Give it to me straight on ported saws 346xp DD

shop deals on amazon
Rugged made
Advertise with us
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Shirks. Do you know some of those guys? I know Ralph. He was one of the guys that went in early and took down selected trees before the rest were taken down for the mill.
 
Production saws are created and sold with two built in "fudge factors".....one is the production fudge factor which allows for a certain amount of variability in the supplied parts from batch to batch and year to year and yet they all bolt up and the saw runs. Things like port width and squish have designed in allowances and are not terribly close to the edge. Then there is the operator "fudge factor" which allows the saw to run pretty decent a bit out of tune, on a wild array of mix ratios and qualities of oil and fuel as well as good to poor chain condition. All of this detunes the saw and creates a "governor effect" that allows the saw to continue function under the extremes of neglect, abuse and idiocy. Porting and other performance work eliminates the production "fudge factor" and instead of a simply bolted up saw motor out of stock parts a well built saw is assembled with strict attention to the individual parts, taking them out way closer the edge to get the most power from the motor as practical, depending on the intended use of the saw. Invariably this means the saw will have a very precise tuning pattern.....again depending on how advanced the port job is. The more power the saw is built to make the finer the tune, fuel type, oil type and mix ratio that the saw was tuned to must be maintained. Now the operator "fudge factor" is out the window as well.....there is no built in governor.......you have to be the governor and have to understand what the saw needs when it needs it and be sure it gets it. This is not for everyone......just like 600 horse street cars, and 200 mph motorcycles. The dealer as a general rule is going to sell the stock saw to anyone who has a fist full of money and can't have an idiot ruining a new saw and his and the saws reputation so you get things like carb limiters. As long as the operator can assume the responsibilities of maintaining a ported work saw there is no reason for it to fail before a stocker.....and if he's real good at his job it'll probably last longer than the stocker run by a poor operator.....
 
Cantdog said:
Production saws are created and sold with two built in "fudge factors".....one is the production fudge factor which allows for a certain amount of variability in the supplied parts from batch to batch and year to year and yet they all bolt up and the saw runs. Things like port width and squish have designed in allowances and are not terribly close to the edge. Then there is the operator "fudge factor" which allows the saw to run pretty decent a bit out of tune, on a wild array of mix ratios and qualities of oil and fuel as well as good to poor chain condition. All of this detunes the saw and creates a "governor effect" that allows the saw to continue function under the extremes of neglect, abuse and idiocy. Porting and other performance work eliminates the production "fudge factor" and instead of a simply bolted up saw motor out of stock parts a well built saw is assembled with strict attention to the individual parts, taking them out way closer the edge to get the most power from the motor as practical, depending on the intended use of the saw. Invariably this means the saw will have a very precise tuning pattern.....again depending on how advanced the port job is. The more power the saw is built to make the finer the tune, fuel type, oil type and mix ratio that the saw was tuned to must be maintained. Now the operator "fudge factor" is out the window as well.....there is no built in governor.......you have to be the governor and have to understand what the saw needs when it needs it and be sure it gets it. This is not for everyone......just like 600 horse street cars, and 200 mph motorcycles. The dealer as a general rule is going to sell the stock saw to anyone who has a fist full of money and can't have an idiot ruining a new saw and his and the saws reputation so you get things like carb limiters. As long as the operator can assume the responsibilities of maintaining a ported work saw there is no reason for it to fail before a stocker.....and if he's real good at his job it'll probably last longer than the stocker run by a poor operator.....
Click to expand...

Are y'all snowed in Robin?
 
Stihl snowin' Randy.......Had a couple feet on the ground but that all went away last week.....bare ground. Gonna snow nearly steady for the next week....just 2-3" a day but after 5 days that's a foot to 15".....only a couple more months of this.....then it's mud season!!!
 
Cantdog said:
Stihl snowin' Randy.......Had a couple feet on the ground but that all went away last week.....bare ground. Gonna snow nearly steady for the next week....just 2-3" a day but after 5 days that's a foot to 15".....only a couple more months of this.....then it's mud season!!!
Click to expand...

It's mud season here right now. Lots of fun sitting out rolls of hay.
 
Actually was talking to a local woodbooger this afternoon at my shop.....he said that after this thaw we had, there's no frost in the ground....only twitching two to three tree length spruce to a trip with the skidder trying not to tear up the ground....short twitch....go light...go often...and this is after two weeks around the first of the year when it was 10-15 below zero every night and only +2-3 during the day.....but we had a couple feet of snow on the ground preventing the cold to drive deep.
 
Cantdog said:
Actually was talking to a local woodbooger this afternoon at my shop.....he said that after this thaw we had, there's no frost in the ground....only twitching two to three tree length spruce to a trip with the skidder trying not to tear up the ground....short twitch....go light...go often...and this is after two weeks around the first of the year when it was 10-15 below zero every night and only +2-3 during the day.....but we had a couple feet of snow on the ground preventing the cold to drive deep.
Click to expand...

