Attempting my very first F#@$%@ng seal replacement 385xp , need advice!

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I have not checked that yet, but I am sure that the seal is 24 years old
As Kevin mentioned if the seals are bad many times than crank bearings are also bad.
If you don't at least check them youbrisk making the same bone head mistake you made initially. Throwing a new piston at a seized cylinder without determining why it seized.
 
You could email that guy on Ebay and ask him some questions, he's really helpful and has repaired saws just like yours I am sure. He got me the right bearings and seals for my 55. The reason I am commenting here is because I searched the forums on how to change bearings and seals, and your post popped up. I'm not some random lurker! Or perhaps I am but all the same, your situation has helped me to learn not to put in a new top end without first doing a pressure test. Or not to mess with my seals either. I did buy a case splitter for my 55. It's got a wierd oil pump worm drive on it.

At least you have a real crankcase and not some clamshell deal... Look on the bright side!
the oil pump needs a puller to get it off
I dispise those little beasts!
 
I would read all these posts people have made and think it over, my posts are from a more basic level of knowledge, similar to your knowledge level. I am more inclined to research things before I break something taking it apart. This link here I just watched but he's talking about newer cases, we need to find a youtube video that shows how to repair a 385 chainsaw, bearings and seals.

Other thing you could do is give you friend your 385 while you fix this one? Not sure what the urgency is to get this one repaired... I am just a firewood guy but you're down I-5 a spell from me in Oregon, I was actually born in Oregon. Some big tree's there, that's for sure.

Can't really offer much help, only ideas and how to mentally approach the repair situtation. Also it's usually a $$ situation as well, deciding how much money to spend before making decisions on if it's worth it to repair or not. Since you have 2 385's it seems as if you're all in on this project. Got to get it fixed somehow. Here's a guy who explains things on bearings, splitting cases, tools, and that sort of thing. Maybe watch his videos and you'll gain some confidence that you can split a case and swap out bearings. I want to get me a Turkey Roaster to cook cases and plop the bearings out like he does! (It's another video where he heats them up and the bearings just plop right out, then he puts new ones in with his bare fingers while they are 300 degrees!) Let me see if I can put links to both videos here save you some research. I am typing on a PC with a keyboard, so if you're on a smart phone it's way more difficult to write things down in this forum. I can't do it! I use the microphone and edit out the mistakes...

Anyways here are the links, I'll post 2 if it's possible: This is the splitter tool I posted about yesterday, looks pretty easy once you pull the clutch and flywheel...



Here's the Turkey Roaster link! I would highly recommend watching this one before you split the case!!! Don't mess up the bearing races, or seals, if possible. Too late now maybe but live and learn from your mistakes! Here's the link:

About 3 minutes in he says "The whole idea of using hammers, presses, while it gets the bearing in and out, you're adding a discontinuity in the Matrix of life so to speak" "in that you can add a problem that you didn't even know you had until your saw comes apart" So over the years etc, he developed a technique, etc... and then you get to the Turkey Roaster! Lol... Not funny but informative...

Put in your mom's oven at 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes (make sure you remove all plastic and rubber parts first) He's got all the right tools, makes you drool over all the tools the guy has...

About 10:35 into the 2nd video he talks about temperature numbers and that's where I got the 350 degrees from! Then he mentions he has all the seals and plastic parts out of the case first! (Small details...) all around 10:35. He also talks about sprockets and small mount versus large mount bars, and Husqvarna parts, etc... I got a 55 small mount with a 3/8 sprocket but he discusses chain speed and going with a .325 rim sprocket and more teeth like a 9 tooth sprocket. A lot of knowledge here which if you're not paying attention just passes you by basically.

I am paying attention now, after blowing up a few chainsaws and melting a few chainbrakes on my husqvarna 55, (solution is a muffler mod ultimately, but also no exhaust leaks...)

Are you paying attention after messing up your seals? I know it's frustrating as all get out!!! Oddly entertaining I suppose, not sure why. Everyone is providing outstanding advice as far as I can tell, it all matches up to my youtube research anyways. Maybe he's on here too? Hard to tell.
 
I watch these videos over and over again and study them obviously, I do have an Engineering degree but I have worked in construction most of my life... kind of explains things a bit! I can't just go buy a new saw and admit defeat! Not very easily anyways...

Temperature Differential!!! Watch that turkey roaster video a few times... Not sure if it works on your saw or not... listen to the guy talk about hammering on your case. Not "best practices"... No hammers just heat differential alone... important lessons to learn or at least to be aware of.
 
