288 XP...... let the adventures begin.

[stilh036prohog]

I feel your pain. My has been one for sure.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

I feel your pain. My has been one for sure.

Not real pain- just not a quick easy fix.
At the end of the day the saw cost me roughly $50 of your dollars- if I spend another $150-200 on it (again your dollars) I will have a pretty capable near 90cc saw.
Now the on the shelf price for a brand new 390 XP- I get a dollar change out of $2,400:00 of our dollars, so the old technology 288 XP is looking pretty attractive to me.

So no real pain, just a waiting game for parts to arrive.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

So for those familiar with the 288 and the crankcase/oil tank- is this usual?
The recess is for the locator pin on the plastic flywheel surround that carries the wires to kill switch/secondary coil, (circled in black- second photo) but is it usual for there to be a small gallery hole through to the oil tank in this position? (indicated by arrow in first photo).
Is it a breather vent for the tank?

 

[stilh036prohog]

Wrong screw.??? My 281

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Wrong screw.??? My 281View attachment 782933

Yep- no not that one, but the hole adjacent to the one you show your driver blade in- is that grime in there- or some kind of breather element?
If you look at the back of the plastic cover that carries the wires and keeps them out of the flywheel, there should be a small nub/peg like locating pin that goes in to the hole I am talking about.
Mine has a distinct hole that goes into the oil tank and I cannot see a reason for it being there accidentally......... but then I do not know a lot about 288 cases either!

 

[Ronie]

I looked a a 181 case I have and there isn't a hole to the oil tank. The breather is under the muffler on the recoil side. The breather is at the same spot on my 288. It looks like yours has been ground out for some reason.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Ground out? Not sure- but it certainly looks more square than round!
Thanks fr the reference photos, looks like a bit of JBWeld or something might be in order- because they way she is it dribbles oil, oil is picked up by flywheel and everything on the recoil side ends up a sticky oily mess!

 

[stilh036prohog]

It should be plugged.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

It lives!

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Put a tank through the saw yesterday- between showers of rain.
Overall, pretty happy. Still waiting on some minor bits to arrive, like the new user proximity lever- the one in place is cracked and will not last long.
The bar came as a bar + chain combo- Carlton semi chisel chain that I was not that impressed with out of the box- bit of filing cured that.
Does not seem to have the 288 idle "ping ping ping" but idle is perhaps a tad slow and it is a Meteor top end.

Is a typical older heavy powerhead- I like that, heavy in the hand, but feels right in the wood.
Pulls the 24 inch full comp without a problem- but then I only cut some seasoned Fir in the 18-22 inch bracket and noodled up some ugly crotch wood blocks.
For a model I knew nothing about a few weeks ago- I kind of wish I had discovered these back in the 90's- possibly would have saved a lot of lugging around of a 2094!

 

[stilh036prohog]

Nice job Bob

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

Hell from that huge list of "to do's" you got it done real quick. I don't like carlton semi eather it's ok on a 20 but 24 and bigger it's real hard to get it to feed. I had it on my 32 and no matter what I did to the angles and depth gauges it still needed far too much leaning. Oregon semi seems fine stihl semi after a couple strokes off rakers is nice and chisel in all brands seems to feed ok but carlton drops off quickly. Is this a scam put in place by the parent company Blount?

 

[Yotaismygame]

Time for port work?

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Time for port work?

Go on with you- need at least three tanks through it first!

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Hell from that huge list of "to do's" you got it done real quick. I don't like carlton semi eather it's ok on a 20 but 24 and bigger it's real hard to get it to feed. I had it on my 32 and no matter what I did to the angles and depth gauges it still needed far too much leaning. Oregon semi seems fine stihl semi after a couple strokes off rakers is nice and chisel in all brands seems to feed ok but carlton drops off quickly. Is this a scam put in place by the parent company Blount?

First time user to be honest- asked for it to be swapped out for full chisel, but semi chisel arrived. Figured I can wear a chain out fast as the next bloke, so will run it until it is done and replace with something I know is better.
I just didn't think much of the factory grind- filed the cutters to my more usual freehand filing stance and there was a hell of an improvement- could it pull better? Probably, but it cuts wood- early days to form an opinion yet.
The bar is "interesting". Seems well enough made, but the tip to bar fit is not exactly perfect to say the least. I will admit, I was kind of hoping to get the Tsumura roller tip pattern Carlton bar....... but once again, this one will do.
I did make an adaptor block to run Stihl bars on this saw- so all is not lost.

Wasn't a huge list, just the time of the year slowed deliveries down a bit, saw was stripped and ready for the new bits to arrive- so was not a big job to reassemble as the new bits arrived, some landed before Christmas, some between Christmas and New Year....... actual tool time was less than a couple of hours.

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

First time user to be honest- asked for it to be swapped out for full chisel, but semi chisel arrived. Figured I can wear a chain out fast as the next bloke, so will run it until it is done and replace with something I know is better.
I just didn't think much of the factory grind- filed the cutters to my more usual freehand filing stance and there was a hell of an improvement- could it pull better? Probably, but it cuts wood- early days to form an opinion yet.
The bar is "interesting". Seems well enough made, but the tip to bar fit is not exactly perfect to say the least. I will admit, I was kind of hoping to get the Tsumura roller tip pattern Carlton bar....... but once again, this one will do.
I did make an adaptor block to run Stihl bars on this saw- so all is not lost.

