Ryan

Excellent work Difflock. Makes me feel right at home. This is the kind of work in at in spare time. Not just as well kitted out though being without winch or crane. The weather has been great this month greatly increasing the tonnage. Bit of a change forecast from tonight. Im working a gradient currently in Co Antrim which adds to the fun when its wet.

Cheers CJ. I will give the oregon ones a go.

Looking for a couple of new chains for my 350. Its on its original Husqvarna 18" bar which requires .325 pitch with 72 drive links and a .50 or 1.3mm gauge. I have had a look around the usual online places this evening and stihl doesn't appear to supply a loop in this size. I can find husqvarna original and Oregon and then a few of the lesser brands Carlton Sarp archer etc. Is Oregon my best choice? Im felling and bucking mixed hardwoods mainly oak and beech. I dont want full chisel. What would you guys normally use on your 346xps etc.

Buyer beware. Price does not include VAT.

Why is that Chris. I have purchased a few woodlands through gumtree. Looks ok to me

plantation trees for sale (for firewood or logs) | Belfast | Gumtree Here one for someone with a bit of spare time on their hands.

I think McKeevers (Drenagh) are flat out at the minute with their own mill. As far as I know they have only two lorries drawing. I have a wee load on Gumtree this evening myself.

Scottish woodland would be worth a try. Their office is in Cloughmills Co Antrim but they operate all over the north. I also see someone about the greater Belfast area advertising artic loads of softwood on the gumtree site. Shanes castle estate in Antrim may also have some at the minute.

What sort of road speed do you get with the old county. 16mph? I need something thats reall good in the woods but with a bit of road speed too. Im drawing timber about 18 miles with an 885xl and it takes 1 1/2 hours each way.

A neighbour of mine who lived in America for a few years has now returned a few months ago. He brought home with him an almost new Echo cs-440. Unknow to me he ordered a new genuine bar and chain from whoever he bought the saw of in the states. It arrived in the post and he mounted it up and proceeded to cut some timber. Occasionally the chain would get so hot that smoke came from it and it would "seize up" says he. I had a look at and very quickly noticed that the chain was not fitting the sprocket and was very lumpy to turn by hand. Problem .325 sprocket and a 3/8 bar and chain combo. He has all ready spent £50 odd on the bar and chain which is now not in great condition with some wear in the guide rail. I believe it to be an A041 oregon type mount. Could anyone advise where I could get a cheap bar and chain to suit? Cheapest I can find is about £40. Or should I fit a new chain in 3/8 and change the sprocket to suit if I can find one in the UK? He will be cutting about 2 bulk bags of wood a year!

Im in Co Antrim NI.

I wouldnt go as far as 20" it will be 15-18"max.

No I got it out handy enough using the loader. But its a nuisance when it happens regularly. I cant afford to get stuck as its miles from anywhere and thats my transport home!

Ground still a bit wet round here. Hope it dries up soon or Im going to have to invest in something on tracks!

I knew there would be a new 346 somewhere, cheers WYK. Just a point on bar length. does anyone else prefer a long bar for snedding. My 350 has an 18" bar and I seem to think it saves some stooping over. I once felled and snedded 46 smallish spruce in a day with a 15" bar and my back was broke by the end of the day. By the end I would have wished for a 20" bar to save having to bend my back at all, even if the saw had of been heavier.

I work at a bit of forestry in my spare time. I have bigger saw but I like do 90% of my work with mid a mid size 50cc 16" saw. Something as light as possible for hours of hand snedding. I currently work with a husqvarna 350 a Stihl ms240 and have a Husqvarna 137 as a back up. I intend to sell all 3 of them and buy something new or next to new with the money raised. Probably in the region of £500. I hear too many horror stories regarding 550 and 560xp's and to be honest I dont have the dealer back up local to me to be running back and forward. (rural Northern Ireland) I was in a local husky dealer lately and enquired about repairs to auto tune saws and they said they send them back to England. A saw I would really be interested in is a new 346xp if you know anybody with some old stock.

Another one I have seen a couple of times is a crankshaft bearing cage breaking up.

Been running a set of 385/65 16's on my 1987 110 landy. Around 35k miles on them and still about 40% left on them. As has been said they are noisy and as for speed I cant really get over 60 anyway so couldnt tell you. Ive never had a puncture either in the 3 years thay have been on. They were only about £300 for the 4 at that time. When they are done they will be replaced with the same.

Just a bit of an update for anyone interested. I pulled the cylinder head off today to investigate and on inspection of the mating surfaces and gasket there appears to be no problem or sign of compression leakage. There appears to be no cracks in the liners that are visible to the naked eye. I did not remove the injector sleeves as I am going to take the head to a local specialist on Monday for pressure testing. If the problem is with the head they will find it. I do now believe that the injector sleeves certainly could be the problem. A local supplier has them @ £23 each plus vat so shouldn't end up too expensive. That coupled with a new headset hopefully will see me back in the woods next weekend.

That was one of the first things entered my mind hoping for a handy solution but I ruled it out when I saw the bubbles rising out of the top of the radiator as if someone was blowing into a bottom hose. Does anyone know what the max coolant system pressure should be? I think I remember reading somewhere that the cap releases pressure at 7psi. Would that sound right?

I cannot remember Rich but anything that came with the headset was fitted. I must try re torquing the head before I do anything else. W6cloggs,I wonder has my 4 cylinder engine got the injector sleeves you mention. Another thing to investigate. Turning out to be possibly not just as simple as a head gasket.

Brilliant saw, love mine to bits but heavy, hard to get parts for and at £500 you could probably buy a very good condition ms460 which is a more practical saw. My 048 is in excellent condition though isn't new obviously but it was only £200.

Cheers for the input folks. I suppose it will be just a matter of taking it down and investigating. The head was torqued in the correct sequence, torque and final angles but was not re torqued after running a while. Just on the subject of head bolts, the top of the head wad wet yesterday with some water getting blown back from the filler cap and I noticed a few tiny bubbles coming from round one of the head bolts beside no. 3 injector.The only way compression could leak into the bolt hole would be if the head was cracked? I hope not. Ill get her pulled down on Friday evening and investigate.

I know there a few keen tractor owners on here so thought I would post my query here before anywhere else. Last summer the head gasket went on my 1987 885xl. It blew a small piece of the gasket out between the two middle cylinders which resulted in a major loss of compression in those two cylinders and probably close to 50% loss in power too. There were no coolant or oil issues just compression loss. I did however send the head for pressure testing a light surface grind and the valve seats re ground. Built it up again with a new headset and all went well until recently. Only about 100 hours run time since the head was done. I noticed a drip from below the radiator a few weeks ago and assumed it was just a hole in the rad. I am in the middle of a job clearfelling 3 acres of oak, Saturday is the only time I get for logging so it is taking me a while. I persevered with my "leak" topping up the coolant regularly, maybe a litre a day at first. I topped it up before doing 1 1/2 hours on saturday past and after tea I checked the water level as I though she was running a little warmer than normal. It took almost 4 litre to fill again. Anyway to make a increasingly long story short again I took the bonnet off today and got her up to working temp and discovered she was pumping water out the filler cap in the radiator at a great rate. Could it be that my head gasket has gone again or could It be something else like porous liners, liner 'O' rings or something along those lines? Heres what I am up against, she is pumping out some water. Only been running 5-6 mins here and under no load.

International harvester tractors have it too, My 885xl has anyway. you dont need to clutch while changing but you should take the load off by dropping the revs off for a moment. Takes the jump out of the change. I do remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't drive for long periods in the low range of the torque amplifier. Not sure how accurate that is though