I could be a convert ..

[Mik the Miller]

A friend bought over an old Husqvarna 61 the other day, sad it looked. First couple of pulls were more fluttery than buttery ... She started but raced.

 

My first Husky.

 

Fully stripped down she was gunge'd up to the nines, full of old oil and sawdust, black and congealed. The clutch is on upside down too (see i'm a Stihl man at heart). Stripped her down and I have to say the layout is pretty easy to work on. With the pot off I could see that the piston ring was oval (accounting for the low compression) and with the clutch off I could see the worm gear had seen better days.

 

Soaked in oil and a bit of petrol she's a lot cleaner now and the oil pump turns. New sprocket and worm gear, new piston ring, a shed full of elbow grease and she's heading in the right direction.

 

The exhaust was a wee bit clogged with over half of the baffleplate holes clogged with sticky soot. I presume the mesh is a spark arrestor ?? Is there any mileage in opening some of the holes out ?

 

I've span the clutch drum but can't see oil appearing on the bar plate ??

I checked that the passage down to the hollow pin and it's clear and if I squib oil into the pump and spin, by hand, it it pushes it back out - any tips gratefully received.

 

Also does anyone know the initial setting for the LA and HA carb screws ??

[Stubby]

Spud is your man for the technical stuff but yes , bin the spark arrest screen and open the exhaust up a bit . Will run cooler . You then need to tune the saw to suit . Spud or adw will advise you on that .

[Richard Thompson]

I've got a donated 61 sitting in the back of the shed, it's very tired and needs a lot of parts, I slip one part in every once in a while on my parts orders so it should get up and running at some stage but I keep thinking is it worth it for an old saw

[BrendanTreeFeller]

Got a donated 61 runs great use it every once in a while heavy vibes compared to modern huskies tho

[adw]

Husqvarna 61 was a great saw, it was around for a good few years, starting with the white top cover machine the Practica, it went on with many mods and gained a grey top cover, later examples had the 268 crankcase and gained an orange top cover, it was always classed as a semi pro saw, its nearest pro brother was the 162, max rpm was 12500 with carb settings around 3/4 on the H and 1 ish on the L, many of the early 61 parts are no longer available, the oil pump is fairly simple and also houses the drive side crank seal, the pump has 4 flow settings, you can remove the e clip, pull out the adjuster and the pump shaft will come out, this will allow you to clean the pick up and delivery ports, make sure the small black rubber seal on the delivery and pick up pipes is there and in good condition, the pick up pipe is just behind the pump and is easily removed and the filter cleaned, be very carfull refitting the pump as the crank seal can be damaged on the crankshaft step.

[SawTroll]

Spud is your man for the technical stuff but yes , bin the spark arrest screen and open the exhaust up a bit . Will run cooler . You then need to tune the saw to suit . Spud or adw will advise you on that .

 

 

I agree on scrapping the spark arrest screen, unless it is mandatory where you cut.

 

According to Husky documents max rpm is 12000 (not 12500) and initial carb settings H=1 L=1. This is for the late production orange top saws with the HS-254 carb.

[huskykev]

Great saw. Picked one up as payment for a job last year, hadn't been run in 5years. Fresh juice and a new plug and fired up after 30 seconds. Is there any way of mounting a bubble to fill the carb?

[Mik the Miller]

Husqvarna 61 was a great saw, it was around for a good few years, starting with the white top cover machine the Practica.

 

Yeah, that's the one

 

Thanks for the info, i'll have a go removing the oil pump as I think the tubes are still blocked.