Husky 254,272,261--------$40 bucks

I've been trying for two weeks to contact a Craigs list guy and finally he called me. I went to his house and he had a big bin full of Husqvarna and other saws. I had to do some digging and still need to go back and find some parts, but the short of it is that I came home with a 254xp, 272xp and a 261xp. 254 fired with a shot of starting fluid, but has mouse crap in the gas tank (110 compression). The other two are 60psi on the 272 (piston looks great from both sides) and 90 psi on the 261. I have never worked on any of these, so may be looking for all sorts of advise.:msp_smile: And I know where to find it.

Nice score!! Don't use starting fluid on 2-stroke equipment, that's a dumb idea.

Well, heck ya, even just for parts, 40 clams for that qualifies as a YOU SUCK.

Hint before the others chime in, just use some squirted in mix for testing, don't use ether jazz...

computeruser said:

Nice score!! Don't use starting fluid on 2-stroke equipment, that's a dumb idea.

Click to expand...

Fogged it with oil and gave it a quick shot to see if it fired, not a normal practice for sure.

You wanna double your money???

The 261 certainly isn't an xp saw - it is based on the 262xp, but is an early EPA saw, that is severely demoted regarding power.
However, it is quite easy to restore that power loss (.9 hp), with a 262xp piston and muffler. The clutch also is weaker, so it may be a good idea to change that as well. :msp_wink:

Regarding starting fluid, pure ether is very rare nowadays. Most are a blend of volatile fluids and many if not most have a lubricant in them. So my opinion is that it doesn't hurt a two stroke engine one bit to see if it fires on starting fluid. It's going to run like two or three seconds...

Compression is too low on them, but great score for sure!!!

computeruser said:

Nice score!! Don't use starting fluid on 2-stroke equipment, that's a dumb idea.

Click to expand...

It's not a great idea in 4 cycle engines either.... I have a shelf with pistons that have crushed ring skirts, cracked rims etc from people over using ether. With starting fluid, less is better. and NEVER squirt it when the engine is already running.


Oh... and it sounds like a really good score ----- you suck!

That's a fantastic score! Congrats.
You suck.

SawTroll said:

The 261 certainly isn't an xp saw - it is based on the 262xp, but is an early EPA saw, that is severely demoted regarding power.
However, it is quite easy to restore that power loss (.9 hp), with a 262xp piston and muffler. The clutch also is weaker, so it may be a good idea to change that as well. :msp_wink:

Click to expand...

Piston change is mandatory IMB. Clutch change isn't worth the cost. There are several of us runing 2 shoe clutches on WP 261/262 conversions with no problems.
Shep

ncfarmboy said:

Piston change is mandatory IMB. Clutch change isn't worth the cost. There are several of us runing 2 shoe clutches on WP 261/262 conversions with no problems.
Shep

Click to expand...

I know! :biggrin:

I'm really not super sure on the 261, I can't read the tag and the 254xp had a 261 recoil on it. I'll have to clean it up and take some numbers off parts to know. Sorry I haven't replied, can't find what you post right now.

kz1000 said:

I've been trying for two weeks to contact a Craigs list guy and finally he called me. I went to his house and he had a big bin full of Husqvarna and other saws. I had to do some digging and still need to go back and find some parts, but the short of it is that I came home with a 254xp, 272xp and a 261xp. 254 fired with a shot of starting fluid, but has mouse crap in the gas tank (110 compression). The other two are 60psi on the 272 (piston looks great from both sides) and 90 psi on the 261. I have never worked on any of these, so may be looking for all sorts of advise.:msp_smile: And I know where to find it.

Click to expand...

Very nice grab. Don't go out and buy new pistons and rings yet. I picked up a 1998 254xp for $40 this spring. The guy thought it was toast. After I took the jug off I could tell that the ring was stuck from varnish. I had to soak it in diesel fuel for a day to get the ring out. I replaced the crank seals and bearings because the bearings were full of varnish and deposits and re-assembled it after I cleaned up the piston, ring and cylinder. It now has 180+ psi. Sometimes when they sit long enough, the fuel dries up and causes the rings to stick and give very low compression. Diesel fuel works great and a cheap parts washing fluid but it stinks and is hard to get the smell off your hands, but it doesn't swell seals like some thinners and brake cleaners do. Many times just replacing the ring is all you need to refresh an old 2 stroke engine but be sure the seals are doing their job or you could be looking at more problems down the road.

THE PLOT THICKENS! I went back to the guys place today to look for some parts and ended up with a 268 for parts that would fit on the 272. I got it home and put the 272 starter on it to give it a test, it fired up on a shot of mix in the carb. I put a new fuel line on it and it fires first pull and idles. He got all of these saws from the dealer in town that was all Husqvarna until they started selling them on line, then he went to Stihl. I think he had a bad taste in his mouth and scraped every Husky that came in.

As for the 261, it's not, I was able to get two numbers off the tag and they were 25? All of the parts are the same as the 254 except the oil pump on this one is run off the drum and the other one is off the crank. I need a pump for the crank driven one and some other parts, so if anyone has a few laying around, shoot me a pm.