Loose Muffler Husquavarna 350 **** sorry the search is broken*****

[Booshcat]

Looking for any way to keep the muffler on this saw.
This belongs to a friend of mine, and I need some advice.
Was this a common issue on these saws? What should I do to lock these threads, or how.
Thanks Guys,
Bob

 

[Roanoker494]

From what I understand the problem is due to vibration which causes the bolts to come loose and actually strip the threads out of the cylinder. The fix is to install heil coils in the bolt holes and a strap to the top of the muffler, I believe Husqvarna sells a kit to do this this repair. Here is something I found on a google search that seems to be a very good reference.

For Lack of a Better Plan: Husqvarna 350 chainsaw muffler bolt repair

 

[farrell]

you can also buy a muffler with a third attachment point that helps with the problem. if the threads in the cylinder are not stripped i used lock tite on mine.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

If the threads are stripped you can always drill it out and tap it to the next largest size. It will probably be better with bigger bolts anyway.

 

[Booshcat]

Thanks for all of the ideas...

I'm thinking of tapping one size up, getting stainless bolts, and loctiting the crap out of them. Maybe a permatex copper gasket will help absorb some of the negative vibes.

 

[bluesportster02]

I'm thinking of tapping one size up, getting stainless bolts, and loctiting the crap out of them. Maybe a permatex copper gasket will help absorb some of the negative vibes.

if you do that be sure your bolt will go through the holes in the muffler first, i have read on here that it is very hard to drill out those holes. the metal is hardened. if it was me i would open the outlet of the muffler a little that will change the harmonics of it and use the original bolts. good luck

 

[a. palmer jr.]

if you do that be sure your bolt will go through the holes in the muffler first, i have read on here that it is very hard to drill out those holes. the metal is hardened. if it was me i would open the outlet of the muffler a little that will change the harmonics of it and use the original bolts. good luck

Maybe the right way, if you have stripped threads is to drill them out and heli-coil them to the same size as stock. The 350 I had already had oversize bolts in it, not even metric, I think they were 1/4-20 or something like that.

 

[SawTroll]

The user manual tells you to retighten the bolts every week or so, but I guess most users don't do that.....umpkin2:

 

[nallac]

its happen to my dads saw and nearly stripped the threads out.
he got some longer bolts with thread the whole length, cut the heads off loctited them in and used them as studs.
Hes Hoping if any thing vibrates loose it'll be the nuts not the studs.

 

[Hamsta44]

I drilled the heads and wire them along with thread locker. Don't come loose any more-funny that.

 

[w8ye]

The newer 350 mufflers are not so bad about coming loose.

 

[spike60]

Drop the RPM's by 500-600 and the vibration will go away. Doesn't help with cookie races, but no big deal for general use.

 

[Booshcat]

The user manual tells you to retighten the bolts every week or so, but I guess most users don't do that.....umpkin2:

Thanks for your attempt at humour (i think), the muffler falls off MINUTES after tightening.

It's too bad the husky would market such a poorly designed saw.

 

[crunchie58]

Wow, what a neat site

Hi everyone, just registered today. This looks like a really informative site. I'm just a homeowner cutting some firewood into 16 inches. I rarely down trees, just buy the delivered in lengths deal. I basically melted my 350 and didn't know why until the shop told me the muffler came loose and the exhaust was shooting out everywhere except where it was supposed to.
You'd think the shop would have told me that these saws have this problem? Nope. The dummy (me :msp_sleep didn't think that the bolts would come loose just coming out from the shop until I noticed the bolt head slightly backed off, I just tightened it but then they just kept loosening every time I used the saw. I called the shop today and he told me that there was no "update" from Husqvarna for this know problem. He told me to try and tighten the bolts while the saw was hot.
Tried red loctite, lock washers. No go. I'm thinking of welding some sort of small plate to the two bolt heads. Anybody have other solutions? Trying to prevent another meltdown:bang:.

 

[tbone75]

I have 5 - 350 Huskys. LOL Its a CAD thing I guess? What I did to all of them was to mod the muffler and put lock washers on the bolts.Even the 2 ported ones don't come loose now!One was also drilled and taped to 1/4-20 but the muffler bolt holes have to drilled out also.Nothing to it they are not hardened.I think modding the muffler helps it to run cooler?

 

[Rokon]

Welcome to the site crunchie58.

I have a 350 that the previous owner tried to fix with heli-coils. One side will tighten, the other no-way.

I grinded the bad side out between the fins. Took the stock bolt, lengthened it, put a small nub of steel on the old head (so it won't spin). Put the muffler on, and installed both bolts. Now one goes into the head (with existing helicoil), the other sticks out of the muffler with a nut and lock washer on it.

Basically turning it into a 50,51,55 style muffler bolt.

 

[CTYank]

OP, search is NEVER broken, so long as you can access Google, and the site allows web-crawlers.
DAGS: [loose muffler husqvarna 350 site:arboristsite.com] without the brackets for example.
Bada-bing, bada- ...

Saves lots of re-hashing.

 

[ft. churchill]

Welcome crunchie58, I haven't had a problem with my 350, but I only ran it two hours before I did a muff mod to it. Search for 350 muffler mod and you'll find some stuff there as well.

 

[carguy]

OP, search is NEVER broken, so long as you can access Google, and the site allows web-crawlers.
DAGS: [loose muffler husqvarna 350 site:arboristsite.com] without the brackets for example.
Bada-bing, bada- ...

Saves lots of re-hashing.

Thankfully you cleared that up. I would hate to think that time would be wasted re-hashing when all effort should be directed to MOVE FORWARD.

 

[SkippyKtm]

From what I understand the problem is due to vibration which causes the bolts to come loose and actually strip the threads out of the cylinder. The fix is to install heil coils in the bolt holes and a strap to the top of the muffler, I believe Husqvarna sells a kit to do this this repair. Here is something I found on a google search that seems to be a very good reference.

For Lack of a Better Plan: Husqvarna 350 chainsaw muffler bolt repair

Too bad that link no longer works, although the repair wasn't too pretty, it was a decent repair.

Thanks for your attempt at humour (i think), the muffler falls off MINUTES after tightening.

It's too bad the husky would market such a poorly designed saw.

Saw Troll wasn't joking...
That's only because the threads in the cylinder are already wallered out. If they were tightened regularly from the beginning, the bolts loosening wouldn't be an issue. With that being said, I do agree that if Husky had used a front muffler bracket such as the ones they used on the 51, 55 or 346, this thread wouldn't exist. I believe Husky was simply trying to cut costs since this saw is only a budget homeowner model, better to spend a few extra bucks and get the pro models.:msp_smile: