Makita Plunder & How to Price a Trade In Husky 365

[bigv]

The blue saw is the Makita I gave $100 for.

The other saw is a Husqvarna 365. I need to know if it is a 365 XP or just a plain vanilla homeowner 365 ?

A local guy with a bucket truck needs a bracket fabricated where a hydraulic cylinder mounts, it needs the cylinder repacked, and then I will have to thread a part for the lower "arm" on his bucket, and finally there is a round shaft that is essentially bar stock and is about 4.445" OD, and it is snapped in two. I need to surface the place where it snapped, bore each side for a dowel pin, press in said dowel pin to one side, press other side onto dowel pin, tack weld together, and then weld it all the way around. Check run out, if it is ok- I'll let him have the shaft back.

All told, if I am in a good mood and the customer is on good terms with me- it would run maybe $400-$500.

This guy has been a real jerk to me in the past, a couple months ago I needed someone with a bucket truck to let me get up to a 44' oak tree that was dying. He had promised to make sure anything he cut would not hit the fence below, and instead he assed around tore hell out of the barb wire fence my terrible neighbors own. I had to spend a goodly sum fixing the fence myself. He also charged me $150 more than we agreed because, and I quote "Well, you had said it would be a bigger job and with it not lasting as long as you said, we upped the hourly rate to compensate".

I know with the bucket truck out of service he can't feed his family, and he is pretty well broke.

He wants to trade me that saw and some money to fix his truck. If he wasn't about to starve, I'd tell him to stick it because of the way he acts, but his kids and his ol lady never did anything to me. I know he is desperate because he pawned the saw for $90 in November 2013, and got it back with vig at like $120

The guy with the truck who is trying to trade it says it is 365XP. A friend of mine says it is a 365XP, and the dealer where I got the Makita says he thinks the saw is an XP.

I can't find an "XP" anywhere on it, nor Special, no anything else. I figure it must be a garden variety homeowner grade 365.

I have verified from an independent source that the saw was dropped from around 6 feet off the ground off the rough of a F-600. That is why the interlock on the throttle is gone, that is why the bar brake is missing the plastic brake, and I figure it is also why the kill switch doesn't work.

The saw has excellent compression and it starts very easily and it cuts like a monster. My only concern is that I think this thing has "Auto Tune" and the idle seems too high.

How should I value the 365 on trade ? What is it worth if I fix the problems ?

Is there anyway to make this saw "hotter" without going through a woods port ? Any chance of a big bore kit ?

Is it an XP ?

 

[KenJax Tree]

A 365 is just a 365 but its FAR from a homeowner saw its just a detuned 372xp and can be made into a 372xp real easy.


Sent from my AutoTune carb

 

[mesupra]

I would say the 365 in that condition is worth $100-150 trade value, if it runs excellent. Not really sure on the Makita value.

 

[buzz sawyer]

If the Makita is in good shape it's worth probably around $300 - $350. Also easy to take it up to 79cc or 85cc with a P&C kit.

 

[zogger]

There is no xp 365, just a regular or sp, but they are pro saws anyway. Slightly detuned 372XPs.

Mine was stolen but while I had it I got to like it a lot, very nice saw.

 

[nmurph]

That 365 doesn't have Autotune; it has an air leak and it may well already have piston/cylinder damage to go along with it. I will give you $125 right now for it.

The Makita's value is more like $275-300 (I've sold quite a few of these).

 

[shootingarts]

bigv,
You are a good man! I have been embarrassed at myself a few times in the past when I realized that jerks have wives and children too. What is more, their wives are almost always wonderful people, nobody else would put up with the jerk!

Sounds like getting any cash from the guy is going to be an issue so I would cover the price of the work you do with trade goods and whatever cash up front, at the very least hold something of his if he wants credit. I suspect if you let him owe you money it will be very hard to collect. On the other hand, if he is really a major PITA, owing you just a few dollars can be a good way to get rid of such customers without harming your rep as a nice guy.

Hu

 

[fastLeo151]

That 365 doesn't have Autotune; it has an air leak and it may well already have piston/cylinder damage to go along with it. I will give you $125 right now for it.

The Makita's value is more like $275-300 (I've sold quite a few of these).

You don't know if it has an air leak or not.lol if its got healthy compression its worth 250.00 at least probably more....

 

[half_full]

being dropped and damaged and having a higher than normal idle, I'd assume the worst too. The high idle alone could be due to an air leak. And, as Neil said, if run for a period of time like that it could have piston and cylinder damage already. Best to get an accurate compression gauge on it as it's nearly impossible to feel accurate compression by pulling the cord or the old but never heard of anymore pull cord drop test.

Plus, if the guy is a dink, don't cut yourself short and regret it later. Help him and maybe relax your rates, but don't do what you will regret later.

