Husky 359 in need of rebuild

[1-3-2-4]

Does anyone know of a good source for a big bore kit for my 359? I've only found one on eBay, but have not read of these being used: 359 357 CYLINDER AND PISTON KIT 47MM for Husqvarna **BIG BORE KIT** | eBay

Back story: I picked up a used Husqvarna 359 a couple weeks ago as my first saw. I needed something to clean up my property after a freak Halloween snow storm and the right deal popped up on Craigslist.

I visited the local dealer and picked up all the usual spare and replacement parts: air filter, fuel filter, spark plug, chains, bar oil, fuel oil, and new bar (what the hell). The filters weren't in stock, so I had to wait on those. Cleaned the saw up and used it for about 1-2 hours on a few trees around my property. Worked awesome...no issues, very pleased.

My filters came in a few days later and I put them on the saw. The air filter was mesh style filter, so I knew I'd have to readjust the carb. I followed the procedure in the manual just as I did for the old felt filter. Not surprisingly, I ended up giving it a lot more fuel everywhere. It didn't like to idle very well, but I managed to get it settled...or so I thought. Fast forward about 20 minutes of use and things got funky. Saw died mid-use and was a bear to get restarted. I ended up putting the old air filter back on and readjusting fuel. Seemed to work. Another 10 minutes later, the saw completely locked up. Still not sure exactly what caused things to go lean, but the cylinder and piston are pretty badly scored and locked up.

Was it the dull chain (my fault)? The 1:50 oil ratio? Ethanol fuel? Carb settings? Air filter? Still trying to figure it out, but the most pressing question is if I can rebuild. End of story...

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[1-3-2-4]

This forum moves fast and my thread got buried...so any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[sachsmo]

Replacement 47mm cylinder kit for Husqvarna 359, and Jonsered 2159

 

[1-3-2-4]

I saw that. Obviously, this is the only cost-effective way to fix this saw. I don't see any big bore kits out there...unless I missed them.

Question now becomes (and I know this has been hotly debated): fix or sell/part out? I use this saw for 'recreational use'...i.e. when I need it. I don't cut fire wood (yet) and don't use it daily. Is this saw worth more money or should I cut my losses and find another muse?

 

[Captain Crunch]

Have you pulled saw apart yet? If not, vacuum and pressure test first to check for leaks. If apart, post pics of the bore, you may be able to save it with an acid wash and only be into it for a piston.

 

[sunfish]

There are no big bore kits for the 359.

You can likely clean up the cylinder and replace piston. Research 'cleaning up cylinder'. Was me and I needed a new cylinder, I'd go with OEM parts, but aftermarket will be cheaper.

You really need to figure out what toasted your piston! And make sure you don't do it again. If your saw has the plastic intake clamp, replace it with the metal one.

Very good saw and well worth fixin!

 

[1-3-2-4]

I haven't disassembled the saw yet, but I did pull the muffler. The piston is severely scored/galled. Unsure about the carb clamp, but I've read about it on here, so I'll take a look. I assume it is the old plastic style because the saw is a 2001 model.

I've read about the acid treatment, but think I'll opt for the new jug as long as the aftermarket parts are trustworthy. $80 for a piston kit is reasonable to me and at that rate, it is only $40 more than to do the piston alone. Plus, I'd have to buy the acid and screw around with it. I'd rather work on my motorcycle if I'm going to be working!

As far as cause, it obviously went lean. As far as why, I suspect I didn't add enough fuel when I swapped to the nylon mesh air filter. There is always the chance that it was a combination of things: ethanol in fuel, 50:1 oil mix should be a bit stronger, dulled chain caused an over-rev for too long, etc. I can easily fix the sharp chain next time (hey, I'm a chainsaw noob), and add more oil to the fuel. I can't change the ethanol anymore - too much of a hassle. For the carb settings though, I'm not sure. I set the carb per the manual (which I did when I initially bought the saw), but I never got it to idle quite right with the new filter. It sounded good at WOT, but maybe too good (too lean)? I'll be the first to admit I'm not a 2-stroke expert...at all.

