Husky 385xp needs new piston

[John from Cle Elum]

Hi
I am the proud new owner of a 385xp with almost no compression. It was almost complete and it was very cheap. The cylinder looks pretty good. The piston needs to be replaced. I am also looking at upgrading to a 390xp. I looked on Baileys and it looks like I have a couple of options:

OEM Husky - Really expensive $85 for the piston alone but I could go to a 390xp piston/cylinder for the low, low discount price of $275.
NWP - I could not find anything on Baileys but I need to look harder.
Meteor - Same as NWP

Has anyone had any experience with either NWP or Meteor pistons or Piston/Cylinder kits? Both seem to be about 40% of the price of OEM. I would like to use the best aftermarket (ie cheap) parts available but I have no experience with either brand. Are there any recommendations on some other brand?

Baileys seems have a pretty good selection at good prices. If I can't find it there, is there another good supplier that I can try?

Thanks for any help.
John

 

[Andyshine77]

Meteor pistons are top of the line. You really won't gain all that much going to a larger top end. What you need to do before anything is find out why the saw needs a new piston. The pto side bearings are known to be a weak spot, so check the crank for radial play and vac/pressure test the saw.

 

[John from Cle Elum]

You are up late. I was going look at the bearings and seals also. Crank does not have much if any radial play. I was going to put a dial gage on it tomorrow. Do you know what a good number would be? Also, how do you do a vac and pressure test? Seems like a good idea but the cylinder is off the saw. Is there a sticky or something?

 

[Andyshine77]

As long as you can't feel any play the baring should be fine. A dial indicator would help more with crank run-out.

Search away, they're many detailed threads on how to properly vac/pressure test a saw. With the cylinder on the saw seal off all ports and hook a vac/pressure pimp up to the impulse line. Some use inner tube rubber + the carb and exhaust can, to block the ports off. Under pressure you can spray soapy water around all sealing surfaces, if you see bubbles that's where the leak is. Sometimes you'll have a leak under pressure but not under vacuum, and vice versa. That's the basic Idea of how to vac/pressure test a saw.

 

[John from Cle Elum]

Yup. There are a lot of threads on the pressure testing. I should have looked first.