Wasn't a huge list, just the time of the year slowed deliveries down a bit, saw was stripped and ready for the new bits to arrive- so was not a big job to reassemble as the new bits arrived, some landed before Christmas, some between Christmas and New Year....... actual tool time was less than a couple of hours.

Fair enough and yeah it is cheaper for a reason I suppose.

So it looks like a power match bar in carlton dress how old is it? Is it from a time when Windsor was still going? Just wondering as the carlton replaceable tip bars I see most are Windsor speed tips.

I'm curious if the carlton speed tips are the same quality as the Windsor bars as I have a couple of those and they seem to be extremely good bars.

What's your favorite chain? I've been splashing out on stihl chain lately seems to hold an edge real nice

What was ya thoughts on the quality of that meteor top end?

Edit sorry for the 20 questions lol trying to learn all I can as will probably be a similar road of travel when a beat old 288 shows up here 1 day

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Fair enough and yeah it is cheaper for a reason I suppose.

So it looks like a power match bar in carlton dress how old is it? Is it from a time when Windsor was still going? Just wondering as the carlton replaceable tip bars I see most are Windsor speed tips.

I'm curious if the carlton speed tips are the same quality as the Windsor bars as I have a couple of those and they seem to be extremely good bars.

What's your favorite chain? I've been splashing out on stihl chain lately seems to hold an edge real nice

What was ya thoughts on the quality of that meteor top end?

Edit sorry for the 20 questions lol trying to learn all I can as will probably be a similar road of travel when a beat old 288 shows up here 1 day

No idea of the age- guessing it was the last of the batch so to speak, after the Windsor tipped and Tsumura tipped models.
Favourite chain? Probably Stihl full chisel in 3/8 0.063 (which incidentally is the gauge I have ordered the new bars for this saw in and went 24 instead of 28 so the chains are multi use/fit with the 25 on the 460).
Meteor top end looked as per- have fitted a few of them to various saws and never noticed a drop in performance or problems with fast wear or anything silly. This was just a straight out of the box swap over after a quick visual and touch inspection- not into possible gains etc, just wanted a saw that runs. I did however check squish of the new cylinder without base gasket and it was just a bit tight, so it is running an OEM base gasket at this stage. Will take a tank or three for the ring to bed in and compression to come up fully- might work on that later in the day...... if it ever stops raining!

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

Wow didn't realize they did a tsumura version.

I'm liking the full chisel stihl too I'm getting quite a few tanks of gas through the 800 before it needs a file thirsty saw and small tank but still 5 or 6 at least yet the carlton chisel on the poulan 4000 goes tits up halfway through 2nd tank. Shorter bar too but still feel it's not the same but cuts ok though.

That's good to hear about the top ends most on here seem to really put down the aftermarket stuff and yeah I bet there is some junk but has got to be some good ones too. Just seems a little stuck up snobby kind of attitude I've never priced a 288 top end from husky but I imagine it ain't going to be cheap especially for us down here. If I roll down to the dealer it appears to me a new saw sale is there only goal and it's the wrong way about it just pisses me off instead. 3 bucks a pop for presets too the wankers.

Do you do any port work yourself?

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Wow didn't realize they did a tsumura version.

I'm liking the full chisel stihl too I'm getting quite a few tanks of gas through the 800 before it needs a file thirsty saw and small tank but still 5 or 6 at least yet the carlton chisel on the poulan 4000 goes tits up halfway through 2nd tank. Shorter bar too but still feel it's not the same but cuts ok though.

That's good to hear about the top ends most on here seem to really put down the aftermarket stuff and yeah I bet there is some junk but has got to be some good ones too. Just seems a little stuck up snobby kind of attitude I've never priced a 288 top end from husky but I imagine it ain't going to be cheap especially for us down here. If I roll down to the dealer it appears to me a new saw sale is there only goal and it's the wrong way about it just pisses me off instead. 3 bucks a pop for presets too the wankers.

Do you do any port work yourself?

There are AM top ends and there are AM top ends- generally accepted (yes on here as well) Meteor are the pick of the bunch- the stuff out of the red flagged mega country........ maybe not so good and usually the stuff most people are dishing. Cheap is cheap for a reason. Nothing wrong with the Meteor top ends for any saw model they make them for.
I didn't even bother asking the local Suzuki bike shop that tries to be the local Husqvarna agent about an OEM top end, cost to us as you say- versus spending an hour explaining to them exactly what it was I was wanting to enquire about!

Nope, don't bother with porting- I just buy the saws I need in the size I need- personally I do not have the need to make a 50cc saw do what a 70cc saw can, or a 70 to do what a 90 can....... or however you want to do the math.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

trying to learn all I can as will probably be a similar road of travel when a beat old 288 shows up here 1 day

There was a pretty good looking 288XP high top sold a week ago on that famous NZ auction site for $330 and it had a 22"Power Match bar and chain. If I did not have the one I have now, I would have bought that one at the drop of a hat.
Keep your eyes peeled.