 

[blsnelling]

Sounds like you tuned the carb too lean and burnt it up. Like mentioned, you might be able to clean up the cylinder and put a new Meteor piston in it.

 

[Log Hogger]

Forget the big bore, put a 357 XP crank in it and while your replacing the piston/cylinder, port it. You will have a monster on your hands.

On second thought, your saw is totally buggered. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly, and since it's the holiday season I won't even charge you my usual disposal fee!

On a serious note, the 50:1 mix isn't to blame, nor was the ethanol. If the saw was adjusted properly, meaning it was tuned with a clean air filter, putting on a new filter wasn't the cause either. Dull chains don't make well tuned saws seize up, except maybe if you were milling with it. It's what Brad said: you leaned out the carb too much and it burned up the piston.

 

[1-3-2-4]

Forget the big bore, put a 357 XP crank in it and while your replacing the piston/cylinder, port it. You will have a monster on your hands.

Now, I'm probably mistaken, but I thought it was common to use 359 cranks and 357XP jugs? I thought the 359 had porosity issues but a stronger crank (no plastic). Do I have this wrong? What does the 357XP give you? More CR?

On second thought, your saw is totally buggered. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly, and since it's the holiday season I won't even charge you my usual disposal fee!

I'm fortunate enough to have found this place filled with philanthropists, lol.

On a serious note, the 50:1 mix isn't to blame, nor was the ethanol. If the saw was adjusted properly, meaning it was tuned with a clean air filter, putting on a new filter wasn't the cause either. Dull chains don't make well tuned saws seize up, except maybe if you were milling with it. It's what Brad said: you leaned out the carb too much and it burned up the piston.

I'll buy that. The chain was pretty damn dull and was only making dust toward the end, though. As far as fuel however, I didn't have much fuel left to add...I was about 3/4 of the way to full rich. I had stalling and restarting problems prior to the big boom (well, it was actually rather uneventful - shame), and swapping back to the felt filter made it work...with slight fuel removal (back to approx factory settings). Is it normal to expect the mesh filter to be fully enriched (within the adjustment range, that is)? Or does this point to a leaky boot?

 

[Captain Crunch]

Madsen's seems to have the best information on setting the carb adjustments

Saw Carb Tuning

 

[nmurph]

I suspect you have an air leak, most likely around the intake. You say you gave it more gas everywhere. Does that mean you turned the screws counter clockwise? If so, you didn't lean it out. You also mention that you didn't like the idle. An air leak will make it hard to get a stable idle. The saw will want to race with the factory H & L settings of about 1 turn out from seated. You may have had to turn it out three or four turns bf it would idle down.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Well worth the time to vac or pressure test b4 you tear down. I'm just sayin'.

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Buy a brand new 357 top end.


Bam.

 

[jjgs5454]

Does anyone know of a good source for a big bore kit for my 359? I've only found one on eBay, but have not read of these being used: 359 357 CYLINDER AND PISTON KIT 47MM for Husqvarna **BIG BORE KIT** | eBay

Back story: I picked up a used Husqvarna 359 a couple weeks ago as my first saw. I needed something to clean up my property after a freak Halloween snow storm and the right deal popped up on Craigslist.

I visited the local dealer and picked up all the usual spare and replacement parts: air filter, fuel filter, spark plug, chains, bar oil, fuel oil, and new bar (what the hell). The filters weren't in stock, so I had to wait on those. Cleaned the saw up and used it for about 1-2 hours on a few trees around my property. Worked awesome...no issues, very pleased.

