after a half dozen pulls at various "switch" positions.
Its still a pleasure to run as I ran the 51 on some of the dirty logs, really don't know what I was missing to tell ya the truth. I honestly think I can almost do twice as much with this saw as I could with the 51. The 18" bar is a lot easier on my lower back and it lighter, I also love the Xtorque for limbing as it seems instantly off the bottom under load.
I have not been clearing my property since march, wacked my knee with the 51 in March, had a rotator cuff repair in May, then my ma pased away in September, so my mind has been elsewhere and figured it would be best to stay out of the woods working alone(Accident prone all my life! ). Actually Ma had a stoke in February, 3 weeks later I thought it would be good to clear my mind in the woods, hence the chainsaw in the knee. I don;t think I was fully attentive and left my human performance tool kit in the truck!
So now I am a bit outa shape, but I didn't have to soak in the tub after running the 550 all day,like I normally would with the 51,mostly my back. It really is like night and day, and think it will continue to improve.
I do not have a dealer equipt to work on this new digital saw for over 100 miles. I checked with 3 husky dealer found on the husky website and none have the software to work on it, that is why i was hasitant on the purchase. But the more user reviews i read, the more I was swayed. I think the 562 will be a new flagship,just too big for my needs, so I settled on the 550. I think the digitals will be here to stay and its just a matter of time before the tecnology catches up here locally (I failed to mention we are still waiting on Y2K, LOL). My Husky products (2 saws, 1 pole saw, 1 gas hedge trimmer) have always been outstanding,and never in the shop unless it was an owner upgrade. (Bar and pully swap to 3/8"on the 51, Weed wacker conversion to a tri bladed brush cutter).
Its still a pleasure to run as I ran the 51 on some of the dirty logs, really don't know what I was missing to tell ya the truth. I honestly think I can almost do twice as much with this saw as I could with the 51. The 18" bar is a lot easier on my lower back and it lighter, I also love the Xtorque for limbing as it seems instantly off the bottom under load.
I have not been clearing my property since march, wacked my knee with the 51 in March, had a rotator cuff repair in May, then my ma pased away in September, so my mind has been elsewhere and figured it would be best to stay out of the woods working alone(Accident prone all my life! ). Actually Ma had a stoke in February, 3 weeks later I thought it would be good to clear my mind in the woods, hence the chainsaw in the knee. I don;t think I was fully attentive and left my human performance tool kit in the truck!
So now I am a bit outa shape, but I didn't have to soak in the tub after running the 550 all day,like I normally would with the 51,mostly my back. It really is like night and day, and think it will continue to improve.
I do not have a dealer equipt to work on this new digital saw for over 100 miles. I checked with 3 husky dealer found on the husky website and none have the software to work on it, that is why i was hasitant on the purchase. But the more user reviews i read, the more I was swayed. I think the 562 will be a new flagship,just too big for my needs, so I settled on the 550. I think the digitals will be here to stay and its just a matter of time before the tecnology catches up here locally (I failed to mention we are still waiting on Y2K, LOL). My Husky products (2 saws, 1 pole saw, 1 gas hedge trimmer) have always been outstanding,and never in the shop unless it was an owner upgrade. (Bar and pully swap to 3/8"on the 51, Weed wacker conversion to a tri bladed brush cutter).
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
The 550 is running much better, my wife came up to see theproperty I have been clearing and seemed surprised at how much I have done. I think the saw really is more productive then the old 51. I know I feel better when I get home after a day in the woods. I have 8 piles to burn.Not bad considering I have not had any equipment up there to move any logs or brush,just me and the dog.
Bluegill2
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Sounds good! That saw should be Much more productive than the old 51! 
OP
Tollster
Veteran Member
The 550 runs like a top now, I just kept using it. I took it aprt and cleaned it real good, checked the air filter, wiped it down and touched up the chain. I actually find myself refraining from full throttle use at times. I need 5 of me to keep up with the limbs and logs for the burn piles! I now have 12 piles the size of the toyota truck. Its been too dry to burn them, waiting for some snow or rain. Kind of running outa places to make pile as I wanna keep them away from the big oak roots asmuch as I can as I heard the heat will kill them.
I cut 3 hemlocks today, all where 12-15" diameter. Had one hang up on me on a side hill. It settled right back down on the back cut and stayed there. Tried the wegdes but didn't have a sledge, so I cut the hinge on the side till it came down. Didn't like doing it but it had to come down. I was outa the line of fire as it wanted to fall on the back cut side, which really would have been a big hang up.
Did I mention I hate hemlocks?
I cut 3 hemlocks today, all where 12-15" diameter. Had one hang up on me on a side hill. It settled right back down on the back cut and stayed there. Tried the wegdes but didn't have a sledge, so I cut the hinge on the side till it came down. Didn't like doing it but it had to come down. I was outa the line of fire as it wanted to fall on the back cut side, which really would have been a big hang up.
Did I mention I hate hemlocks?
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