I fixed my brother inlaws husqvarna with the same problem. The piston on his was melted worse than that though and needed replacing. I cleaned out the cylinder by making a wood plug out of a 2x4 about 3/16" or so smaller than the cyllinder bore. Then I cut a wedge out of the side of the plug so I could staple on a strip of the brown scotchbrite steel wool. Then I used that to hone the aluminum streaks out of the cylinder. I didn't remove the streaks all the way, just until they were barely visable. I found an aftermarket piston on fleabay for around $20-$30. That was about 3-4 years ago and the saw is still running strong.
Husqvarna 55 Chainsaw Rebuild
I got a FleaBay junker, $80 plus $20 shipping, bought for parts but when it came in it was a 12 year old saw that had seen little use and only one sharp chain -- the original. A chainsaw with a dull chain grinds instead of saws and produces a dust that clogs filters, gunks bearings, blocks cooling fins -- sharp chains are not an expense, they protect the investment.
Pulled the covers off, three screws hold the muffler, the carb is sandwiched between two pieces of plastic then a rubber tube is the intake manifold. Here's a parts diagram:
http://s30387.gridserver.com/partsDiagrams/Husqvarna 55 Rancher.pdf
The cylinder is held by 4 bolts, spin the piston to the bottom and pop the cylinder off. First surprise -- the piston and cylinder are fixable!! The pistons are aluminum so the first bad thing that happens is the piston melts onto the cylinder wall. Things go downhill from there and the cylinder grooves, and not in a 50's good way!!
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But this cylinder had the melted aluminum but not the grooves. The cylinder walls, like most our AK's barrels, are chromed so they're chemically tough. Aluminum is not. So a strong acid or base will get it. Muratic acid(33%), phosphoric acid concrete cleaner, oven cleaner -- wouldn't do it. 100% lye would. Or, because it's soft it can be removed with fine sanding -- I've used cratex wheels in a dremel. There is also a boring tool:
Welcome To EngineHones.com
Fair warning: 2 strokes work on compression at the top of the cylinder and bottom as well.
The piston was fixed with the poor man's shoeshine lathe.
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Then put on a new 46mm ring I had and it wouldn't fit!! It was too big. So went here:
Chainsaw - ArboristSite.com
these guys know saws like you guys know AK's. Turns out the early 55's had a 45mm.
No problem, I've got a new 46mm jug and piston that's a bolt on. Got it to use on this one anyway. Take a look at it and the cylinder has a casting hole in it!! Lucas, eBay Store - Stihl Husqvarna parts: STIHL pistons, Husqvarna pistons, Piston rings, said he'd send a new one and I ordered the 45mm piston ring.
I'm stopped, dead in the water until parts get here.
Pulled the covers off, three screws hold the muffler, the carb is sandwiched between two pieces of plastic then a rubber tube is the intake manifold. Here's a parts diagram:
http://s30387.gridserver.com/partsDiagrams/Husqvarna 55 Rancher.pdf
The cylinder is held by 4 bolts, spin the piston to the bottom and pop the cylinder off. First surprise -- the piston and cylinder are fixable!! The pistons are aluminum so the first bad thing that happens is the piston melts onto the cylinder wall. Things go downhill from there and the cylinder grooves, and not in a 50's good way!!
But this cylinder had the melted aluminum but not the grooves. The cylinder walls, like most our AK's barrels, are chromed so they're chemically tough. Aluminum is not. So a strong acid or base will get it. Muratic acid(33%), phosphoric acid concrete cleaner, oven cleaner -- wouldn't do it. 100% lye would. Or, because it's soft it can be removed with fine sanding -- I've used cratex wheels in a dremel. There is also a boring tool:
Welcome To EngineHones.com
Fair warning: 2 strokes work on compression at the top of the cylinder and bottom as well.
The piston was fixed with the poor man's shoeshine lathe.
Then put on a new 46mm ring I had and it wouldn't fit!! It was too big. So went here:
Chainsaw - ArboristSite.com
these guys know saws like you guys know AK's. Turns out the early 55's had a 45mm.
No problem, I've got a new 46mm jug and piston that's a bolt on. Got it to use on this one anyway. Take a look at it and the cylinder has a casting hole in it!! Lucas, eBay Store - Stihl Husqvarna parts: STIHL pistons, Husqvarna pistons, Piston rings, said he'd send a new one and I ordered the 45mm piston ring.