 

[bigv]

It doesn't have an air leak. In between welding the bracket on his truck this morning, I checked. I ran it when it was warmer this morning closer to 40 degrees. It needs a re-tune. I wanted to make sure, so I have chainsaw leakdown kit I made with a pressure gauge. I did a leak down on it, and the pressure stayed up. I was happy.

The Makita isn't worth $300 right now. It is the one I gave $100 and a cylinder cleanup job for. It has the 7900 big bore kit and it needs a piston. Everything else is good. It does run right now, but not well. I've seen plenty of guys run a saw like this for a while, but not me.

I saw where he keeps his saws bungee corded on and I remember the guy telling me that is where it was dropped from. That's about 3 or so feet. You can see where everything inside is still there for the interlock and the only thing wrong with the chainbrake is the plastic

His wife is a nice lady, and his kids aren't like him. I told him I'd give him $200 on the saw, and he owes me $200. It snowed last night so the next couple days he'll spend geting paid subcontracting for the power company.

EDIT: In case anyone was wondering what I was doing up at 3:00am: waiting for the auto feed on the lathe to finish threading, and then facing and boring the two pieces of shafting.

I will probably die broke, but maybe I won't burn in hell.

 

[fastLeo151]

Good man

 

[bigv]

The only reason I had said I thought it had autotune is that is appears to only have one screw hole through which to do any carb adjustments. Before I got my 575, the only Husqvarna that I ever owned is 65. So I am trying to educate myself on this shtuff.

 

[F.W.P.T]

It doesn't have an air leak. In between welding the bracket on his truck this morning, I checked. I ran it when it was warmer this morning closer to 40 degrees. It needs a re-tune. I wanted to make sure, so I have chainsaw leakdown kit I made with a pressure gauge. I did a leak down on it, and the pressure stayed up. I was happy.

As far as I know a leak-down test gauges how well rings and valves seal. A vac test is when you seal up carb and exhaust and apply vacuum to check for air leaks. An air leak leads to a high idle and scoring of piston due to lean condition. Could be caused by a torn carb boot, loose boot, bad seals, bad base gasket, or loose muffler. A muff mod can really add some extra power as well as deleting the base gasket if you have enough squish clearance.

 

[bigv]

As far as I know a leak-down test gauges how well rings and valves seal. A vac test is when you seal up carb and exhaust and apply vacuum to check for air leaks. An air leak leads to a high idle and scoring of piston due to lean condition. Could be caused by a torn carb boot, loose boot, bad seals, bad base gasket, or loose muffler. A muff mod can really add some extra power as well as deleting the base gasket if you have enough squish clearance.

I have a Stihl vac tester and a homemade vac tester and a homemade leak down gauge- I did a vac test(I always heard it called pressure testing) on the carb and I checked the fuel tank vent too(and no, I didn't check the vent because of the high idle- I check this **** because I'm thorough). I pressure tested the carb off a while ago and one of the first things I did last night was pressure test for air leaks last night while it was together. No leaks and 175-177lbs on the compression test. That's why I could be fairly confident to say "It doesn't have an air leak" without talking out of my ass. I also did a leak down to make sure the case seals weren't going and nothing else suggested(scored piston and rings).

I dialed down the idle while I had the carb off, after putting a kit in it. It idles fine now.

Thank you all for the help.

 

[SilverKing]

I recently sold a 365 Special on the bay for $295.Saw ran great,but looked a bit rough.As a wild stab,I would say your saw would bring $225 because of the broken chain brake lever,and being a plain 365.Not burning in hell sounds like a good reason to do anything.God sees it all

 

[bigv]

Still needs work. Ran out of daylight, had a couple other jobs to do in my machine shop.

 

[pro94lt]

The work your doing around here would bring thousands of dollars... lots of liability for a 365

 

[naturelover]

A little confused...

Did you vac test the saw itself or just the carb?

 

[fastLeo151]

Sounds like both were properly pressure tested. Great job

 

[bigv]

The work your doing around here would bring thousands of dollars... lots of liability for a 365

In the mountains, people don't sue. We kill each other with alarming frequency and occasionally commit felonious assault leading to serious bodily harm, but lawsuits are rarely an issue. I think a lot people are afraid if they sue they might get shot or get the boot. With good reason...

The other trick is to know what you're doing and not f**k up. And don't ever let something leave that isn't right. EVER. And don't take a job if you can't be 110% sure you're doing it right.

If I'm not 100% sure I can make it as good if not better than when it left the factory, I don't touch the job. That's my rule.

Most people here are barely getting by, what I do is as much a public service as anything, and I know it, but I never let them know it. If I didn't do a lot of the jobs I do, a good deal of the people would starve, go broke, or be even more heavily in debt and no better off.