Husqvarna 555 vs 560XP

[Bucheron]

Hi Chaps,

 

One of my crop of Husqi 560XP's blew up last week.  The lower end bearing explosion thing....  In about a week I retire!!  (This will be the THIRD time in my career I have said I will have cut my last tree!)  But as I will be cutting firewood for myself in fairly good quantities I might need another saw.  555 vs 5650XP - semi-pro versus pro, right?  The 560xp I have always enjoyed for what I do, professionally.  It converted me quickly away from Stihl.. All a question of performance.  But in all honesty, I have not been that impressed by the longevity for the price.  A number of catastrophic failures have come my way.  I understand that pretty much everything between 555 and 560xp is swapable.  The performance is slightly less for the 555 but my mechanic (whose opinion I have come to respect over the years) says he can't tell the difference.  Also heard that because of plastic shims in 560xp or some such around the bottom end somewhere, there is less room for lubricant to circulate than in the 555.  This might mean less bearing issues...?  Anyone out there care to inform me as to the merits of the two models?  

[Stubby]

3 hours ago, Bucheron said:

Hi Chaps,

 

One of my crop of Husqi 560XP's blew up last week.  The lower end bearing explosion thing....  In about a week I retire!!  (This will be the THIRD time in my career I have said I will have cut my last tree!)  But as I will be cutting firewood for myself in fairly good quantities I might need another saw.  555 vs 5650XP - semi-pro versus pro, right?  The 560xp I have always enjoyed for what I do, professionally.  It converted me quickly away from Stihl.. All a question of performance.  But in all honesty, I have not been that impressed by the longevity for the price.  A number of catastrophic failures have come my way.  I understand that pretty much everything between 555 and 560xp is swapable.  The performance is slightly less for the 555 but my mechanic (whose opinion I have come to respect over the years) says he can't tell the difference.  Also heard that because of plastic shims in 560xp or some such around the bottom end somewhere, there is less room for lubricant to circulate than in the 555.  This might mean less bearing issues...?  Anyone out there care to inform me as to the merits of the two models?  

As I understand it the only difference is the 555 has not got the initial " rev boost " . For fire wood it won't matter a toss .

[Dan Maynard]

Have you tried an MS400, might convert you back? Too early to tell about longevity on my saw but it cuts well.

[adw]

555 is a really nice saw, no crankcase stuffers and different cylinder and software, this makes it less manic than the 560xp, the mark 11 machines have the same air filter as the 550xp mark 11, the main bearings are the same for both models and now you have the same bearing both sides, 

[Peter 1955]

2 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

Have you tried an MS400, might convert you back? Too early to tell about longevity on my saw but it cuts well.

No idea about Huskys, but agreed about the 400, it's magnificent. 261 although smaller is pretty epic too, with a smaller bar.