Kocherjj
ArboristSite Lurker
Hello, folks. A little background here, I am NOT an arborist or professional tree cutter of any kind.
I have always loved wood and when I get the chance to cut a nice straight tree I jump at it. I know a guy with a portable sawmill so I can slice up the logs into lumber and I cut the remains for firewood.
Last spring I lost access to a friends large Husky chainsaw which I would borrow when I needed one. It finally died and he bought a new one and is not so happy to lend it as his old beater. So I went searching for saw of my own.
Thanks in no small part to this forum, when I found a 372xp for sale on ebay I bought it. I did see the warning about "I bought it on ebay" threads, but I'm just giving you guys the background. The saw was advertised as having been checked by a Husky dealer and given a green light in all areas, and I picked it up for $400.
It needed a new chain but other than that it cut just fine. However, the fuel cap leaked and the oiler occasionally stopped functioning so when I hit December I took it to a nearby Timber shop which was highly recommended by a couple acquaintances and the guy there is a licensed husky servicer.
I told him about the oiler issue, and asked him to replace the cap while he was at it and just go over the saw seeing if there were any other things to take care of. I also mentioned that occasionally after running it sideways it would lose some power, but it would come back after sitting for a minute.
I never heard from him, and when I called I would always get the "He'll call you back tomorrow with some info", and never hear back. I am usually at work before he opens, and can't get there til he closes, and I heard he'd been in and out of the hospital so I tried to be patient, but after months of calling every two weeks and always getting the same "we'll call you tomorrow" with no results, I went down yesterday after he opened and asked for it back. He was on the phone for 20 minutes while I stood there waiting for him, and I had to leave to get to a dentist appointment, which is why I had the day free in the first place, so I asked the secretary to please tell him I was coming this morning to pick it up.
This morning I got there and he brings me a box of parts, which he promises has everything that belongs to my saw in it. The saw is stripped to nothing, just two large chunks, and a thousand small parts. I asked him why it wasn't back together, because it did work for me before I brought it in, and he told me that he would charge me $300 just to reassemble it. I said forget it, and he gave me a whole rundown of "issues" he'd found. He said the cylinder itself is in perfect condition, compression and all that, but he said the carburetor (which is completely disassembled) was missing gaskets and had dirt all inside it. He said the muffler bolts were missing, and the fuel tank vent was bad, and the oiler was shot, and the starter rope was too short, and the ignition wire was damaged, and on and on and on....
He also told me that in his opinion I would spend more getting it working than buying a new one, which he said would be in the $700 range and he'd gladly sell me one. And my question, which might be impossible to answer, just looking for opinions and ideas, is, is he right? How could so much really be wrong with the saw, and yet it worked fine for the most part? Should I really just write this saw off? I've looked at a few threads on rebuilds, but I've never rebuilt a small engine which I didn't disassemble myself, and this pile of unrecognizable parts is rather daunting. What do you guys think my best options are?
Thanks ahead of time,
Judah
I have always loved wood and when I get the chance to cut a nice straight tree I jump at it. I know a guy with a portable sawmill so I can slice up the logs into lumber and I cut the remains for firewood.
Last spring I lost access to a friends large Husky chainsaw which I would borrow when I needed one. It finally died and he bought a new one and is not so happy to lend it as his old beater. So I went searching for saw of my own.
Thanks in no small part to this forum, when I found a 372xp for sale on ebay I bought it. I did see the warning about "I bought it on ebay" threads, but I'm just giving you guys the background. The saw was advertised as having been checked by a Husky dealer and given a green light in all areas, and I picked it up for $400.
It needed a new chain but other than that it cut just fine. However, the fuel cap leaked and the oiler occasionally stopped functioning so when I hit December I took it to a nearby Timber shop which was highly recommended by a couple acquaintances and the guy there is a licensed husky servicer.
I told him about the oiler issue, and asked him to replace the cap while he was at it and just go over the saw seeing if there were any other things to take care of. I also mentioned that occasionally after running it sideways it would lose some power, but it would come back after sitting for a minute.
I never heard from him, and when I called I would always get the "He'll call you back tomorrow with some info", and never hear back. I am usually at work before he opens, and can't get there til he closes, and I heard he'd been in and out of the hospital so I tried to be patient, but after months of calling every two weeks and always getting the same "we'll call you tomorrow" with no results, I went down yesterday after he opened and asked for it back. He was on the phone for 20 minutes while I stood there waiting for him, and I had to leave to get to a dentist appointment, which is why I had the day free in the first place, so I asked the secretary to please tell him I was coming this morning to pick it up.
This morning I got there and he brings me a box of parts, which he promises has everything that belongs to my saw in it. The saw is stripped to nothing, just two large chunks, and a thousand small parts. I asked him why it wasn't back together, because it did work for me before I brought it in, and he told me that he would charge me $300 just to reassemble it. I said forget it, and he gave me a whole rundown of "issues" he'd found. He said the cylinder itself is in perfect condition, compression and all that, but he said the carburetor (which is completely disassembled) was missing gaskets and had dirt all inside it. He said the muffler bolts were missing, and the fuel tank vent was bad, and the oiler was shot, and the starter rope was too short, and the ignition wire was damaged, and on and on and on....
He also told me that in his opinion I would spend more getting it working than buying a new one, which he said would be in the $700 range and he'd gladly sell me one. And my question, which might be impossible to answer, just looking for opinions and ideas, is, is he right? How could so much really be wrong with the saw, and yet it worked fine for the most part? Should I really just write this saw off? I've looked at a few threads on rebuilds, but I've never rebuilt a small engine which I didn't disassemble myself, and this pile of unrecognizable parts is rather daunting. What do you guys think my best options are?
Thanks ahead of time,
Judah