My filters came in a few days later and I put them on the saw. The air filter was mesh style filter, so I knew I'd have to readjust the carb. I followed the procedure in the manual just as I did for the old felt filter. Not surprisingly, I ended up giving it a lot more fuel everywhere. It didn't like to idle very well, but I managed to get it settled...or so I thought. Fast forward about 20 minutes of use and things got funky. Saw died mid-use and was a bear to get restarted. I ended up putting the old air filter back on and readjusting fuel. Seemed to work. Another 10 minutes later, the saw completely locked up. Still not sure exactly what caused things to go lean, but the cylinder and piston are pretty badly scored and locked up.

Was it the dull chain (my fault)? The 1:50 oil ratio? Ethanol

fuel? Carb settings? Air filter? Still trying to figure it out, but the most pressing question is if I can rebuild. End of story...

Thanks in advance for your help.

⁹

 

[J D]

I'm going to re-iterate a lot of what's already been said... Before tearing down it would be very beneficial to do a vac/pressure test. These saws had leak issues with plastic clamps, auto decomp (when fitted) & I've seen several with pinholes in the impulse line where it bends sharply. Asides from that & some carb issues they're great saws. The 357’s have better porting that really gets them to sing. If it were mine I'd be hoping to clean up the cylinder & put a new piston & ring in it. OEM cylinders are invariably better than aftermarket... sometimes by a bit, but generally by a lot. If there are no chunks taken out of the cylinder you can usually clean them up pretty well with heavy duty oven cleaner (the foaming caustic soda based stuff) & a bit of elbow grease. Use safety glasses, & gloves aren't a bad idea either. If you do fix it be sure to pressure/vac test it when done. They're pretty easy to muffler mod so I'd be doing that at the same time. Finally, get yourself a cheap tacho to aid in your tuning (the ones with a wire that wraps around the plug lead seam to work ok). Tune it a little on the rich side while it's got a clean air filter, a full tank of gas with the mix you intend to be running it on. I like to run a good quality oil @ 40:1.
Good luck, let us know how things work out.

 

[Swogg]

