Husky 385 is fried.

[Andyshine77]

Chris: I originally bought the saw in a basket for $80. The prior owner had taken to a shop that diagnosed the problem as a crank case air leak and they wanted a lot of money to do the work. It had a LOT of other problems. Bearings, piston scored, seals, carb was dirty, flywheel was cracked. I was not sure how it could even get to that point. After all was said and done it as cost a couple of hundred of parts. It was fun. Rebuilding a saw is about the limit of my attention span.

Brad: The saw was intentionally tuned a little rich. I used the method in the workshop manual. Maybe I will push it a little further rich. I will check the play on the crank end bearing. Do you have any idea what the limits would be and how to measure? I would hate to have to split the case again and find a good crank. I was running the oil mix at probably 45 to 1. I will take the 32-1 advice. Increasing the oil content from 2% to 3% is not drastic.

Gyp: What muffler mods would you recommend? This one has been drilled and screened on the top corners by the prior owner.

Now I need clean the cylinder and all the junk out of the case.

Thanks for all the help
John

The workshop settings are just basic guidelines. For milling you will need to learn how to tune by ear, and tune extremely rich. Milling can kill a saw in short order if it's not setup for that task.

Best of luck getting her running again.

 

[RBurtcher]

It looks pretty clear where the missing needle bearing went.

Running a saw on a mill is like a Hi-Po boat motor during an endurance race. An up hill battle with huge demands.

Many saws can't hack a dull chain and an aggressive user let alone continuous abuse with a tight tune which is what milling amounts too.

Next time around, pay a little more attention to what the saw is telling you while giving it a few breaks to see how you did on the rebuild.

I don't think you did much wrong according to your description but all it takes is a small mistake in adding up information.

I'm putting together a mill and I will see if my rebuilds are up to it as well, I expect a failure or two .

The important aspect is to keep on trying and learning imo.

I would be interested to see if some of these "Builders" could come up with some port timing numbers along with an ignition spec to help out the guys trying to make Lumber. I don't see this mentioned in this forum. Keeping things cool and lubricated after 15-30 minutes of WOT ripping is far more important than a few 2 -3 minute cookies in big cross cuts.

 

[nk14zp]

Also if it has had a MM it would be a little lean if going by screw counts.

 

[abramj]

Jumping in a little late, but I agree this saw will pull a 24". Mine was one of the 385's sold with the Logosol mill back in the early 2000's. I vote mix it thick and run it rich. I run mine at 32:1 and make sure it 4 strokes at WOT no load while hot. Had to cut the limiters on mine to get it there. It was lean from the factory. Currently running a 36" bar with a full set of teeth on the chain. We don't have any of that fir wood around my place, we have Oak and Ash. It was struggling a bit if a full depth cut when we got the chain a bit to aggressive, but should be better now after Randy worked it over for me. Just haven't found a big tree to bury it in yet this spring. So I'm just running the 20" and an 8 tooth driver.

 

[Nitroman]

It looks pretty clear where the missing needle bearing went.

Running a saw on a mill is like a Hi-Po boat motor during an endurance race. An up hill battle with huge demands.

Many saws can't hack a dull chain and an aggressive user let alone continuous abuse with a tight tune which is what milling amounts too.

Next time around, pay a little more attention to what the saw is telling you while giving it a few breaks to see how you did on the rebuild.

I don't think you did much wrong according to your description but all it takes is a small mistake in adding up information.

I'm putting together a mill and I will see if my rebuilds are up to it as well, I expect a failure or two .

The important aspect is to keep on trying and learning imo.

I would be interested to see if some of these "Builders" could come up with some port timing numbers along with an ignition spec to help out the guys trying to make Lumber. I don't see this mentioned in this forum. Keeping things cool and lubricated after 15-30 minutes of WOT ripping is far more important than a few 2 -3 minute cookies in big cross cuts.

Wow. Nothing like a little sarcasm there.

You can start pulling your head out of your ass by thinking "muffler mod". Stock mufflers will have significant back pressure, while a modified one will allow more flow through the motor. Less back pressure = more flow = cooler.

Yeah, WOT for a length of time will be hard on any motor, but running it rich alleviates that, and a cool down period would make for a happy saw.

I have a 2007 Arctic Cat Bearcat 570 longtrack. Aircooled 570cc motor; just like a big chainsaw. I drove it back from the Yukon a few years ago with a load of wood on my sled. The snow was soft, it was 40*F, so I was eventually pulling the sled through the snow instead of it riding up on top. I would say for maybe an hour I was running the crap out of the machine, and had it WOT for 45 minutes, concerned I would have to drop some of the wood I had worked so hard to get, and determined I would not. I had to stop at one point because the belt was starting to melt and slip. I let the engine idle for a few minutes before I shut it down to let it cool. I still have the machine and nothing wrong with it. I sure as hell do not have it as pig rich as a saw.

These engines are designed to be run hard. There is no reason to change the ignition timing or porting to make the engine last. Follow the tuning recommendations of the manufacturer and all will be well. Four-stroke out of the cut, clean up in the cut.

 

[Chris_In_VT]

On the muffler mods for a milling saw- I elected not to do so on my 395xp, which I run almost exclusively on my 36" alaskan. The exhaust would be directed in such a way that it would go right towards the mill. Bouncing all that heat and sound back on you and the saw.
Food for thought.

 

[Nitroman]

On the muffler mods for a milling saw- I elected not to do so on my 395xp, which I run almost exclusively on my 36" alaskan. The exhaust would be directed in such a way that it would go right towards the mill. Bouncing all that heat and sound back on you and the saw.
Food for thought.

Chris, you could do a mod and have a tube welded on to point the exhaust in any direction you desire. Mine are pointed straight ahead, and yup, they sure do increase the sound pressure level! I always wear plugs and muffs though.

 

[Chris_In_VT]

Chris, you could do a mod and have a tube welded on to point the exhaust in any direction you desire. Mine are pointed straight ahead, and yup, they sure do increase the sound pressure level! I always wear plugs and muffs though.

Yes, I could. Most of my other saws have extra holes in the mufflers, I think I'll leave this one stock. I have a 394 in a bucket under my bench, now that one will probably get a dual port

 

[wyk]

Increasing the oil content from 2% to 3% is not drastic.

John

That's 50% more oil. If my next paycheck showed 50% more money - I would consider that drastic.

 

[mdavlee]

I've had the bar oil almost boiling in the tank milking in the summer neat 95° in the shade. I think it worked me harder than it did the saw though. If you have a tach tune it down to under 13k for milling. I tune mine by ear where they 4 stroke still under light pressure and clean up when you get going with steady feed.