Husky 359 firewood saw rework.

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

henry r

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Messages
132
Reaction score
282
Location
nsw australia
Hi all. I was given a rough looking 359 a few weeks ago.
My intentions are to tweek it a little, give it a thorough clean and use it as my weekend firewood saw.

I will be opening up the current non cat muffler and swapping the carb boot and plastic clamp to the metal clamp equivalent.

Suggestions for further mods appreciated.


As i first saw it.
20190917_131028.jpg
I took this pic to work out exactly what it was.
20190917_131037.jpg

A quick google search led to posts here on muffler modding these saws... this could be a slippery slope.

more dirty saw pics, findings and questions to come soon.
 
Welcome to the site Henry

That should be a great saw for what you're looking to do. The standard easy mods are a muffler mod, base gasket delete, and timing advance. Details on all three can be found on this site with a search. Along with the intake upgrade, I would replace the fuel line and put a new Caber or OEM ring on the piston. A carb kit can help with starting and running but if it's performing acceptably now I wouldn't bother. If you want to go further the 359s are very easy to grind on the jug.
 
And to go full bore you can always look for A357XP top and.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks gents.

Some background if anyone is interested.

I am in the northern tablelands of NSW Australia.

This year I was asked to join some friends who have been doing firewood for years.
In the past they have sold wood on the side but this year the wood is just for themselves, thier families, their boss who lets them use his gear and a load or two to sell to cover new chains etc.

They can't help themselves, if they get a line on more wood they can have, they say yes.

Two of the three work at the local hire business. One also owns an 8 1/2 ton excavator he subs out through the business but uses for wood when needed.
There is plenty of gear about to help with the heavy lifting... thankfully, as it is i have to push to keep up with the others normal pace.

Till now i have been using thier saws when needed.
They love thier saws and have plenty, from "the ding" a ms250? through to several 121cc saws.
Saws in the 76 - 91cc range do most of the work.
Exactly which of the bigger saws is there changes day to day.

Heres a pic just because.
received_506579376575670.jpeg

Being the new guy and by far the least experienced, I'm generally on the little saws.

I definantly caught the saw bug but the budget wasn't up to the task.
When this came up i jumped on it.

Two random pics of the big wood heap as of last weekend. There is a lot of crap amongst it, as we had to take everything off the place this came from, but still enough good stuff to make it worth while.

20190929_150444.jpg

20190929_145444.jpg

Yes we are in the middle of a very bad drought at the moment.
 
Have one of these in Red clothing, bought new and had MANY hours under its belt until its first rebuild this past Winter.
Good strong 60cc class saw from the get go as standard, I have never run anything other than a 20 inch bar on my own saw- but I am sure if needed it would run a 24 in Pine or Mac- just perhaps not buried all day in dead Gum!
If needed, a straight swap Meteor 357 piston and cylinder kit bolt straight on and is a slight power upgrade- on paper, have built one and cannot say I noticed any huge difference.
Very easy series to pull apart and tinker with, but being in one of those dry bits of Aussie- any muffler mod probably needs fitted with new spark screens. ;)
 
Two random pics of the big wood heap as of last weekend. There is a lot of crap amongst it, as we had to take everything off the place this came from, but still enough good stuff to make it worth while.

No such thing as crap- if it is wood, it will burn.
 
Pssstttt!!! Wanna see some dirty pictures?????

20191009_232231.jpg 20191009_232343.jpg 20191009_232309.jpg 20190921_114834.jpg

It was a bit of a mess.

Is that much oil normal or could it be leaking a bit of bar oil?

I did intend to scrape as much of the grot off as possible and weigh it. Just because.

I got about this far vvvv then my errr... "work table" got dragged away by my 3yo. (The back patio concrete already needed to be cleaned... now it really really needs to be.)
20190921_165621.jpg

It doesn't look like it, but that would have been a cereal bowl full of oily chips and dust. Plenty more came out later, too.
I am surprised the saw hadn't cooked itself.



Underneath all the mess the saw seems to be ok. There is some wear but not a lot of mechanical damage.

The clutch drum thingy has been swapped out for an Oregon Powermate example.
The sprocket is noticably worn and probably will need replacing.

Is this "replace it right now!" wear or "that'll need to be replaced at some stage" wear?
20191009_234858.jpg


The carb is a Walbro HDA 174 (141) not a HDA 199. The bore is aprox 18mm.

What bore is a HDA 199?
Will a HDA 174 support a modded 359 saw?

20191009_235802.jpg

All of the plastic parts have manufacturing dates of 12-2001 to 2-2002, does this make it a v.early 359?

20191009_132723.jpg

Thanks.
Henry.
 
It has come up ok so far.

