Question from new Husqvarna 346xp owner

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lasmacgod

ArboristSite Operative
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I have been lurking around here for a while, soaking up the knowledge. My grandfather and father ran a Stihl dealership years ago, so it goes without saying that I come from a Stihl family. My dad is still running his old 026, which was one of the first ones he got in when they first came out. I started out with a well worn 024, and upgraded to a 260 pro. A couple weeks ago, I got the itch for something new and based on everything I read here, I chose to give Husqvarna a try in the form of the legendary 346xp NE. I finally got time to run it this weekend, and must say I was a bit underwhelmed.

I mostly cut hedge (osage orange), mostly live but sometimes dead, cleaning up and side trimming hedge rows around fields. This weekend I chose to start breaking in the Husqvarna cleaning up trees in my father-in-law's pastures. The tree he pointed me to first was a still-standing dead tree, trunk about 20" diameter. We could not positively identify the tree, but it was definitely not as hard as hedge. My favorite chain for these cutting conditions is Stihl semi chisel non-safety chain, and I had the dealer make me three loops for for the Oregon Pro-Lite 16" bar. The chain is .325 pitch .050 gauge. I now have 5 tanks of fuel through the saw, felling, limbing, and bucking this tree. My 260 handled these conditions with no problem, even when new. Not as fast as a bigger saw maybe, but I never felt the need to buy a bigger saw for no more than I buck trees this size.

When running the 346, it ran great in wood up to 10" or so. Anything bigger, and it felt like the chain was perhaps too aggressive, as it felt like it was running great, keeping the revs up, when it felt like the chain would grab and stop the saw. Even the mere weight of the saw in the cut was too much, forcing me to bear part of the weight of the saw when bucking.

The chains were brand new, I had not touched them. I do not run dull chains - the second I stop getting good chips, I stop and swap chains. The chain is getting plenty of oil. The carburetor seems adjusted just a touch rich, but it mostly smooths out in the cut. The bucking was done on the last half of the 4th tank of fuel and the 5th tank.

Will the 346 get that much stronger with more run time, or am I just expecting too much? It easily outruns the 260 on the smaller stuff, but the 260 bucks handles the bigger stuff better. Should I instead look at a 555 or 562xp? I would like to keep the 346 and buy a 70cc saw, but that is just not an option for me. Sacrilege, I know. I know my cutting conditions are harsh, but because of that I could be accused of being overly meticulous about maintenance. I did sell the 260 already.

Oh, and please, no brand warfare. Thanks in advance for everybody's help!
 
The mixture is not set correctly on your 346 or something? You are not talking about the 346 NE that I have.

I also have a 026 and while it is nice, there is no comparison with the 346 NE when it comes to torque.

I may take them both on a task but the 026 is always backup for the 346.
 
4 years and just now posting?

I was taught that in order to learn, one should keep their mouth shut and eyes and ears open :msp_biggrin:
So like I said, I have been reading here. A lot.

The mixture is not set correctly on your 346 or something? You are not talking about the 346 NE that I have.

I also have a 026 and while it is nice, there is no comparison with the 346 NE when it comes to torque.

I may take them both on a task but the 026 is always backup for the 346.

The mixture was set by the dealer. It sounds just a touch rich, but pretty well clears up in the cut. Not sure if I am describing it correctly, but I dont believe it is so rich that it would the issue. I think if I were to adjust the carb, 1/8 of a turn, if that, would have it dialed in perfectly, but want to wait until I get at least ten tanks of fuel through it before I adjust anything.

Edit: curiosity got the best of so just went to the garage and pulled the plug. It is a NGK plug, and is a nice, dark tan, about the same shade as my Magpul FDE iPhone case.
 
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I was taught that in order to learn, one should keep their mouth shut and eyes and ears open :msp_biggrin:
So like I said, I have been reading here. A lot.



The mixture was set by the dealer. It sounds just a touch rich, but pretty well clears up in the cut. Not sure if I am describing it correctly, but I dont believe it is so rich that it would the issue. I think if I were to adjust the carb, 1/8 of a turn, if that, would have it dialed in perfectly, but want to wait until I get at least ten tanks of fuel through it before I adjust anything.

Edit: curiosity got the best of so just went to the garage and oulled the plug. It is a nice, dark tan, about the same shade as my Magpul FDE iPhone case.

Read a lot and you'll learn about the book, listen well and you'll remember what you're told. But until you attempt and ask questions you won't know how to apply some information. By rich is it 4 stroking at wot? And by pretty well cleans up what do you mean? That 346 used? How's compression if it is? So many things I can ask to help you out. Where around kc are you? I'm not far from you. I can help you out.
 
Well, something surely is wrong - a NE346xp should cut circles around a MS260!


In wood up to 10" in diameter or so, it absolutely runs circles around the 260. Anything bigger, and the 260 would out cut it. Not saying that the 260 would run circles around it, but it would at least pull itself through without me having to support any of its weight.
 
In wood up to 10" in diameter or so, it absolutely runs circles around the 260. Anything bigger, and the 260 would out cut it. Not saying that the 260 would run circles around it, but it would at least pull itself through without me having to support any of its weight.

Where are you located ? I'd be more than happy to help you out. I'm in the smithville area all week.
 
Read a lot and you'll learn about the book, listen well and you'll remember what you're told. But until you attempt and ask questions you won't know how to apply some information. By rich is it 4 stroking at wot? And by pretty well cleans up what do you mean? That 346 used? How's compression if it is? So many things I can ask to help you out. Where around kc are you? I'm not far from you. I can help you out.

That's why I'm asking now, I had not yet had any questions. I know Stihls virtually inside and out. Buying my first Husqvarna got me out of my comfort zone, and all the standard stuff I would normally check is not resulting in any solutions.