We've had a pretty cold winter for Tennessee. For the first time in a few years, I'm looking forward to spring.
 
heimannm said:
"All of this detunes the saw and creates a "governor effect" that allows the saw to continue function under the extremes of neglect, abuse and idiocy."

All so true, but I still hate having my insignificant little quirks called out so publically...

Mark
Click to expand...

LOL.....Awww Mark...don't take it personal....was just a generalization.....broad sweeping....LOL!!! 'sides we all know you never neglect, abuse or ever do anything idiotic with all of those Mac's
 
Anywhere/anyone I can send this beast too have it tuned? Immediately started to bog down and idle rough and die after making a half dozen or so cuts, would have to choke it to get it started again and it'd be fine.

This happened a couple times last week but now it's really consistently dying once it's being run hard, maybe this is a fuel issue I can fix myself? Hesitant to go to my local dealer as he did say last time it's difficult to tune the fuel with the porting. ???

any thoughts?
 
Many possibilities here. Could be any number of standard chainsaw problems, porting aside. Air leak, dying coil, dirty or ethanol fuel, corroded carb, and clogged tank vent all come to mind.
More related to porting, a lot of people put a different carb in a ported 346. A Walbro HDA 199 from a Husky 357xp or 359 was/is very commonly used.
But the Walbro 199 series were notorious for being difficult to tune and had a flap issue that required a rebuilt with an alternate kit (the “Tree Monkey Fix”). Check to see if you have that carb (if it still has a primer bulb you probably don’t).
The HDA 191 was its replacement, but I know less about that carb. Both are more finicky than the stock Zara carb that was originally on the saw.

In any case, tread lightly. I would avoid running this saw much until you have it sorted. Damage happens fast at 15,000 rpms and something is definitely wrong.
Afraid I can’t recommend a good tech in your area. Good luck and let us know what you find.
 
Definitely take the advices above.

Some of my thoughts. First, I suspect the dealer screwed up the tune, manbe purposely to prove his own point, people are nuts. Second, some of the fuel tanks were defective, the hole for the tank vent wasn't drilled, so the vents didn't vent. Pop the vent out and see if there is a hole that goes into the tank.
 
Ketchup said:
Many possibilities here. Could be any number of standard chainsaw problems, porting aside. Air leak, dying coil, dirty or ethanol fuel, corroded carb, and clogged tank vent all come to mind.
More related to porting, a lot of people put a different carb in a ported 346. A Walbro HDA 199 from a Husky 357xp or 359 was/is very commonly used.
But the Walbro 199 series were notorious for being difficult to tune and had a flap issue that required a rebuilt with an alternate kit (the “Tree Monkey Fix”). Check to see if you have that carb (if it still has a primer bulb you probably don’t).
The HDA 191 was its replacement, but I know less about that carb. Both are more finicky than the stock Zama carb that was originally on the saw.

In any case, tread lightly. I would avoid running this saw much until you have it sorted. Damage happens fast at 15,000 rpms and something is definitely wrong.
Afraid I can’t recommend a good tech in your area. Good luck and let us know what you find.
Click to expand...

Very good post generally, but a small mess-up with a detail: The HDA 191 wasn't the replacement of the 199, it was the version for heated saws, used at the same time. The replacement for both was the Zama C3-EL42 (from fall 2008).
 
SawTroll said:
Very good post generally, but a small mess-up with a detail: The HDA 191 wasn't the replacement of the 199, it was the version for heated saws, used at the same time. Their replacement for both was the Zama C3-EL42 (from fall 2008).
Click to expand...

Very interesting. The 191 remains more available than the 199 for some reason. I guess I jumped to conclusions. Do you know if the 191 suffers from the same flap valve issues?Being a heated saw model, does it have a larger jet?

@codygary:
Your best bet is to find a saw porter with a good reputation that is near enough the shipping won't kill you. Often they enjoy cracking open someone else's work.
Second best would be find a good small engine mechanic that isn't a dealer. They are often more willing to go through basic diagnostics without preconceived notions.
Third option would be sell it. It's a mod saw and if you don't want to dig into it when it acts up, maybe just move it and buy new with a warranty.
 

Similar threads

C
346xp ne
Replies
19
Views
643
chub380
C
Mike Boyer
Went to look at tools, Came home with 8 3/4 Saws!
Replies
8
Views
1K
canadian175
canadian175
K
Ported 346xp issues
2 3
Replies
44
Views
3K
huskihl
huskihl
NewEngland ChainSaw Works
Sold PORTED Husqvarna 346xp
Replies
9
Views
1K
HumBurner
HumBurner
F
Why does my Husky 345 outruns my 262xp and 272xp?
3 4 5
Replies
92
Views
8K
singinwoodwackr
singinwoodwackr

Latest posts

Back
Top