Old thread, good subject.
359/357XP is a good series saw. AV is very good and air filtration is almost as good.
There are only two mechanical differences between a 357XP and a 359.
1) the 357XP cylinder is 46mm = 56.5cc, and is ported completely different than the 47mm = 59cc 359 cylinder.
2) the 357XP has crankshaft cups, or stuffers, that reduce the crankcase volume to produce more pulse, or pressure to force air fuel mix into the cylinder.
The crankshafts are identical. The " stuffers " for a 357XP can be installed on your 359 crankshaft very easily. If you you consider splitting the cases easy. It's really simplistic to do if you have the proper tools.
You have received a great deal of good advice and different options to repair your saw. I don't know your budget, but I will throw in my two cents.
If the saw is fundamentally in good solid condition, I feel it's worth spending $250-$300 because the end result is a really good saw.
With the exception of replacing the crankcase gasket, all other sources of air leaks are relatively simple to solve.
If you feel the crankshaft bearings are good, replace the crankshaft oil seals.
You will have the cylinder removed, so during reassembly, be sure to seal the cylinder base well.
On all the 357XP's / 359's I rebuild, especially an early saw such as your 2001, I replace everything between the cylinder and the carb.
1) intake manifold
2) partition.
3) pulse line.
4) flange.
Except for the intake manifold which is a little pricey, the four items combined can be purchased new OEM for around $40-$50.
I'm usually a lurker, and I'm not aware of site rules pertaining to revealing names of businesses that sell these parts at good prices, so I will refrain. Anyway.....
That eliminates air leak possibilities in the manifold and pulse line. IMO, they should be replaced on a 20 year old saw during a full rebuild irregardless.
Also, you will receive a metal clamp with those four parts to replace the sometimes troublesome plastic clamp that was stock on that vintage saw/intake manifold.
The next thing to address is the cylinder/piston assembly.
You have been given a number of good alternatives.
IMO the 359 cylinder will never be much of a performer unless it is ported. Ported properly, the 359 cylinder performs quite well. The down side is the expense of the port work if you are unable to do it yourself.
As I mentioned earlier, the 357XP cylinder porting is completely different from the 359. That is where the power, or the magic comes from.
Husky has greatly reduced the price of OEM cylinder asseblies. In the last six months I have seen the 357XP OEM cylinder assembly ( includes piston,ring,etc. ) sell as low as $100 while on sale. Look around real good. The complete OEM assembly can usually be purchased for around $120-$130 at most any time.
What I consider a good alternative to the OEM cylinder assembly is the Meteor 357XP 47mm cylinder assembly.
I feel this is where a bit of confusion enters the discussion because vendors that sell Meteor products, advertise the assembly as a " big bore " for the 357XP saw. And technically it is.
It is their ( Meteor ) 59cc version of the 56.5 cc 357XP ported cylinder.
What is gained is 2.5cc's of a 357XP style ported cylinder.
Myself I believe that usually 90% or more of the time little if anything is gained by using an after market " big bore " cylinder.
It seems to me that even high quality producers such as Meteor often have difficulty replicating the port size and timing good enough to make a few cc gain advantageous.
However, in this case, for this saw, from my experience Meteor got it right.
I tried their assembly with skepticism, and I was really impressed with the overall performance of their 47mm ( they make the identical assembly in 46mm ) assembly. I have used six of these to date, and have been disappointed with none.
I don't have any long term test results from these builds, but if the usual Meteor quality prevails, they will have good longevity.
Hyway also offers the same assembly, however I have not tried one of them.
So enough with the P and C assembly.
As someone else mentioned, the carburetors are a little troublesome, but they can easily be remedied by a minor adjustment to the metering lever diaphram, diaphram gasket, and diaphram cover plate. Also by replacing the fuel pump diaphragm.
Google " Grease Monkey Walbro Carburetor Fix ", and you can view an excellent video produced by those good folks that show you how to perform the modification.
Also, if you want an easier way around the carb issue, you can install a Zama EL-42 carburetor and bypass the Walbro problems.
I know many are down on Zama because they are made in China, ( everyone would be surprised everything that is made in China ) I can only state that of the four or five I have used they all turned out good.
If you go the Zama route, you may have a tough time finding an actual Zama carburetor. The only genuine Zama EL-42' s I've found came out of a Husqvarna parts box.
One thing I don't remember reading in this thread is a muffler modd.
I have seen at least three different iterations of mufflers on the 357XP/359 series saws, and everyone of them are very restrictive.
On these model saws a muffler modd is very beneficial. IMO almost imperative.
If you modd the muffler yourself, be sure you remove at least a portion of the baffle plate inside the muffler. If you don't, your modification will yield little advantage IMO. I have looked for after market mufflers that do not have a baffle plate, but can't find one.

 

[J D]