It is 4 stroking lightly at WOT. When cutting, it clears up almost immediately, but occasionally gives a very light burble. It does not stay 100% clear all the way through. I don't believe the mixture would cause the power issues, especially after pulling the plug and seeing it was dark tan (not brown though).

Oh, and other than the tank of fuel from thee dealer, I am running 91 octane ethanol free fuel with Stihl Ultra mixed at 50:1

The 346 was purchased new. I am in Merriam, but do all my cutting north of Wichita and east of Winfield. I appreciate the offer to help. I hate to impose, but do you have wood for test cuts? I don't have anything of any significance to cut in Merriam.
 
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Now that's what I call cool. One member helping another out. I think mixture can make a big difference in how it cuts. A dealer had my 365 so rich it wouldn't execute a bore cut. Once tuned no problem. Good luck with it and I'll be watching for the answer as I want one of these some day myself.
 
That's why I'm asking now, I had not yet had any questions. I know Stihls virtually inside and out. Buying my first Husqvarna got me out of my comfort zone, and all the standard stuff I would normally check is not resulting in any solutions.

It is 4 stroking lightly at WOT. When cutting, it clears up almost immediately, but occasionally gives a very light burble. It does not stay 100% clear all the way through. I don't believe the mixture would cause the power issues, especially after pulling the plug and seeing it was dark tan (not brown though).

Oh, and other than the tank of fuel from thee dealer, I am running 91 octane ethanol free fuel with Stihl Ultra mixed at 50:1

The 346 was purchased new. I am in Merriam, but do all my cutting north of Wichita and east of Winfield. I appreciate the offer to help. I hate to impose, but do you have wood for test cuts? I don't have anything of any significance to cut in Merriam.

Yes I have some wood. It's about an hour north of kc but I'd be happy to help out. My 346 took a few tanks to break in but it was never slow. One thing that will help figure out your problem is what colour is your coil? And how quick is the throttle response? If it's not snappy then it's probably running fat on the low end and a little lean on the high side. Some would disagree but the limited blue coils make a stronger runner IMO. Hopefully your dealer doesn't have it bouncing off the limiter. If it were it would appear to 4 stroke and wouldn't have much grunt because of the lack of fuel on the h side.
 
Yes I have some wood. It's about an hour north of kc but I'd be happy to help out. My 346 took a few tanks to break in but it was never slow. One thing that will help figure out your problem is what colour is your coil? And how quick is the throttle response? If it's not snappy then it's probably running fat on the low end and a little lean on the high side. Some would disagree but the limited blue coils make a stronger runner IMO. Hopefully your dealer doesn't have it bouncing off the limiter. If it were it would appear to 4 stroke and wouldn't have much grunt because of the lack of fuel on the h side.

Aha! That is something I had not thought of, as I have never worked on a saw with a limited coil. I just checked, and the coil is blue. I am down by Winfield right now and do not have my tach with me, but I will throw my tach on it either tomorrow night or the next after i get back home and see what it is doing. Throttle response is quite snappy, very nice in that department.

Now I am starting to wonder if the warm/hot restarting difficulty is related. I thought it was me just having to learn what it likes and when it like it as far as control position. I always first attempted to restart it in the run position, and sometimes it would kick off. Other times it would fire but just not start, and fast idle would work. A couple times it required full choke. In almost all cases, it would not not want to rev at all right away, requiring me to blip the throttle several times until it cleared up and was running right. Sorry I did not mention this earlier, I thought that part was operator error and having to learn how it liked to be started, although that could still be the case.

If this isn't the problem, I will PM you my phone number to arrange a time to meet up. Thank you everybody for your help thus far!
 
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If it's hard to start it's running lean. Those coils are limited to 14,000 turn your h side counter clockwise about a 1/4 turn and that should bring you close to a 4 stroke off the limiter at around 13,600. Your dealer made a mistake tuning your saw and that's why it's acting gutless.

Sounds good. Just let me know how it's working out.
 
The blue coil is set pretty close to 14,000. The four cycling you are talking about is the coil doing its thing

See if your tach goes nuts on WOT?

The hard starting you are talking about is lean.

To set it on fast idle without choke - first choke it - and then push the choke off. It will remain on high idle until you touch the trigger.
 
346

I live just east of Winfield and would like to cut with you sometime. If you need a tach I have one and I am open to help tomorrow. I would like to try a hysky! PM me if I can help--- Steve
 
You need to mod the muffler, trim the limiter tabs, and retune before you can give it a fair evaluation.

That will not happen for one year, as I do not want to do anything until the warranty is expired. I needed oil anyway, and doubling the warranty was just icing.


I live just east of Winfield and would like to cut with you sometime. If you need a tach I have one and I am open to help tomorrow. I would like to try a hysky! PM me if I can help--- Steve

I would take you up on that, but we are leaving here in about an hour to see my side of the family north of Wichita before we head back to KC later this afternoon/evening.
 
If your saw has a CAT mufler (green gas cap) I would look switching it out or removing the catalist. If you have a grey gas cap they there is no CAT issue.
 
That will not happen for one year, as I do not want to do anything until the warranty is expired. I needed oil anyway, and doubling the warranty was just icing.




I would take you up on that, but we are leaving here in about an hour to see my side of the family north of Wichita before we head back to KC later this afternoon/evening.

Don't worry about the warranty, if you have a few tanks through it and you haven't had a problem the chances are very low that you will need your warranty.

You need to check the tune with tach. Tune it rich and then gradually lean it out until the RPM`s start bouncing wildly, then richer it up a touch.

A 260 shouldn't out cut a 346 in any size wood.
 

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