Cat Mufflers and the EPA Bad???

Wesspur
Advertise with us
Rugged made
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Al I look forward to hearing how you like your new saw compared to the old smokers. I would be really surprised if the saw did not give you 10-15 years of service.

Have fun
 
Thanks!

HUSKYMAN said:
Al I look forward to hearing how you like your new saw compared to the old smokers. I would be really surprised if the saw did not give you 10-15 years of service.

Have fun
Click to expand...

It would be great if it lasted as long as my 1992 Husky 55.

Thanks - -Al:cheers:
 
Well guys I went and put my new exhaust on my 346ne this morning and I see now what some of you are saying now.

I just had to try it :) so went outside and stacked up some
12" dry cottonwood logs from last weekend and started cutting cookies and I am not kidding one little bit that is a whole different saw its the saw now I wanted when I bought it!!!

There may be something to the whole changing chain issue to get more cut out of it? It literally screams now and grabs r's like I cant believe! A more aggressive chain possibly could get more work done?

I checked the plug and its a nice light brown and it runs perfect so I think no more adjustment will be needed? I hope not because both are at the limits. Oh btw I had to slow the idle down the new exhaust made that much difference. I cant wait go get it out now and do some work!
Ohboyohboy a 346 at last!!!
 
Last edited:
Kansas said:
Well guys I went and put my new exhaust on my 346ne this morning and I see now what some of you are saying now.

I just had to try it :) so went outside and stacked up some
12" dry cottonwood logs from last weekend and started cutting cookies and I am not kidding one little bit that is a whole different saw its the saw now I wanted when I bought it!!!

There may be something to the whole changing chain issue to get more cut out of it? It literally screams now and grabs r's like I cant believe! A more aggressive chain possibly could get more work done?

I checked the plug and its a nice light brown and it runs perfect so I think no more adjustment will be needed? I hope not because both are at the limits. Oh btw I had to slow the idle down the new exhaust made that much difference. I cant wait go get it out now and do some work!
Ohboyohboy a 346 at last!!!
Click to expand...


hahha, congrats on making the saw run like its supposed to. Sounds like your quite happy about it.
Anyone who wants to leave the cat mufflers on, more power to you but if you wanted a lesser saw you couldve spent less money. Theyre guaranteed to reduce power. Im sure the tree huggers would rather chainsaws be banned alltogether and we go back to crosscut saws .

Trying to make a 2 stroke eco friendly is such pointless concept. By design two strokes are for high power to weight out of the simplest design possible.
Once you try to make the emissions kosher.. junk.

Strato, junk.
Cat mufflers, junk.

Limiter caps ...:dizzy: theyll destroy a motor.


All of these things were implemented to appease the epa and the enviromentalists. Not to improve our product in any way.

Just do your part and disable epa restrictions, and dont buy strato saws.
AKA the coveted 441.
 
Wow!

Kansas said:
Well guys I went and put my new exhaust on my 346ne this morning and I see now what some of you are saying now.

I just had to try it :) so went outside and stacked up some
12" dry cottonwood logs from last weekend and started cutting cookies and I am not kidding one little bit that is a whole different saw its the saw now I wanted when I bought it!!!

There may be something to the whole changing chain issue to get more cut out of it? It literally screams now and grabs r's like I cant believe! A more aggressive chain possibly could get more work done?

I checked the plug and its a nice light brown and it runs perfect so I think no more adjustment will be needed? I hope not because both are at the limits. Oh btw I had to slow the idle down the new exhaust made that much difference. I cant wait go get it out now and do some work!
Ohboyohboy a 346 at last!!!
Click to expand...

Maybe I'll rethink my plan!?! Good info KANSAS!

Al:cheers:
 
nikocker said:
Husky Dave - I paid for a saw rated at 3.7 hp just like the non Etech is rated at 3.7 hp - but who's doing the tests to say the Etech is DOWN on power compared to the Non Etech? Has any reputable source run them head to head?
.......
Click to expand...
It has been known for decades that catalytic converters in automobiles reduced performance...
 
country boy said:
Just my own personal experience with my 2159 with the cat . When i first got the saw went to block up a couple of trees with it during the summer and that darn muffler got so hot it was just about unbearale to hang on to the saw. so i ordered a new non cat muffler and huge difference in getting hot. My 353 husky ran it for a very short time and started melting plastic on top cover that didnt impress me much so i modded that one . I guess my biggest gripe is the heat that these produce .
Click to expand...

