Been messing around tuning one of my Husky 455 Ranchers to sell it, ever since buying it from a pawn shop as a temporary make-do saw six years ago it's always been a little erratic about idling right. Pretty sure I replaced the carb at some point though never spent time tuning it as long as it more or less worked for a bit of quick limbing or trimming I needed it for, and I didn't have a set of those stupid little spline head screwdrivers for the jets. Also know I replaced a clutch on at least one of my Huskies I had at one point, a 340, and maybe on the other Rancher, but don't remember if I did on this one.
So in my lack of records about what I'd done and generally not systematically paying enough attention to diagnosis, I missed the obvious. It did need a bit of carb tuning, but could never lower idle enough to stopping the chain from spinning. I finally did the simple test of trying to rotate the chain when the saw was off and noticed the clutch was engaged. Cleaned it in case it was sticky, but no, just needs a new clutch. Now any of the pro repair guys on here or even just the more thorough amateurs would have caught this right away, but there are a lot of us who for one reason or another are a bit scattershot in our maintenance/repair approach. Update: Someone familiar with consumer quality saws might have caught the real problem. Clutch turned out to be fine, though the needle bearing was in need of replacing, and the whole package came with a .325 spur sprocket drum too for all of $13 to complement the 3/8 rim setup I have on it. The keys on the cheap plastic pinion that the drive on the drum slots into were mangled a bit so the drum wasn't sitting all the way down, and tightening the clutch down was binding up the drum. Never seen such junk on my other saws.
Just like service records for a car, keeping them for saws makes it easier to know what needs maintenance and to make troubleshooting easier for repair. Plus since I've been switching lo pro setups around various saws, helps to keep records of which ones I have lo pro sprockets on - or 7 or 8 tooth regular sprockets on- at any given time without having to take the drum off to check. Anyhow, I know the serious saw veterans on here are always preaching a systematic approach, but for us in betweeners and the newbies, let me tell you, it helps.
So in my lack of records about what I'd done and generally not systematically paying enough attention to diagnosis, I missed the obvious. It did need a bit of carb tuning, but could never lower idle enough to stopping the chain from spinning. I finally did the simple test of trying to rotate the chain when the saw was off and noticed the clutch was engaged. Cleaned it in case it was sticky, but no, just needs a new clutch. Now any of the pro repair guys on here or even just the more thorough amateurs would have caught this right away, but there are a lot of us who for one reason or another are a bit scattershot in our maintenance/repair approach. Update: Someone familiar with consumer quality saws might have caught the real problem. Clutch turned out to be fine, though the needle bearing was in need of replacing, and the whole package came with a .325 spur sprocket drum too for all of $13 to complement the 3/8 rim setup I have on it. The keys on the cheap plastic pinion that the drive on the drum slots into were mangled a bit so the drum wasn't sitting all the way down, and tightening the clutch down was binding up the drum. Never seen such junk on my other saws.
Just like service records for a car, keeping them for saws makes it easier to know what needs maintenance and to make troubleshooting easier for repair. Plus since I've been switching lo pro setups around various saws, helps to keep records of which ones I have lo pro sprockets on - or 7 or 8 tooth regular sprockets on- at any given time without having to take the drum off to check. Anyhow, I know the serious saw veterans on here are always preaching a systematic approach, but for us in betweeners and the newbies, let me tell you, it helps.
