husqvarna 55 souped up

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I would not suggest running any of the new saws on newly formulated oil at a 15:1, or even 20:1. I know some run at 32:1, but you better be watching what oil your using. Personally in a stock newer saw that was not ported I would not run anything more than 40:1(some may disagree).
On that 55 husky I would run a 91 or 93 and 40:1, tune it and be done as far as the oil and fuel go.
As @Nanuq said, you have to figure out how fast you want to make it, there are always trade offs. Thanks Nanuq for posting that great old school picture as well as mentioning the coolest bike race there is(Just watched about 20 IOM videos tonight lol).
Just opening up the muffler will cause the saw to be louder, is that something your willing to deal with.
Porting will make it faster, but that cost some bucks, how much are you wanting to spend.
Personally I'd sell the 55(unless there it was a gift or family members), and then buy a ported saw. Another option is to go for the 2 saw plan, if you don't already have a few(you will soon if you hang out here much :)), but what fun would having only two saws be :innocent:.

As far as switching to a closed port cylinder I think the gains will be minimal at best, last I knew you could not buy an oe replacement piston for them either. If you are going to advance the timing you should know how far you are advancing it in degrees. Do you know how to check the squish on a saw, it's a good idea when removing the base gaskets/cutting the base.
Before doing any changes you should document some test cuts so that after you make changes you have a baseline to compare the modded saw to. A saw with a muffler mod may sound faster, but how will you know if it really is.
Have fun:chainsaw:.

I am trying to achieve to have a saw that is lightweight yet has a good power to weight ratio. I want to be able to use this saw up in the tree and it have enough power to cut through bigger pieces nicely. Im just not sure what to do or who to send my saw to get it done as i have never owned a saw that has had any mods done to it and i have plenty of saws haha saws are kind of like guns cant ever have enough of them. THANKS! for the great information though.
 

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I am trying to achieve to have a saw that is lightweight yet has a good power to weight ratio. I want to be able to use this saw up in the tree and it have enough power to cut through bigger pieces nicely. Im just not sure what to do or who to send my saw to get it done as i have never owned a saw that has had any mods done to it and i have plenty of saws haha saws are kind of like guns cant ever have enough of them. THANKS! for the great information though.
Welcome.
Great way to save weight is to have a lightweight bar. The are not cheap, when you compare them to other bars, but what's 20-40 on a saw that's making you money. To me if your getting the work done quicker then your ROI has just gone up not down(although your ground guys may not like that lol), and you will be able to do more as you will not be worn dawn as quickly.
What is a" bigger piece" to you.
Is your 55 the next size up from your ms200, if so you may want to invest in an ms241, ported is even better.
Depending on the hrs on the saw you may get into something cheaper buying one that's already been done. If the saw has a lot of hrs the builder may want to get a little deeper into it costing more, this will be more dependent on the individual builder I would guess. The builders are also who you would want to get advice from as well since they will be the ones charging you.

In the end, there are many ways to skin a cat, and a lot will depend on what your doing with the saw the most and your working style :).
It would be great to get with some other members down your way and run a few saws so you could have a better feel of what they will do, guessing this would give you a pretty good idea of what you want/need quickly.
 
Welcome.
Great way to save weight is to have a lightweight bar. The are not cheap, when you compare them to other bars, but what's 20-40 on a saw that's making you money. To me if your getting the work done quicker then your ROI has just gone up not down(although your ground guys may not like that lol), and you will be able to do more as you will not be worn dawn as quickly.
What is a" bigger piece" to you.
Is your 55 the next size up from your ms200, if so you may want to invest in an ms241, ported is even better.
Depending on the hrs on the saw you may get into something cheaper buying one that's already been done. If the saw has a lot of hrs the builder may want to get a little deeper into it costing more, this will be more dependent on the individual builder I would guess. The builders are also who you would want to get advice from as well since they will be the ones charging you.

In the end, there are many ways to skin a cat, and a lot will depend on what your doing with the saw the most and your working style :).
It would be great to get with some other members down your way and run a few saws so you could have a better feel of what they will do, guessing this would give you a pretty good idea of what you want/need quickly.

I have a few cannon bars but idk if you would consider them light weight as to some of the others? And bigger pieces to me would be anything between 20-16 inches. Since i run 16in bars on my ms200t’s and as of right now yes it is my next size up from my climbing saw. Im not really familiar to the smaller stihl numbers is the ms241 comparable to size and weight to the husky 55. I will mainly be using it up in the tree and on the ground to cut limbs and buck the pole into pieces. I want a good saw that will reduce fatigue.
 