At the moment it stripped to a "long block" + flywheel & those rubber catches (no luck cracking the flywheel yet)

Most of the removed parts have come up fairly well.
She will always be a well used saw but hopefully should look loved and cared for.

The only but that bugs me is the plastic top cover and the clips.
In the past I've had good sucuss polishing faded hazed plastics with Autosol metal polish. It barely touched the top cover.
This was going to be the before pic...
20191010_003057.jpg

For a brief second i thought about getting some 1200 wet and dry and a sanding block from the shed to try to make it pretty...
Then i laughed and went on to the next job
 
Is that much oil normal or could it be leaking a bit of bar oil?

I wouldn't be surprised. You can put a dab of sealant around the pump where the tube slides over it as a precaution. It could be from debris getting under the plate, preventing the bar from sitting flush or a blocked bar hole.
 
I wouldn't be surprised. You can put a dab of sealant around the pump where the tube slides over it as a precaution. It could be from debris getting under the plate, preventing the bar from sitting flush or a blocked bar hole.
Those cover plates are meant to squish all the rubber and make it all seal. They relax over time.
 
Now to get to the curley question...

How far should i go with the modifications???


There are two main reasons for modifying the saw in the first place.

1. 'Cause i want to.

2. To cut more wood in a given amount of time... with this saw.


I am willing to trade more noise and higher fuel consumption for faster cutting.

I want to keep reliability and a reasonable life span on the saw (not destroy it in weeks/months).

With the exception of pressure/vacuum testing and a suitable degree wheel, I'm set up to do most of the top end work myself.

What i don't have is knowledge on 2 stroke tuning.
4 stroke tuning i have some understanding of, but this 2 stroke stuff....


* A muffler mod is a definate.

* Base gasket delete and opening up the bottom of the cylinder into the case i will happily do if recommended.

* I will have a go at the inside of the ports if someone can talk me through it.

* I would consider widening the ports (a little at least)

* I am not at all confident about cutting the ports to change the timing numbers. (I get that a base gasket delete will change the numbers but... )
 
Okay....... but just remember you are starting with a slightly less than 60cc saw- it is never going to be a 395! Especially if you are cutting old dead Gum.
Muffler mod- plenty of information here on those kinds of things, use the search feature.
Base gasket delete- fine- just make sure you measure the squish with some soft solder before you bolt it all together and fire it up.
Clean the carbon out of the outlet port, dress any burrs and lightly chamfer the transitions from cylinder walls to ports. If you don't know what you are doing yet and don't have a degree wheel- leave well alone for the meanwhile.

Get it cleaned up, check all the rubber bits for air leaks, check compression (no point in flogging a dead horse), kit the carb, get it clean- running and tuned well, set it up with a good sharp chain and bar in the 20"range and get to know a good honest saw.
If you want to go nuts modifying and increasing chain speed, run bigger bars etc- go find a 372.
 
There are some really good older threads by some of these gurus detailing how to port 359s (with pics). Also have a gander at porting 353 threads and vids - same jug but smaller.

Do whatever you feel comfortable doing. Deleting the base gasket won't change the timing enough to worry about. Biggest gains will come from the gasket, muffler, and opening up the area below the transfers. Widening the exhaust port is easy enough. The last few percent takes the most work.
 
Thanks.

It is a work saw so it is ok to leave a few % on the table. From reading other threads the muffler etc will transform it anyway.
If it comes out faster than my friends 460 I'll be happy. :D
That being said i have never used this saw, so am not sure what to expect. i literally got it home, started it and revved it a few times, then started pulling bits off and cleaning.

It has an 18" bar at the moment. The bar has been overheaded on one side so is on the list for replacement, i will keep it at 18", if i need a longer bar there are bigger saws.
 
Thanks.

It is a work saw so it is ok to leave a few % on the table. From reading other threads the muffler etc will transform it anyway.
If it comes out faster than my friends 460 I'll be happy. :D
That being said i have never used this saw, so am not sure what to expect. i literally got it home, started it and revved it a few times, then started pulling bits off and cleaning.

It has an 18" bar at the moment. The bar has been overheaded on one side so is on the list for replacement, i will keep it at 18", if i need a longer bar there are bigger saws.

Um, don't put any money on that race.
I own a Red 359 and a Stihl MS 460- there is a reason I own both. Be a hell of a muffler mod to gain near 17cc's.

The 359 does have an adjustable oiler, make sure you wind it wide open for cutting dead gum or you will overheat the bar again quicksmart- same if you try to push the bar through the wood faster than the chain is cutting, shes pretty evil wood is dead gum!
18"should suit the powerhead well- over this side of the ditch they came out wearing a 20"from new....... but then we have a lot of Pinus and Macrocarpa over here. ;)
 
Back
Top