Husqvarna 55 cylinder

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The later Rancher 55's are all open port, larger 46mm bore, and they upgraded to .375 chain from .325". They really don't have the "ump" for pulling the larger chain or a bar longer than 18", IMHO. I think the "Rancher" 55's were an attempt to steer folks who cut a decent amount of firewood and do some land clearing, etc to go that direction instead of the more expensive Professional models. Must have worked pretty well, you still see a LOT of 55's in service, and Ebay usually has a decent selection to choose from.

The entire series of 55's are very rugged and well made, aside from the weaker direct oil pump drive and plastic intake parts being a few weak spots they are tough little units. Also good parts supply and most of the parts are still available on the IPL's.

The EPA "closed port" 55's are a great find. You either have to know the model years they ran them or be able to see the bottom of the cylinder, simply seeing the compression release and not seeing "Rancher" on the cover isn't enough to ensure you're going to get one. You really need to see the flange on the cylinder, it's lined with a bunch of "X's" across the flange from what I can remember.

The down side to the closed port models is that they were set pretty lean with limiter caps being "EPA" models, and a high percentage of the used ones that show up on Ebay will have some damage across the exhaust side of the P/C.......Cliff
thanks alot Cliff for posting all this info.
My 50 (year 89) and the 55 (year 93) both have broken crankcase AV. They will just be part saws for my 254's.
To bad I live in Norway would gladly given away those jugs
 
If OEM can be had for $100 that's a no brainer. I wouldn't use OEM at the retail price of $249.95 (last time I checked for a closed port P/C when they were available).

In the same sentence the $20 P/C's from China sold all over Ebay.......probably aren't worth two squirts of duck poop, but that's just a guess on my part.......Cliff

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CYLINDER-PI...616222?hash=item4af78a4e1e:g:GcYAAOSw-zxWnUsE
 
There isn't a lot of talk on here about the 50's, they are excellent units and built pretty much the same as the 51's and 55's. I have a MINT condition 50 "special" with less than 2 hours total run time on it. It's so nice I don't even use it, I beat on my two closed port 55's instead.

As far as "cheaping out" on parts, folks don't usually think about he dynamics of these little engines, and the fact that the piston is coming to the top of the hole couple hundred times a second in the cut. That's why cheap/low quality parts fail and provide less service life than the good stuff....FWIW......Cliff
 
If OEM can be had for $100 that's a no brainer. I wouldn't use OEM at the retail price of $249.95 (last time I checked for a closed port P/C when they were available).

In the same sentence the $20 P/C's from China sold all over Ebay.......probably aren't worth two squirts of duck poop, but that's just a guess on my part.......Cliff

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CYLINDER-PI...616222?hash=item4af78a4e1e:g:GcYAAOSw-zxWnUsE
im late but i get what your saying. nice saw thou
 
I used a cheap AM kit off ebay and my biggest complaint was squish. U might have to cut base down some even without a base gasket. I would not spend much on the saw in parts. It would be easy to buy new oem and if you need other stuff you can end up with more in the saw than its worth. If you want oem i would try to pick up a used saw for cheap with good usable cylinder. These saws are a dime a dozen. Jmo
i know but it was free
 
There was an extensive thread about closed vs open vs "semi" closed about the 55 piston and cyl offerings/differences....
A quick search on 55 closed port should turn it up...
I'm on phone at work not on laptop so can't find it now...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Specifically in the 55's the open port 46mm P/C will have a broad/smooth power curve, and not as strong in the upper rpm's nor will it prefer stay in the upper rpms in the cut. They pull down easily, but with the broad power curve "lug" well and produce good power over a broad rpm range. Even with that said, the later "Rancher" 55's have their tongue hanging out in bigger material trying to pull a 20" .375" bar/chain set-up.

The earlier EPA closed port 55's with the 45mm P/C are very strong runners, and love high rpm's, and pull hard at high rpm's. They are noticeably "snappier" and are strong runners for the CC's. The power curve is however a bit narrower and they like and prefer to stay at high rpm's in the cut. They are best set-up with an 18" bar and .325 semi-chisel chain. They do fine with full chisel, but full chisel tends to "bite" in a little easier, and can pull them out of the power if you aren't careful or start "pushing" them really hard.

As mentioned earlier, I've owned and sold at least a dozen 55's over the years, and the only ones I kept for my own use were the two closed port EPA models. They are basically a "Pro" saw with a little weaker engine driven oiler vs clutch driven....IMHO.

I've also owned a couple of 51's, and one 50, and they are also very good saws, but not as strong anyplace as the closed port EPA 55's........Cliff
 
just got a 55 air injection with a toasted piston and cylinder for free. It's an 46mm with a decomp valve. I'm not going to waste my time on trying to save the cylinder it's gone. Just got off ebay and saw cylinders kits from 23.00 to 150.oo . My question would you spend the extra $ for the Meteor kit. Or what kit would you get? Sorry no pictures because i run over my cord with my chair.

If you are going to toss the p/cylinder I might be interested in taking a stab at cleaning it up.
1421432364354_IMG_20150116_121902_267_zps8ce26eb7.jpg
 
Thank you! I don't know what mine is but I'll soon find out when I rebuild it. I just went to the shop to check what the new one is, it is an open port. Anything is better than the chewed up one that was in it since it didn't have much compression.
 
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