I would read all these posts people have made and think it over, my posts are from a more basic level of knowledge, similar to your knowledge level. I am more inclined to research things before I break something taking it apart. This link here I just watched but he's talking about newer cases, we need to find a youtube video that shows how to repair a 385 chainsaw, bearings and seals.

Other thing you could do is give you friend your 385 while you fix this one? Not sure what the urgency is to get this one repaired... I am just a firewood guy but you're down I-5 a spell from me in Oregon, I was actually born in Oregon. Some big tree's there, that's for sure.

Can't really offer much help, only ideas and how to mentally approach the repair situtation. Also it's usually a $$ situation as well, deciding how much money to spend before making decisions on if it's worth it to repair or not. Since you have 2 385's it seems as if you're all in on this project. Got to get it fixed somehow. Here's a guy who explains things on bearings, splitting cases, tools, and that sort of thing. Maybe watch his videos and you'll gain some confidence that you can split a case and swap out bearings. I want to get me a Turkey Roaster to cook cases and plop the bearings out like he does! (It's another video where he heats them up and the bearings just plop right out, then he puts new ones in with his bare fingers while they are 300 degrees!) Let me see if I can put links to both videos here save you some research. I am typing on a PC with a keyboard, so if you're on a smart phone it's way more difficult to write things down in this forum. I can't do it! I use the microphone and edit out the mistakes...

Anyways here are the links, I'll post 2 if it's possible: This is the splitter tool I posted about yesterday, looks pretty easy once you pull the clutch and flywheel...



Here's the Turkey Roaster link! I would highly recommend watching this one before you split the case!!! Don't mess up the bearing races, or seals, if possible. Too late now maybe but live and learn from your mistakes! Here's the link:

About 3 minutes in he says "The whole idea of using hammers, presses, while it gets the bearing in and out, you're adding a discontinuity in the Matrix of life so to speak" "in that you can add a problem that you didn't even know you had until your saw comes apart" So over the years etc, he developed a technique, etc... and then you get to the Turkey Roaster! Lol... Not funny but informative...

Put in your mom's oven at 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes (make sure you remove all plastic and rubber parts first) He's got all the right tools, makes you drool over all the tools the guy has...

I’ve been using a good heat gun. Often it still takes a tap from a hammer.
HF has the laser temp reader for cheap.
 
I watch these videos over and over again and study them obviously, I do have an Engineering degree but I have worked in construction most of my life... kind of explains things a bit! I can't just go buy a new saw and admit defeat! Not very easily anyways...

Temperature Differential!!! Watch that turkey roaster video a few times... Not sure if it works on your saw or not... listen to the guy talk about hammering on your case. Not "best practices"... No hammers just heat differential alone... important lessons to learn or at least to be aware of.
My Dad would be proud of me anyways, he passed away years ago. He loved to talk about all this stuff before there was any internet youtube videos it was all books and you had to listen and remember every word possible! There was no "rewind" button. You got told one time! 2nd time you got an ass chewing for not listening to every word the first time around!

He was kind of a hardcase person that way, yet he would always tell you again if you asked, always...
 
Sorry to be so intense, channelling my Father's advice and what I think he would have said. I remember our boat trailer lost a bearing on I-90 just past Vantage going westbound up the big climb. He pulled the bearing right there, (just plopped out after pulling the wheel) and walked into town and back, with the new bearing and some wheel grease, we installed it, put the tire back on and drove home! With all the camping gears, dogs, etc... of course. That memory is really coming back to me, like it was yesterday and it was 1972 or so maybe even late 1960's...

This picture here is from 1972, and I know the wheel bearing blew out a few years prior to this picture so I am guessing 1969 or 1970 the wheel bearing blew out. I took this picture, those are my childhood friends there. He was "launching the boat into the driveway and then he split it down the middle and added a flat 12" section at the transom up to nothing at the hull, and he built this boat himself! Before I was even born I might add, so in the 1950's or so. He grew up in Lincoln City Oregon, then his father died of pneumonia (my grandfather) and they had to move to Portland after that. I was born at Salem General Hospital... in the year of our lord 1959! Too much information but I hope you can fix your saw and take some pictures for everyone if so! That wheel bearing blew out on this same trailer in the picture and Dad fixed it, there he is in the picture, summer of 1972... Lake Hills, WA.
 

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Looks like it
How did you find this? It isn’t listed in any IPL I’ve seen.
Bearings show up on the crank assembly and as standard 6203C3s
A bearing shop should have that sealing ring
They’re 6203 size but it has extended races to allow for the seal to press in. It’s proprietary, available through Husky only. The flywheel side is standard 6203
 

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