Husky 357

[Jstpssng]

I was in a saw shop the other day where he had a 357 for sale which looked like brand new. It may have had 1 scratch on the bar... my saws probably look worse than that after the first tank goes through it.
Asking price $500... I almost went out to the truck for my checkbook and offered him $400 on the spot.
Good deal, bad deal, or indifferent? Would you have bought it?
Most posters on the Arborist site seemed to have good things to say about it... some comparing it favorably to the 254 which preceded it, and the 346 which came afterwards. I had both of those back in the day and they were the 2 best saws I've owned.

I'm going to cut 2 more loads with my Echo, some of the money will go for a 545. If he still has the saw on Monday though, I might be tempted to buy that instead.

 

[John_Mc]

I own a 357XP. I've mostly retired it and replaced it with a Husky 562XP though I still use the 357 from time to time. It's a nice saw, but I would not pay $500 for one when I can get a new 562XP for a little over $700

NOTE: If you get the 357 and the service bulletin to replace the plastic intake clamp with a metal one has not been done, you should plan on doing that.

 

[xyz123]

Loved my 357. Wished they had done the bigger bore of the 359 size with the 357 cylinder. Good saw you dont need to hook up to computers to work on.

If you like old school grab it.

Make note of this though for early and later 357 serial numbers for rod size in break down with pics = Husqvarna 357 359 13mm 15mm info

Also make sure it isnt a early one with that auto decomp crap. Mine had come with that and deleted it to put in regular decomp shown.
Auto decomp crap leaks over time = air leak.

I figure used saws at half of new cost and up down from there.

 

[John_Mc]

Also make sure it isnt a early one with that auto decomp crap. Mine had come with that and deleted it to put in regular decomp shown.
Auto decomp crap leaks over time = air leak.

I had forgotten all about the auto-decompression stuff on the early versions of the 357XP. Mine had that. Somehow I found a little kit they offered to cap off one of the lines (tiny rubber cap and spring clamp). I was not having problems with the system leaking, but had heard enough about those issues that I did not want to take a chance. I am far from a chainsaw mechanic, but the work was simple to do.

 

[xyz123]

@John_Mc mine got deleted while in Big Dave's hands getting ported. Many many years ago. RIP

Dealer up in MI that raced too.

This saw was built by him also that I learned on for first hotsaw. Piped 084.