Cannon is a great bar, but they are very heavy in comparison to other bars even standard bars. A lightweight 18 or 20 will take a lot of weight off you/the saw.
To me that's more a 60cc saw than a 50, but I also understand that your in the tree with it. A 60cc saw with a lightweight bar will likely weight less and have more power to start with and if you want to you can always have some work done on it at a later date. For situations where I want a fast cutting saw in that size wood I was running a husky 555 with a 17, then I jump to 70cc saws. I do a lot of cutting with the ms241's as they are light and the picco chain is smooth and cuts fast. Sometimes on a smaller tree (up to 16-18) I grab the 550 and just cut the whole thing up. I run an 18" on that more for reach than anything as I'm not a fan of having to bend over, and it does a great job pulling it as I normally cut wood up to 12, but sometimes larger if a few seconds extra in a few cuts saves more time than grabbing another saw.
How many gallons of fuel do you run thru the 55 a week or would you if it was faster/lighter.
 
From my experience Chipper has it exactly right. I have a great deal of experience in modifying engines. Some wild like successful and some not so much, but for different reasons. It seems there are plenty of folks here that make mods to engines. If they like doing it then they should do it. By the time you take a saw apart grind on it change the muffler around and put it back together you have spent at least a day in time or more. Then you would typically buy some parts like gaskets and rings not including shipping you will have at least 500 to $600 worth of effort on a $500 saw. For those who really like a higher performing saw then by all means they should enjoy what they do. On a practical level just buy the saw that will meet the needs as they come up. At the moment I have 11 saws maybe a few more. They all have a very specific purpose and do exactly what they were designed to do. I work usually two different locations so there has to be two sets of saws plus backups. If for any reason I was caught with a saw without a spark arrestor it would not be pretty. Very likely I would have gone to jail immediately. If any of my saws are a little extra loud then some one would probably want to check me out. So for me having modded saws is not a great option, but for those who enjoy having a saw with more zip should do and be very satisfied with their achievement. Thanks
 
.325 stihl .050 gauge i think and husky 18” bar
Have you cut with it yet. I would guess it will be about the same speed as the ms200 per the wood size. That's an appropriate size for the saw and was a stock size for many of them. Many set them up with 3/8 so all their chains the same except their 3/8 lp as it makes it easier having 2 file sizes rather than 3. The 325 will spin up a little better than a 3/8 of the same length, but the 3/8 will clear chips better if that becomes a problem.
Do you have any pictures of the 55, get one with the top cover off and straight down on the top.
Whats a good bar to put on it?
The standard sprocket nose is the cheapest lighter bar, the replaceable tip bars are much heavier.
I'm not 100% what else would be lighter in a small mount husky.
Here's a link with a few of the weight's for a comparison. You'll notice the cheap standard sprocket tip is one of the lightest, but they do not last as long unfortunately.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/husky-small-mount-bars.282759/
 
From my experience Chipper has it exactly right. I have a great deal of experience in modifying engines. Some wild like successful and some not so much, but for different reasons. It seems there are plenty of folks here that make mods to engines. If they like doing it then they should do it. By the time you take a saw apart grind on it change the muffler around and put it back together you have spent at least a day in time or more. Then you would typically buy some parts like gaskets and rings not including shipping you will have at least 500 to $600 worth of effort on a $500 saw. For those who really like a higher performing saw then by all means they should enjoy what they do. On a practical level just buy the saw that will meet the needs as they come up. At the moment I have 11 saws maybe a few more. They all have a very specific purpose and do exactly what they were designed to do. I work usually two different locations so there has to be two sets of saws plus backups. If for any reason I was caught with a saw without a spark arrestor it would not be pretty. Very likely I would have gone to jail immediately. If any of my saws are a little extra loud then some one would probably want to check me out. So for me having modded saws is not a great option, but for those who enjoy having a saw with more zip should do and be very satisfied with their achievement. Thanks
Out here no one cares if your saw has a screen, same with a lot of other places in the country, but you better store them somewhere a mud dauber won't get in there lol.
If I did tree work every day I would probably run all newer saws with full port jobs as they will run like the next class up cc size and weigh a lot less than the next class up in weight i.e. much better power to weight ratio. I would still have other cheaper stock saws to run in places that didn't require the speed and reduced weight though. The newer saws also save a lot when it comes to fuel in comparison to the older saws of the same cc so that offsets a lot of the cost to me. As I do more and more tree work I'm leaning towards a ported ms241 as well as a ported 550, they would cover 90% of the work I presently do and the 540xp and the larger cc saws would cover everything else. This is the stage I'm at and I realize not everyone is there/has the same needs. I like watching a 6'5" guy handle a 70cc saw like I handle a 40-50cc saw lol.
Like I said above, many ways to skin a cat, sometimes you need a real fast saw :laugh:.
 
