What Happened to Partner Chainsaws?

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

Copy and pasted info below.

Partner is not out of business but the Brand Name was rolled into Husqvarna to create brand uniformity.

Partner K1250 is now the Husqvarna K1250 and K1260.

Partner K950 - Husqvarna K960

Please note the Partner K750 is now the Husqvarna K760

 

[Modifiedmark]

Thanks Mark, Troll, and Kevin! I figured there had to be some sort of missing link model that would explain it. And the Partner model came first, huh? Pretty interesting. As I said earlier, there are hardly any Partner's around here, so knowledge like that certainly isn't going to be picked up by experience in the shop.

Seems like Partner contributed way more to the ELUX group technology wise than did Jonsered. In the US at least, Jonsered held a much stronger market position, but after the pure Jonnys, like the 49's and 70's, Jonsered was borrowing rather than contributing as far as the tech stuff goes.

Yes I knew the Partner 500 came before the Husky 50 and Acres list it about 5 years sooner. I knew that Partner was aquired before as well.

Partner seemed to be spotty in the US at best as far as dealers went and they seemed to be popular in only certain areas so they were never well known all over.

They were probably one of the better companies that Elux grabbed up, and like you said they used a bunch of it.

In the time frame (mid 70's-mid 80's?) that Elux was doing all the buying, I would think that Partner was leading the pack as far as europe's saws went.

Its a shame they got turned into europes consumer saw distributor as well as it happeing to Poulan in the US.

Very smart business for Elux though.

"Seems like Partner contributed way more to the ELUX group technology wise than did Jonsered"

That seems to be a fact, several Partner saws ended up wearing Jonsered labels.

 

[spike60]

Had an interesting discussion with Taplinhill at the Upstate NY GTG last Sunday about this. Not just Partner, but other brands that would be strong in some areas, yet unknown in others. We figured that back then there were just so many brands out there that they simply couldn't all be in any given market. You might have 2 or 3 shops in a given area, and each shop could have 1 or 2 brands; maybe 3. But that left plenty of other brands with no representation at all in that market. There were way more brands than there were dealers to carry them.

 

[Modifiedmark]

I don't really think it was so much as too many brands as it was the American made saws having a foothold on the market with distribution and dealer networks already in place here.

Back in those days when the foreign made saws were trying to enter the market here there was still American pride and most folks would not buy things that were foreign made as long as they had American made options.

Even then though the brands were still somewhat regional set up by support of local dealers. There wasn't any internet for folks to see info on other products from other areas.

I am basing my opinions on the timeframe of the mid 70's on though as I am not old enough to remember much about that stuff before that.

I firmly belive that the reason Poulan was attractive to Elux to buy out was because of the dealer network thay had in place along with there modern factories and R&D departments they possessed and those things gave Elux some of the things it needed to gain a oppertunity to the US market.

We can now see it was a very short time till Elux started intergrating the foreign made Partner based saws into the new Poulan Pro lineup.

Presto, Elux now had a place in the American market for there foreign made products.

I also see it noteworthy too see the Partner saws used in the Populan Pro lineup instead of any Husqvarna saws as I believe even Elux knew the Partner saws were better then what Husqvarna had to offer to that lineup.

These are only my views as I have found very little out there on the subject and I wish I knew more about the things that went on with Partner in Sweden and the rest of Europe.

 

[wyk]

Partner 20X POWER - Chainsaws

20X power! That must be how much beaver felt it has in it...

 

[Chris-PA]

Partner 20X POWER - Chainsaws

20X power! That must be how much beaver felt it has in it...

OK, that's really strange. Some of those are Poulan Pros, some of them are old Jenn Feng McCulloch designs based on the small RedMax chassis (like the P360S), and some I don't recognize at all.

EDIT: Also interesting that they sell a 46cc version of the old PP260. P/N 545122101 is the cylinder and 545081872 is the piston kit. And they appear to be available.

 

[snowshoveler]

My expeirence with partner here in Nova Scotia is as follows.
They were really in the top of there game by the early 80s, I think they had some of the best engineers at that time.
My info might not be as accurate or even correct but I will relay what I have been told in the biz (20 years in small engine repair)
They were the first to come out with a decent anti vibe,
first with a reliable electronic ignition
first with a safe chain brake
first with a functioning air injection.
They might ot have been the first to develop something but they made it work and work well.
This of course got elux attention and they were absorbed.
Partner in my area was well respected and still is, they sold a lot of them and I still service quite a few.
It seems that elux/husky can't do anything themselves except buy the ideas and this they do very well.
The cut off saws are a good example of this as well.
There was some discussion at one time about 3120 chainsaws and 3120 cutoff saws, the porting was beleived to be different...sorry they have the same part number now for the piston and cylinder. I checked this evening on weborder. I also checked the cylinder for the 375k but could not find the part number for the 375 chainsaw.
regards Chris

 

[Modifiedmark]

Partner 20X POWER - Chainsaws

20X power! That must be how much beaver felt it has in it...

Interesting to see that link and if you noticed under the link retailers, there are none in North America. There seems to be no need either as its plain to see that a lot of them are rebadged Poulan Models.

Partner has been reduced to the Poulan of Europe for sometime and to be honest, I thought I had heard the Partner brand was being eliminated completely.

Like I explained earlier about Poulan being absorbed partially because of there dealer network, I wonder if Partner was attractive for that as well?