Old thread, good subject.
359/357XP is a good series saw. AV is very good and air filtration is almost as good.
There are only two mechanical differences between a 357XP and a 359.
1) the 357XP cylinder is 46mm = 56.5cc, and is ported completely different than the 47mm = 59cc 359 cylinder.
2) the 357XP has crankshaft cups, or stuffers, that reduce the crankcase volume to produce more pulse, or pressure to force air fuel mix into the cylinder.
The crankshafts are identical. The " stuffers " for a 357XP can be installed on your 359 crankshaft very easily. If you you consider splitting the cases easy. It's really simplistic to do if you have the proper tools.
You have received a great deal of good advice and different options to repair your saw. I don't know your budget, but I will throw in my two cents.
If the saw is fundamentally in good solid condition, I feel it's worth spending $250-$300 because the end result is a really good saw.
With the exception of replacing the crankcase gasket, all other sources of air leaks are relatively simple to solve.
If you feel the crankshaft bearings are good, replace the crankshaft oil seals.
You will have the cylinder removed, so during reassembly, be sure to seal the cylinder base well.
On all the 357XP's / 359's I rebuild, especially an early saw such as your 2001, I replace everything between the cylinder and the carb.
1) intake manifold
2) partition.
3) pulse line.
4) flange.
Except for the intake manifold which is a little pricey, the four items combined can be purchased new OEM for around $40-$50.
I'm usually a lurker, and I'm not aware of site rules pertaining to revealing names of businesses that sell these parts at good prices, so I will refrain. Anyway.....
That eliminates air leak possibilities in the manifold and pulse line. IMO, they should be replaced on a 20 year old saw during a full rebuild irregardless.
Also, you will receive a metal clamp with those four parts to replace the sometimes troublesome plastic clamp that was stock on that vintage saw/intake manifold.
The next thing to address is the cylinder/piston assembly.
You have been given a number of good alternatives.
IMO the 359 cylinder will never be much of a performer unless it is ported. Ported properly, the 359 cylinder performs quite well. The down side is the expense of the port work if you are unable to do it yourself.
As I mentioned earlier, the 357XP cylinder porting is completely different from the 359. That is where the power, or the magic comes from.
Husky has greatly reduced the price of OEM cylinder asseblies. In the last six months I have seen the 357XP OEM cylinder assembly ( includes piston,ring,etc. ) sell as low as $100 while on sale. Look around real good. The complete OEM assembly can usually be purchased for around $120-$130 at most any time.
What I consider a good alternative to the OEM cylinder assembly is the Meteor 357XP 47mm cylinder assembly.
I feel this is where a bit of confusion enters the discussion because vendors that sell Meteor products, advertise the assembly as a " big bore " for the 357XP saw. And technically it is.
It is their ( Meteor ) 59cc version of the 56.5 cc 357XP ported cylinder.
What is gained is 2.5cc's of a 357XP style ported cylinder.
Myself I believe that usually 90% or more of the time little if anything is gained by using an after market " big bore " cylinder.
It seems to me that even high quality producers such as Meteor often have difficulty replicating the port size and timing good enough to make a few cc gain advantageous.
However, in this case, for this saw, from my experience Meteor got it right.
I tried their assembly with skepticism, and I was really impressed with the overall performance of their 47mm ( they make the identical assembly in 46mm ) assembly. I have used six of these to date, and have been disappointed with none.
I don't have any long term test results from these builds, but if the usual Meteor quality prevails, they will have good longevity.
Hyway also offers the same assembly, however I have not tried one of them.
So enough with the P and C assembly.
As someone else mentioned, the carburetors are a little troublesome, but they can easily be remedied by a minor adjustment to the metering lever diaphram, diaphram gasket, and diaphram cover plate. Also by replacing the fuel pump diaphragm.
Google " Grease Monkey Walbro Carburetor Fix ", and you can view an excellent video produced by those good folks that show you how to perform the modification.
Also, if you want an easier way around the carb issue, you can install a Zama EL-42 carburetor and bypass the Walbro problems.
I know many are down on Zama because they are made in China, ( everyone would be surprised everything that is made in China ) I can only state that of the four or five I have used they all turned out good.
If you go the Zama route, you may have a tough time finding an actual Zama carburetor. The only genuine Zama EL-42' s I've found came out of a Husqvarna parts box.
One thing I don't remember reading in this thread is a muffler modd.
I have seen at least three different iterations of mufflers on the 357XP/359 series saws, and everyone of them are very restrictive.
On these model saws a muffler modd is very beneficial. IMO almost imperative.
If you modd the muffler yourself, be sure you remove at least a portion of the baffle plate inside the muffler. If you don't, your modification will yield little advantage IMO. I have looked for after market mufflers that do not have a baffle plate, but can't find one.

Just noticed the dates... I was fooled by the post prior to mine. Will pay more attention in future

 

[huskyespañol]

casualmente estoy haciendo una reconstrucción completa de 359 y he decidido poner un cilindro y pintor Meteor con segmento caber de 357xp(46mm)

 

[Pioneer]

A lot of good advice Swogg, hoping to get a 359 in the future.