Nope i havent ran it yet in process of getting the carb. Adjusted and im not good enough or have the tools to perfectly tune one. Does that chinese company make any bars for that sizs saw?
 
This is it here. Do you think it would be better to buy a new saw and get performance modifications done to it?
 

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Nope i havent ran it yet in process of getting the carb. Adjusted and im not good enough or have the tools to perfectly tune one. Does that chinese company make any bars for that sizs saw?
Be sure there is not an air leak, they are known for leaking at the intake.
I'm not sure which Chinese company, but I'm for the most part an oe guy, but there are many good aftermarket companies just not very many good Chinese AM companies.
This is it here. Do you think it would be better to buy a new saw and get performance modifications done to it?
It looks like a nice saw, it's an open port cylinder which is a little less performance than the closed port ones.
Many of the porters enjoy working on a nice clean new saw, I don't blame them. Usually the guys who have older saws do a lot of the work themselves as it's cheaper that way. To me it makes more sense to get a new or like new used saw and have it ported or to buy a new or like new saw that is already ported than it does to send out an older saw and then pay for the work to be done. If it was a saw that you would be increasing that value of more than the cost of the port work then it would make sense, but that doesn't seem to be the norm.
 
Thanks, i got it for cheap and I like the 55 because it has the magnesium case instead of plastic and it only weighs 11.4 lbs I would do it myself if i had a clue as to what i was doing. Haha maybe i should start looking on here for a lightweight saw that is ported. If you have anybody in mind that is trying to get rid of one let me know.
 
Always nice to get a deal :).
They are a great little saw, I have 2 closed port 55's, the weak point seems to be the intake setup, but there are threads on how to fix it.
The one that I think of because we are talking about the 55 is a ported 254 that @Armbru84 has for sale(Coles a great guy). little bit heavier, but a lot more power. The 254 is one of my favorite older saws, the 555 is a pretty good comparison in the newer models and is also a favorite, although the newest version of it is a bit heavier than the earlier version.
Here's a link to a discussion about the 55 vs the 254.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/husqvarna-254xp-or-husqvarna-55-closed-port.244726/
Here's Coles ad.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/ported-254.311954/
 
I would not suggest running any of the new saws on newly formulated oil at a 15:1, or even 20:1. I know some run at 32:1, but you better be watching what oil your using. Personally in a stock newer saw that was not ported I would not run anything more than 40:1(some may disagree).
On that 55 husky I would run a 91 or 93 and 40:1, tune it and be done as far as the oil and fuel go.
As @Nanuq said, you have to figure out how fast you want to make it, there are always trade offs. Thanks Nanuq for posting that great old school picture as well as mentioning the coolest bike race there is(Just watched about 20 IOM videos tonight lol).
Just opening up the muffler will cause the saw to be louder, is that something your willing to deal with.
Porting will make it faster, but that cost some bucks, how much are you wanting to spend.
Personally I'd sell the 55(unless there it was a gift or family members), and then buy a ported saw. Another option is to go for the 2 saw plan, if you don't already have a few(you will soon if you hang out here much :)), but what fun would having only two saws be :innocent:.

As far as switching to a closed port cylinder I think the gains will be minimal at best, last I knew you could not buy an oe replacement piston for them either. If you are going to advance the timing you should know how far you are advancing it in degrees. Do you know how to check the squish on a saw, it's a good idea when removing the base gaskets/cutting the base.
Before doing any changes you should document some test cuts so that after you make changes you have a baseline to compare the modded saw to. A saw with a muffler mod may sound faster, but how will you know if it really is.
Have fun:chainsaw:.

All around, chipper1 nails it on some solid advice... I couldn't have said it better myself
 
Cody you should get some time on that 55 before you think about modding it, if for nothing more than to know what you're paying for if you send it out.

On the other hand, @chipper1 gives good advice on checking out what T4diller and Armbru84 are offering right now. Those are both really solid deals on solid mid-sized saws.
 
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