Husqvarna 435 - Personal Review - Part 1

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Husqvarna 435 Review

Product received - Initial impression: Box appears to be in new condition; however, there were signs that the box was opened prior to my receipt. Weighed saw with bar and chain fully assembled, and it came in at 11.5 pounds exactly, minus fluids. Chain was properly tensioned and seemed sharp, but not as sharp as some I have seen. No bucking spikes!

Every once in a while, I like to buy something new, especially if I have a hunch about it. Recently, I have been seeing very negative feed back from some Husky 435 purchasers. The feedback has been so negative in some cases that just recently, Amazon posted a statement that for the immediate near term future, they were discontinuing sales offered for any Husqvarna 435 and 440 saws. I have always been a contrarian, and believe this situation to be transitory at the worst. From what I have read, 90 percent of purchasers seem satisfied with their saws, and that figure somewhat perplexes me. Why? Because most homeowners don’t own a Husqvarna carburetor adjustment tool! I can’t speak for others, but my brand new out of the box Husky needed a little fine-tuning, which could have been supplied from any reputable dealer. The plain unvarnished truth is that if this saw had come furnished with fixed jets like the Stihl MS-170, I would have returned the saw to the box store, and you would have had a chance to repurchase it as a refurbished saw in the future. Sorry about your lost opportunity.

I purchased my saw on Fleabay, and wanted to experience what the average homeowner might encounter. I purchased a brand new, in the original box chainsaw, not a factory re-furbished model. I ended up paying $216.50 delivered to the door. The way I look at it, the difference between what I would have paid from a dealer, and what I paid in actuality, was the discount for accepting no warranty. That difference was about $67.56. If the saw turned out to be defective, that savings would have seemed insignificant, but like I said, I wanted the entire Fleabay experience. Earlier in the year, I could have purchased a refurbished model for about $142.50, but then again, you can never be sure about what you are buying into.

I gassed the saw with 47 to 1 (ethanol 10%), 93-octane premium gasoline, combined with Sea Foam and high quality synthetic engine oil from Stihl. I can get non-ethanol gasoline if I drive 40 miles, but I thought the test should be carried out under full combat conditions. First, I primed 7 times (watched the bulb and felt for hydraulic engagement) and then I followed the manufacturers starting instructions to the tee. The saw burped on the second pull, choke was dropped down one position, and the saw immediately started on the next subsequent pull, with the saw running at high idle. Once knocked down, the saw idled slowly and seemed barely able to maintain continuing engine function. Every time I attempted to advance the throttle, the engine seemed incapable of overcoming the chain resistance. I have seen this a million times, and knew instinctively what to do. First, I turned up the throttle rpms, rotating the appropriate screw in the clockwise direction. Because the saw accelerated slowly, I fattened up the low speed jet. For this, you need the Husqvarna tool. This helped immeasurably. The high-speed jet was already set pretty good, but final adjustments always need to be made in wood. I never did hear the saw four cycle, so I know more testing is in order. This concludes part 1 of the test, and next I will be beating the bee Jesus out of this saw, stressing it to the maximum of its abilities. Saws usually take at least four to five tank fills of gasoline until they break in, and as it happens, you surely can feel the power increase during the process. Final carb adjustments will be made at that time, and will be followed by a part II in this test. In the meantime, if you are a Husky 435 saw owner, buy the carb adjustment tool. It is not worth the money that you will be charged, but once you have it, it will seem worth its weight in gold. Don’t ask me where to get one, just search the net. Mine cost me about $17.00 delivered. If you find one cheaper, drop me a line, as I could use a backup, but I already have one. Hope you found this informative, instructive, or at the least entertaining. Keep your topknots on Pilgrims (that’s a saying dating back to the seventeenth century for the earliest of English colonists). Only a few will grasp the meaning. Watch for part II – Torture test.
 
I like my 435. Starts easy and very powerfully for what it is. Mine desperately needed a good tune out of the box aswell but it fixed all the runability problems. The anti vibe is excellent and it feels much lighter than it is. The only problem is the clutch is tiny. If you lean on it it just slips.
 
The neighbor brought over his Husqvarna 435 that his son had bought him a couple years ago. He had run it and made one cut with it when he first got it but the saw had sat on the shelf for two years.

It was too lean to run on the HS. It was bought from the Lowes big box store.

I dumped the black gas out of it first thing. Still too lean . . . used a wire connector to try to get the HS needle set but you never know just how much you moved the needle. Took forever. If you don't have the tool - use the wire connector to completely remove the needles and slot them with a Dremel cut-off wheel. After adjusting, the chainsaw ran fine.

I went through the menagerie of purchasing a splined needle adjuster. I wasn't paying $50 for one on Amazon. There was one for $2 on another site but they rejected my order the next day. I ordered another from a popular small engine site for $17 including shipping and it arrived within a couple days. There should be a senate investigation of the bureaucrats at the EPA that created that scandal?

The almost unused .325 NK semi chisel safety chain's teeth didn't look too promising so I went through it and sharpened the chain. Real nice.

The chainsaw has a single bar nut though this doesn't seem to present any problem. The 435 is 42cc and is Strato Charged. Cuts with authority and I didn't notice any unusual slipping of the clutch or bogging of the chainsaw. This chainsaw has high compression and no compression release so I do not recommend it for your wife or the 85 yr old man across the street. You gotta be a real man to start it, but it actually starts right up with a couple pulls, choke-on and a couple more choke-off, and it is running from cold.

I wouldn't mind using it as my limbing saw.

This chainsaw is many times the chainsaw that a stock Poulan Wild Thing is.
 
i really like mine, it's the saw i grab first for small jobs, mine also had to have the carb adjusted several times before it ran just right, now that it's broke in, i haven't had to make any adjustments..............yet, otherwise it's been a great little saw.......................:D
 
I like my 435. Starts easy and very powerfully for what it is. Mine desperately needed a good tune out of the box aswell but it fixed all the runability problems. The anti vibe is excellent and it feels much lighter than it is. The only problem is the clutch is tiny. If you lean on it it just slips.

yeah, mine has the same clutch issues, but i've learned to let the saw do the work and it cuts very well, but a bigger clutch would be nice on these saws............:rolleyes:
 
yeah, mine has the same clutch issues, but i've learned to let the saw do the work and it cuts very well, but a bigger clutch would be nice on these saws............:rolleyes:

As with any saw let it do the work but with the little spike it has sometimes you just have to give her hell:rolleyes2:


My dad has the 460 which has the same clutch set up as the 445. I need to play around with the parts and see if I can get it set up to work properly but the clutch is not really that big of a problem yet. Too many other projects.
 
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