242GXA

[SteveSr]

The first digit is the year of manufacture per Husqvarna standard for that era, not the first 2 digits. The next 2 digits are the week. However, your serial tag obviously doesn't follow the standard as there is no week 55. If you look inside the plastics of your saw, you can clearly see the date of manufacture is 87 (1987). That fits with the "8" on your serial tag (1988). Husqvarna couldn't put plastics manufactured in 1987 on a 1985 saw - obviously, but someone could have swapped out the plastics at some point in the last 35 years - who knows? The most definitive way to confirm the date of manufacture is to remove the fuel tank and look for the casting date on the underside of the crankcase, or check the manufacture date on the lobe of the crankshaft.

The 2 guys who might be able to shed some light on this mystery saw are Tor r and Sawtroll, but they both seem to have left the chainsaw forums in the last year. That's a shame as they hold a wealth of knowledge.

Try the magic summoning formula...

@SawTroll

A "Tor R" doesn't show up in the current membership.

 

[SteveSr]

The first digit is the year of manufacture per Husqvarna standard for that era, not the first 2 digits. The next 2 digits are the week. However, your serial tag obviously doesn't follow the standard as there is no week 55. If you look inside the plastics of your saw, you can clearly see the date of manufacture is 87 (1987). That fits with the "8" on your serial tag (1988). Husqvarna couldn't put plastics manufactured in 1987 on a 1985 saw - obviously, but someone could have swapped out the plastics at some point in the last 35 years - who knows? The most definitive way to confirm the date of manufacture is to remove the fuel tank and look for the casting date on the underside of the crankcase, or check the manufacture date on the lobe of the crankshaft.

The 2 guys who might be able to shed some light on this mystery saw are Tor r and Sawtroll, but they both seem to have left the chainsaw forums in the last year. That's a shame as they hold a wealth of knowledge.

The YYWWxxxx format works on my 2007 husky 345.

I suspect that the date encoding was changed possibly as a result of the Electrolux buyout.

 

[82F100SWB]

The YYWWxxxx format works on my 2007 husky 345.

I suspect that the date encoding was changed possibly as a result of the Electrolux buyout.

The Electrolux buyout(1978) predates any serial number tag containing a year.
82-early 84 they have the full year on the tag, Late 84-86 they have a silver tag with the first digit being the year. Slovenian/Yugoslavian built saws are the exception to this and kept the silver tag.
87-95(?) Black tag with First digit as the year.
96-99 have the full 4 digit year again,
Then either late 99 or 00 it went to last two numbers of the year are the first two of the serial.

I suspect the GXA will lead to the saw being a prototype or otherwise non standard production.

Tor R would be a great place to start, he isn't on this forum though.

 

[abrown86]

The Electrolux buyout(1978) predates any serial number tag containing a year.
82-early 84 they have the full year on the tag, Late 84-86 they have a silver tag with the first digit being the year. Slovenian/Yugoslavian built saws are the exception to this and kept the silver tag.
87-95(?) Black tag with First digit as the year.
96-99 have the full 4 digit year again,
Then either late 99 or 00 it went to last two numbers of the year are the first two of the serial.

I suspect the GXA will lead to the saw being a prototype or otherwise non standard production.

Tor R would be a great place to start, he isn't on this forum though.

Excellent information! So, by what you're saying is it should be an '88 saw? If that's the case, then is the 55 a typo for the week or is it actually an 85 saw built 5th week?

Where could I find Tor R?

Thank you for your input.

 

[Sepia]

Excellent information! Where could I find Tor R?

I have PM'd him on 2 other forums and he hasn't replied. It's anyone's guess where he and Sawtroll have gone to.

 

[abrown86]

The Electrolux buyout(1978) predates any serial number tag containing a year.
82-early 84 they have the full year on the tag, Late 84-86 they have a silver tag with the first digit being the year. Slovenian/Yugoslavian built saws are the exception to this and kept the silver tag.
87-95(?) Black tag with First digit as the year.
96-99 have the full 4 digit year again,
Then either late 99 or 00 it went to last two numbers of the year are the first two of the serial.

I suspect the GXA will lead to the saw being a prototype or otherwise non standard production.

Tor R would be a great place to start, he isn't on this forum though.

Also, with the covers and parts being dated 86-87 mostly, I would venture to guess it's an 88 but then the 55 doesn't make sense for a week designation.

 

[abrown86]

I have PM'd him on 2 other forums and he hasn't replied. It's anyone's guess where he and Sawtroll have gone to.

Sounds good CJ, appreciate your help on figure this saw out.

 

[82F100SWB]

That definitely isn't an 85 tag, that predates the 242's production, and, it would be a silver tag like my 238:



Why it appears to indicate week 55, I have no clue. I too sent Tor a PM, hopefully one of us gets a response.

 

[AW1]

As i was always taught up until 2000 the first digit was the year in a ten year rotation, so 8 was either 78/88/98 etc, the next two digits are the month, and the rest was the amount of machines up to that one in that month.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

As i was always taught up until 2000 the first digit was the year in a ten year rotation, so 8 was either 78/88/98 etc, the next two digits are the month, and the rest was the amount of machines up to that one in that month.

Except it's not month- it's week and it does not reach back to 1978.

 

[NEP]

Try asking here:
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chainsawcollectors.se

 

[abrown86]

Try asking here:
********************************/phpbb3/index.php
chainsawcollectors.se

Not sure what kind of link that is...

 

[abrown86]

Just a little update for those of you that may be following this thread. I've reached out to quite a few seasoned collectors and even Husqvarna Sweden directly, no one seems to have a clue as to what this saw is. Here's Husqvarna Sweden's response...

"Dear Andrew,

Your photos have been shown to a lot of people (with many years experience) within the company without being able to verify the exact origin of your product. Everything looks like an original 242 product but the GXA is unknown to everyone that has seen your pictures. Also the serial number placard does not look like the standard sign so no-one could get any information from it. So Husqvarna can not exactly verify your product.

Best regards,
Sune "

I've now reached out to Electrolux to see if there's anyone retaining historical records that may have a way to dig something up. If Electrolux is a dead end, I don't have a clue where else to look for answers. Plausible explanations would be a prototype or promotional saw that was presented to an employee maybe?

Thanks to all that have helped thus far though!

-Andrew

 

[abrown86]

Se

I would email Husqvarna in Sweden, as they would be only ones to clear the air on were this model came from and what gxa means.
they sometimes have made special versions for various armed forces for countries, that I do know- it could be one of those?

See above.

 

[abrown86]

Update for everyone, I'm pretty sure this is where the search ends....with Tor R. Finally found him on another forum. Here's his 2cents.

"After thinking for a few hours, what I can say from the pictures is that all signs point to 1988.
On the day you are to remove the cylinder, the year and week number are marked on the crank. Then you get some information about the crank's vs against sn, as a rule the crank is a few weeks older.

The GXA, clueless, may have been a prototype that never really saw the light of day, in which case there should be a part or two that is not typical of the 88 model.
Husqvarna experimented a bit in 87-89 with FA and FG prototypes, one of them had a different muffler and was intended to direct some of the heat to the rear.

The serial number itself is what I don't see any sense, year 8, week 55.

Regardless, you have a lovely 242, it is original.
And forget those who say there were 242 clones, they didn't exist. If there were clones, it would be easy to find aftermarket parts such as crankcase, crank, fuel tank etc. They do not exist.

Good luck with the saw

Tor R"