I thought I read a post here where someone upgraded their plastic intake clamp with a metal clamp without pulling the cylinder. Well I have the carb out and trying to figure out how to negotiate the manifold piece out of there. Any advice?
Husqvarna 350 Plastic Clamp Replacement
- Thread starter ChillyB
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I hope you are upgrading to the metal clamp as preventative maintenance.I wasn’t so lucky on a 359.Plastic clamp failed and scored the piston.Personally I would save some aggravation and pull the cylinder.That way you can make sure there are not any gremlins hiding elsewhere.Good Luck.
Yeah, I pulled it. Good learning, I suppose. Saw is filthy but don’t think I got any creeping crud into the crankcase. Cylinder and piston aren’t scored.
I would have thought you could loosen the clamp and pull the whole thing off unless it had sealer on the intake to cylinder part. I'll probably find out, I've got three here with plastic clamps..
No. I'm on my second 350 clamp upgrade and I tried pulling the thing off without pulling the jug, IT DOES NOT WORK! I spent far too much time learning that. However, you don't need to pull the cylinder off, you just need to loosen the bolts a bunch and lift it up a ways.
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But before you loosen the cylinder- grab your air compressor and blow off gun, clean all the loose crud out before it can fall into the crankcase. 
Least with the cylinder removed the crankcase can be swilled out.
By far easier to remove, or loosen as suggested above- I have done them in place- but it aint easy!
I trim all the old clip section off the manifold to leave a cylindrical slotted cover over the rubber and a Stihl 066 band will fit over both- so will a 372 band, but it is tight to get started to bolt up at near max capacity.
Others trim the plastic away and just clamp the rubber boot to the cylinder- 372 works easy then.
Least with the cylinder removed the crankcase can be swilled out.
By far easier to remove, or loosen as suggested above- I have done them in place- but it aint easy!
I trim all the old clip section off the manifold to leave a cylindrical slotted cover over the rubber and a Stihl 066 band will fit over both- so will a 372 band, but it is tight to get started to bolt up at near max capacity.
Others trim the plastic away and just clamp the rubber boot to the cylinder- 372 works easy then.
Now you're learning
the “plastic clamp” is actually an integrally molded part of the Intake Partition. There are two ways to replace - either replace both the clamp AND the Partition with new style, OR you can trim the tabs off the old plastic clamp and slide a new, larger metal clamp over the existing plastic clamp, keeping the original Partition.
And to add to that, you WILL need to pull the cylinder to perform this operation.
Service bulletin
Ordered the parts I need, to finish. Upgrading to the new style. Add given the age went ahead and ordered a $35 boot (ouch). But this saw is worth it to me, and there is NO WAY I'm trusting Chinese "rubber" to carry fuel-air mix.
I started to add that you have to pull the cylinder but I remember at least one person telling me he didn’t. Personally I don’t think you could do it right without at least lifting the cylinder off the case. And the point of doing the job anyway is that is a critical place for air leaks, so why do a half a** job …
And now that I cleaned up my boot I’m impressed with the condition. Must be some very good rubber. No dry spots, stiffness, cracks…. Seems like a new rubber boot. This is a 1998 saw. Isn’t that first year for the 350?
I've got one of those rubber boots for a Husqvarna that doesn't have all that clamping stuff on it, similar to the one pictured. I think I can use a Stihl 290 clamp on it. The older saws, like my 346 don't require as much aggravation to remove the carb as some of the newer ones. The worst thing is, I did one of these about a year ago but don't remember how I did it..
Don't worry it only gets worse
I did a 359 and got it done without pulling /loosening the jug, took more than one attempt, long story short I was so worried about blocking/pinching impulse or puckering the boot that I tore it down anyway. It all looked good, but the security of knowing it was "A O K" was worth it.
Could do like a friend of mine and write everything down...
