55 Rancher Muffler Problems

[jammin_with_j]

So I have noticed that the way Husqvarna has attached the muffler on the 55 Rancher was a horrible design. Have seen a couple saws lately that have been shelved or sold because of the way the muffler bolts behind the ears of the cylinder. I have fixed a few cylinders with broken ears, sending them with my friend to the machine shop and having them welded up and the faced machined.

So one of my co-workers brought me his 55 Rancher when I told him I had fixed a few broken like his. When I got it looked like it was straight gased besides the broken muffler attachment ears.

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So he ordered a meteor piston and cylinder kit from Bailey's. It was a closed port cylinder that has the larger bore of the 55 vs the slightly smaller 51. When I got it the first thing I did was send it to get work at the machine shop. It came back looking like this...

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Just wondering if anyone has done this also and have the results lasted?

This saw was not in too bad of shape, cleaned it up a bit.

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[Roanoker494]

With as many of those saws that I have owned I have never had a single issue with the muffler mounting, though I have seen it many times. I do like what you have done with the flange, I have heard of folks doing this but this is the first time I have ever seen it. With the way you have it now I believe I would use a pair of studs instead of bolts, the less those threads are used the less chance there is of them ever failing.

 

[jammin_with_j]

With as many of those saws that I have owned I have never had a single issue with the muffler mounting, though I have seen it many times. I do like what you have done with the flange, I have heard of folks doing this but this is the first time I have ever seen it. With the way you have it now I believe I would use a pair of studs instead of bolts, the less those threads are used the less chance there is of them ever failing.

That is a very good observation. Right now I plan on bolting them like the new 3xx series saws do, but I will look into studs for the next one. There are many saws here in Nova Scotia that I have seen fail in this particular area. I know that vibration plays a key role in their failure, but i was not very impressed with the design of he mounting system Husqvarna uses. It is an obvious weak point to that particular saw because the 254xp uses the same muffler just different mounting design.

This is the third cylinder that I have had this done to, the first two were the original Mahle cylinders and were in great condition besides the muffler mounting flange. This is the first "clean" new cylinder that was done, welds are very clean and it is much nicer looking then the other two. Just thought others might have run into this problem and it may provide a solution to fix an unusable saw without replacing the cylinder. I picked up two ranchers that were in great shape, the original owners just could not get the muffler to stay on and did not wish to invest in the saw replacing the cylinder.