I'm stopped, dead in the water until parts get here.
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Rebuilt the carb. A quote from an old timer: A rebuild kit for a carb will fix 50% of all chainsaw problems; the rest can be fixed with a sledge hammer.
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Put a new rope on: just wrap it around loose until the last 6" then pull against the spring to get some more slack. Check it by pulling it all out then seeing if there's an additional 1/4 turn still there in the spring.
The starter pawl was broken off. It was retained by a pin through the flywheel only accessible from the rear. Remove the flywheel by loosing the nut then tapping the nut with a hammer while holding the saw by the flywheel edge.
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Put a new rope on: just wrap it around loose until the last 6" then pull against the spring to get some more slack. Check it by pulling it all out then seeing if there's an additional 1/4 turn still there in the spring.
The starter pawl was broken off. It was retained by a pin through the flywheel only accessible from the rear. Remove the flywheel by loosing the nut then tapping the nut with a hammer while holding the saw by the flywheel edge.
I opened up the exhaust port on the sides. Generally squaring up the rounded corners and adding a little size. The muffler was also opened up; rule of thumb is that a stock EPA era can have 80% of the exhaust port added to the muffler. On the Husqvarna this is a milled opening in front, covered by the mounting bracket.
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The handle is connected to the saw with anti vibration rubber mounts. What appeared to happen to this one is the owner got the bar pinched and instead of using wedges he leaned on the handle of the saw. Two of them were bad.
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Got in a new cylinder to replace the one with the casting defect. Also got the 45mm piston ring in so the original piston goes into the original cylinder and we'll see what happens.
Got in a new cylinder to replace the one with the casting defect. Also got the 45mm piston ring in so the original piston goes into the original cylinder and we'll see what happens.
The bearing on the clutch seemed to be shot so the clutch was pulled. Left hand threads. Screw or wedge a piece through the spark pug hole to stop the piston. It turned out to just be gunked up -- cleaned it and reinstalled.
Got the 45mm piston ring and put it on the original piston. Cleaned up and opened the exhaust port of the original cylinder and reinstalled, because the metal to metal fit was very good, without the gasket. This has the effect of shaving the heads about 15- 20 thousands.
Cranked it, it runs great. Let it warm up then set the carb. Idle speed to where the chain just moves then low speed mix half between max speed lean and missing from rich.
Then idle speed to where the chain doesn't move.
High speed mix would not go rich enough. had to cut the limiting tabs off.
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Wow -- this is a great saw now. And Ak's are not my only problem.
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Got the 45mm piston ring and put it on the original piston. Cleaned up and opened the exhaust port of the original cylinder and reinstalled, because the metal to metal fit was very good, without the gasket. This has the effect of shaving the heads about 15- 20 thousands.
Cranked it, it runs great. Let it warm up then set the carb. Idle speed to where the chain just moves then low speed mix half between max speed lean and missing from rich.
Then idle speed to where the chain doesn't move.
High speed mix would not go rich enough. had to cut the limiting tabs off.
Wow -- this is a great saw now. And Ak's are not my only problem.
The bearing on the clutch seemed to be shot so the clutch was pulled. Left hand threads. Screw or wedge a piece through the spark pug hole to stop the piston. It turned out to just be gunked up -- cleaned it and reinstalled.
Got the 45mm piston ring and put it on the original piston. Cleaned up and opened the exhaust port of the original cylinder and reinstalled, because the metal to metal fit was very good, without the gasket. This has the effect of saving the heads about 15- 20 thousands.
Cranked it, it runs great. Let it warm up then set the carb. Idle speed to where the chain just moves then low speed mix half between max speed lean and missing from rich.
Then idle speed to where the chain doesn't move.
High speed mix would not go rich enough. had to cut the limiting tabs off.
![]()
Wow -- this is a great saw now. And Ak's are not my only problem.
![]()
i hear ya. i did the 460 jug conversion to my old 044 sthil. this required a little machine work to the jug. otherwise it was nearly a bolt on conversion.
man do this thing run now!
now i am itching to do an 83cc conversion to my newer ms440!!
my wife had to hide the dremmels!!--LOL!
Are those Husqy's 922r compliant? 
Great job, and yes, a man can't have too many chainsaws or firearms!
Great job, and yes, a man can't have too many chainsaws or firearms!
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