55 Rancher .. low compression, rebuild?

[sgtpepper]

Posting for my friend. He's had the saw, Husqy 55 Rancher, for a few years. let someone borrow it and it came back dead. he suspects the guy run straight gas or maybe lean on oil. what a friend.

s/n off the side. dont know how to read it though, can anyone tell the year from this? or anything else useful?

967 05 29-00
02 2401068
55 Rancher


Anyhow, compression test read barely 50lbs. We took off the muffler to look at the piston, that didnt look good either. Unfortunately I didnt have a good camera to snap a pic.

Next steps?
Is it worth reboring the cylinder and putting in a new piston/ring? Should i tell him to scrap it and get a new saw?

 

[Guido Salvage]

Is it worth reboring the cylinder and putting in a new piston/ring? Should i tell him to scrap it and get a new saw?

It may not be for him if he has to hire it out (depending on the extent of the damage), but if he is going to scrap it I will be happy to take it.

 

[Brian13]

If you can do the rebuild at home its well worth it. If you have to take it to a dealer....well a new saw might be better. Parts for those are all over ebay, and not too expensive.

 

[Gizzard]

By serial number the saw would be 2002, week 24, unit #1068.

I rebuilt a 55 Rancher last year that was down to 70psi compression. Reused the old piston and cylinder and just bought a new OEM ring. Hand polished the old cylinder and piston. Reassembled saw and ran a few tanks of fuel mix through it and compression was up 155-160psi when I sold it. Try a search on here for muriatic acid and you'll get some info on cleaning cylinder and prep for rebuild.

 

[WoodRipper]

In my opinion, the 55 Rancher is subject to air leaks due to it's poor design, and will fry pistons quickly if that happens. Otherwise, it's a good saw. I have one, and have been through a bunch of rebuilds with it. A new piston and cylinder from Bailey's is about $100 if you need both, a Meteor piston from Bailey's is about half that.

If you rebuild it, check it very carefully for air leaks.

 

[SeanC]

My 55R was down on compression too. I put a new ring in it and muffler modded it and kept using it. If you/he can do the work it's probably worth doing. If having a dealer do it, well, I was quoted around $300 for a rebuild w/new P&C. That's when I decided to just mess around with it myself.

I still WANT to step up in saws though. But that's a whole other topic.

-Sean

 

[Winn R]

If the piston looks bad, figure it's shot. With 50lbs, the cylinder may be as well.

Always try to clean up the cylinder, kind of like cleaning your room when you were a kid, it looks hopeless but you never know unless you try.

Pistons, rings and a cylinder will run about $100 if you do it yourself. It's not difficult but I'd try to figure out what happened.

Dump the old gas out and look at it -- perhaps it wasn't straight gassed. As mentioned above, these saws are subject to intake leaks.

 

[272super]

In my opinion, the 55 Rancher is subject to air leaks due to it's poor design, and will fry pistons quickly if that happens. Otherwise, it's a good saw. I have one, and have been through a bunch of rebuilds with it. A new piston and cylinder from Bailey's is about $100 if you need both, a Meteor piston from Bailey's is about half that.

If you rebuild it, check it very carefully for air leaks.

By poor design,are you referring to the intake design with the rubber boot?

 

[Winn R]

By poor design,are you referring to the intake design with the rubber boot?

Yes but more commonly the stripped plastic.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=134466

 

[mountainlake]

The screws that holds the carb on strip easy, I took a machine nut and melted it into the back side of that plastic carb mount piece, now I can tighten it properly. That nut could have been installed by Husky for a few cents. Steve

 

[WoodRipper]

Husky made several poor design decisions, in my opinion. Chief among them was the use of screws to secure the carb. Torque them just a little too much, or take them on and off a few times, and they strip out. I finally had to replace them with a bolts and nuts. Another poor decision is the way the pulser tube connects. It's a small piece of rubber tubing between the cylinder and a plastic snout. If you aren't very careful during assembly it won't seal properly. Neither of these was probably of much concern to Husky when they designed the saw, for the market they were targetting, and I'm sure they saved a few cents in materials and assembly time. But when it comes time to do repair work they can become real issues. And these saws seem to have a have a high probability of frying pistons. They only make power on the cusp of being too lean, so anything that upsets the air/fuel ration too lean causes seizure. That said, when they are set up correctly, the 55 Rancher cuts well with good power to weight, easy to start, and pretty frugal on fuel.

 

[272super]

Husky made several poor design decisions, in my opinion. Chief among them was the use of screws to secure the carb. Torque them just a little too much, or take them on and off a few times, and they strip out. I finally had to replace them with a bolts and nuts. Another poor decision is the way the pulser tube connects. It's a small piece of rubber tubing between the cylinder and a plastic snout. If you aren't very careful during assembly it won't seal properly. Neither of these was probably of much concern to Husky when they designed the saw, for the market they were targetting, and I'm sure they saved a few cents in materials and assembly time. But when it comes time to do repair work they can become real issues. And these saws seem to have a have a high probability of frying pistons. They only make power on the cusp of being too lean, so anything that upsets the air/fuel ration too lean causes seizure. That said, when they are set up correctly, the 55 Rancher cuts well with good power to weight, easy to start, and pretty frugal on fuel.

I've had the same issues. Good points. I hate the designs with that type of pulser tube setup.