My brother use to run a 357XP E-tech, had the same problem with the heat from the cat muffler. He use to wear a thick leather glove on his left hand in the middle of the summer, to keep from burning the skin off his fingers! Didn't take too long and that muffler was gutted.
 
Will do.

HUSKYMAN said:
If you do make some timed cuts in the same log right before and after. It would be interesting to see what the difference is.
Click to expand...

I will run a couple of tanks through before I do that. My saw is not broken in yet. But it surely be interesting to see the difference.

Al:cheers:
 
HUSKYMAN said:
If you do make some timed cuts in the same log right before and after. It would be interesting to see what the difference is.
Click to expand...

HUSKYMAN, great idea! I would like to know that also. D'oh I knew I was forgetting something :) Not scientific I know but my gut tells me there is a big difference, not only in just the sheer volume and tone of the exhaust post-cat but the way the saw reacts to throttle input thats what gets your attention!

Before exhaust swap it had respectable performance and it was a very quiet saw as saws go and I wasnt really dis-satisfyed in any way, but it wasnt the 346 that I !remembered The 45cc 346 is a monster for a little saw and now this saw is what I remembered the 45cc was and better hopefully!

I started to think I would run the saw for awhile before I messed with it but then I figured wth they make these w/o cats so why put my motor thru it? Thats how I convinced myself to go ahead and change it now fwtiw.
 
nikocker said:
It seems on this site that any talk of a saw being equipped with a CAT muffler or an EPA saw meets with a big time negative reaction. "EPA saws are a POS" etc.

I for one have the new 346XP in the Etech version, and almost to a man from the guys on this site I received suggestions like "order the Non - cat muffler it will run better, won't burn up" etc.

I guess the question I have is is there a way of telling if there is an actual higher incidence of saw failure - just because the saw is Etech or CAT-muffed or is it merely a perception or speculation? How do you know?

Has any one other than the saw manufacturers done any testing to prove wrong this fear that members have that an Etech saw is doomed to fail if left unchecked? I have a bit of a hardtime believing that they are just "bad" because they are Etech. If they were, why would Husky warrant them for two years like all their other saws?

The reason I mention Husky while I'm on the subject of manufacturers addressing the problem -- is that it seems Husky has dived headlong into the EPA and Etech arena with a number of Etech saws in their offerings. Yet on the Stihl website they only list 4 saws as being "green" and three(3) of those are electric!!! The only gas model listed is the 441!

I don't know but it seems like Stihl may be complacent in letting some other company do the R&D to solve the emmission/performance equation. Or maybe they're not going to do something until they are forced to!?

Just curious as to what you all think. I'm going to run my NE346 the way it was designed and I'll let you all know if I have problems.

Al:cheers:
Click to expand...


What was the price on that cat saw??



.
 
Here is another observation from an auto mechanic (me) since we run a oil/gas mix in these 2 stroke engines a car would ruin its cat in no time if it is a smoker so I cant imagine how a 2 stroke cat can actually work for more than a few hours for lack of a time line on an automotive cat??!

I am not the engineer on that project but some things dont make sense to me. :)
JMO
 
Well better late than never guys but I said I would report how my 346NE ran post-cat. I ran a few tanks thru it on green maple limbs and 10-20" dry cottonwood and it really works a lot better I am very pleased it is really a sweet saw its quite a bit louder but not bad. HTH
 

Similar threads

ace4059
Possible new bad gas. What should I do?
6 7 8
Replies
155
Views
7K
Smitty Smithsonite
Smitty Smithsonite
a. palmer jr.
MS251 no start
Replies
9
Views
767
a. palmer jr.
a. palmer jr.
F
Looking for input on Poulan Pro 455
Replies
1
Views
503
Lightning Performance
Lightning Performance
D
scared of my 362
Replies
12
Views
1K
Seachaser
S
L
New 40cc saw guidance
2 3 4
Replies
65
Views
6K
chipper1
chipper1

Latest posts

Back
Top