My expeirence with partner here in Nova Scotia is as follows.
They were really in the top of there game by the early 80s, I think they had some of the best engineers at that time.
My info might not be as accurate or even correct but I will relay what I have been told in the biz (20 years in small engine repair)
They were the first to come out with a decent anti vibe,
first with a reliable electronic ignition
first with a safe chain brake
first with a functioning air injection.
They might ot have been the first to develop something but they made it work and work well.
This of course got elux attention and they were absorbed.
Partner in my area was well respected and still is, they sold a lot of them and I still service quite a few.
It seems that elux/husky can't do anything themselves except buy the ideas and this they do very well.
The cut off saws are a good example of this as well.
There was some discussion at one time about 3120 chainsaws and 3120 cutoff saws, the porting was beleived to be different...sorry they have the same part number now for the piston and cylinder. I checked this evening on weborder. I also checked the cylinder for the 375k but could not find the part number for the 375 chainsaw.
regards Chris

That all fits with what I understand but I don't know that much about the cutoff saws.

 

[ktxl]

P70 cylinder & piston

I am looking for a Partner P70 piston & cylinder any ideas ?? is there another model saw that the piston & cylinder could be modified to work on the P70 ?? Is there another model saw Husky or Johnsred or any others out there that have the same bore stroke & wrist pin size ?? Thanks guys ,any info would be appreciated. Just looking for some input.I like my saw and i know it`s not worth much and most of you guys are saying why don`t you upgrade ? This is more of a project/hobby and just playing around with some old iron.I work on atv`s & sled`s so tearing into this is kind of just a fun and different side job for me,kind of a challenge to see if i can get the old girl up & running again,maybe better than it was new :msp_thumbsup:

 

[SawTroll]

Interesting to see that link and if you noticed under the link retailers, there are none in North America. There seems to be no need either as its plain to see that a lot of them are rebadged Poulan Models.

Partner has been reduced to the Poulan of Europe for sometime and to be honest, I thought I had heard the Partner brand was being eliminated completely.
Like I explained earlier about Poulan being absorbed partially because of there dealer network, I wonder if Partner was attractive for that as well?




That all fits with what I understand but I don't know that much about the cutoff saws.

You thought right - it happened recently, and the replacement brand is McC.....:msp_sad:

 

[SawTroll]

..... I also checked the cylinder for the 375k but could not find the part number for the 375 chainsaw.
regards Chris

That may be because there isn't a 375 chainsaw? The 75cc ones are still named 372, the 75cc top end was just used on the xpw for a few years, around 2007-2009.
Part number for the complete top end is 544 25 43-02.

 

[Modifiedmark]

You thought right - it happened recently, and the replacement brand is McC.....:msp_sad:

Well that is one that I will never understand the reason for. Maybe things are different in Europe but here in the states McC was losing it before they went broke. After the name was sold to Jenn Feng the name was sent straight down the crapper here in North America far as I'm concerned. Not just saws either, anything with the McCulloch name was associated with junk.

They think they can sell more relabled Poulans in Europe badged as McCullochs then they they could sell Poulans badged as Partners?

Like I said, there must be something to it that I don't know.

I don't understand the relabled Poulans being sold as McCullochs here in the states now either, but then I never understood a Chevy Nova being sold by Pontiac under a different name as well.

 

[SawTroll]

Well that is one that I will never understand the reason for. Maybe things are different in Europe but here in the states McC was losing it before they went broke. After the name was sold to Jenn Feng the name was sent straight down the crapper here in North America far as I'm concerned. Not just saws either, anything with the McCulloch name was associated with junk.

They think they can sell more relabled Poulans in Europe badged as McCullochs then they they could sell Poulans badged as Partners?

Like I said, there must be something to it that I don't know.

I don't understand the relabled Poulans being sold as McCullochs here in the states now either, but then I never understood a Chevy Nova being sold by Pontiac under a different name as well.

It doesn't make sense to me either - feels like a silly move!

 

[Dennbb]

They became part of the Husqvarna group back in the 80's. You can still buy a new Partner in Europe but they are basically rebadged Poulans from what I gather.


SawTroll will be along soon to set it straight and correct me that it was Electrolux in the 80's that bought Partner.

 

[Dennbb]

They became part of the Husqvarna group back in the 80's. You can still buy a new Partner in Europe but they are basically rebadged Poulans from what I gather.


SawTroll will be along soon to set it straight and correct me that it was Electrolux in the 80's that bought Partner.

Partner and Pioneer merged in the 80's. Electrolux bought Poulan in the 90's. I never knew electrolux took over partner. I just knew i'd never use one after the pioneer merger. It was 1980 when electrolux took over Jonsered and Husqvarna the same Year Partner/Pioneers started showing up in saw shops.

 

[Modifiedmark]

Partner and Pioneer merged in the 80's. Electrolux bought Poulan in the 90's. I never knew electrolux took over partner. I just knew i'd never use one after the pioneer merger. It was 1980 when electrolux took over Jonsered and Husqvarna the same Year Partner/Pioneers started showing up in saw shops.

You got your dates out of line here.

 

[Dennbb]

You got your dates out of line here.

definitely do not have my dates out of line

 

[nmurph]

definitely do not have my dates out of line

Errr, wanna bet?

 

[Dennbb]

Errr, wanna bet?[/QUO


Bet? Not if Winekpedia is the deciding factor.

 

[SawTroll]

definitely do not have my dates out of line

Oh yes, you do!