How about a little controversy....Huztl 372 vs. OEM X-Torq?

[thesawincanada]

It all part of the fun. Fiddle farting with parts. But it irks me I can’t trust the hardware. Come down to nuts and bolts

 

[afleetcommand]

I did a video a while back and has proven to be pretty accurate in terms of what needed to be replaced on the ms660's....and I suspect still is the case with the kits for those 660's. I do know since I did my work on them , Farmertec did a bunch of upgrades on the parts so this may be a little dated BUT here is what I had changed on the kits acquired 2015/16/17 ( I have not acquired one since 2017) , the ones that have survived a couple of years bucking logs on landings for a logger:
1) Bar Studs & Bar nuts! They are soft and will strip
2) Decomp to either a OEM Husqvarna or OEM Stihl
3) Handle Bars are real soft, changed them to Hyway from HLsupply. THOSE handle bars are pretty good.
4) Controls, throttle & choke..all three pieces to OEM.
5) Pull Start cords and those little plastic "dogs" to OEM
6) Spark Plug to NGK
7) Fuel Line to OEM
8) Pulse Line to OEM
9) chain adjuster shimmed
10) "o-rings"/ seals on fuel & bar oil caps.
11) Clutch Springs and/or a HyWay Clutch

I have not seen any issues with things like the case screws, plastic, cases, ignition, etc. I have had to tweak the throttle plates in the carb's, early on I would just swap to a used Walbro from a 066. Plastic.
On one I used a better crank, and a Hyway Popup piston in a Farmertec Cylinder, that saw is the best running one of the lot.

With AM 372's, its been similar. The g372xp&xt I had came with those square tanks. Soft handle bars ( like the 660's) and were tough to tune. They did work better after a few tanks of run time. The rubber parts like fuel lines and intake boots are a little suspect. And I did swap out an ignition on one. Developing a track record but certainly not as much time as I have had on the 660's. Do have a g372xt in a more long term setting. Doing well. Had terrible luck with yet again the supposed higher end AM cylinders but also AM cases for 372 unlike the 660's which have been solid

 

[huskyboy]

I did a video a while back and has proven to be pretty accurate in terms of what needed to be replaced....and I suspect still is the case with the kits. I do know since I did my work on them , farmertec did a bunch of upgrades on the parts so this may be a little dated BUT here is what I had changed on the kits acquired 2015/16/17 ( I have not acquired one since 2017) , the ones that have survived a couple of years bucking logs on landings for a logger:
1) Bar Studs & Bar nuts! They are soft and will strip
2) Decomp to either a OEM Husqvarna or OEM Stihl
3) Handle Bars are real soft, changed them to Hyway from HLsupply. THOSE handle bars are pretty good.
4) Controls, throttle & choke..all three pieces to OEM.
5) Pull Start cords and those little plastic "dogs" to OEM
6) Spark Plug to NGK
7) Fuel Line to OEM
8) Pulse Line to OEM
9) chain adjuster shimmed
10) "o-rings"/ seals on fuel & bar oil caps.

I have not seen any issues with things like the case screws, plastic, cases, ignition, etc. I have had to tweak the throttle plates in the carb's, early on I would just swap to a used Walbro from a 066. Plastic.
On one I used a better crank, and a Hyway Popup piston in a Farmertec Cylinder, that saw is the best running one of the lot.

By the time a guy spends all that money on the AM 372 ya coulda bought a good used 372 or rebuilt a oem used one. Don’t get me wrong. I totally see the reasoning behind AM parts. It’s been hashed out many times on the forums. Plastics, clutch covers and various smashed bits on logging/tree service saws... cheap topends for firewood hacks just trying to cut there firewood for the season.... guys who want to experiment and test porting/modifying but don’t want to eff up a good oem saw. Heck some of the aftermarket pistons are pretty decent pieces if you check them over properly. You can’t guarantee AM parts though. I tried explaining this to a co worker who went and purchased a aftermarket saw. Professional job... professional tools... professional results. Guess what? His saw runs like garbage, even after I went through it. Just as I told him it would. The cylinder porting is just so poor that it won’t run anywhere near a oem piece without extensive changes or a swap to oem parts. A OEM saw will pay for itself in the long run. Even if a guy is too cheap to buy a husqvarna or stihl pro saw... echo and dolmar/makita are way too good at there price point for the professional to ignore and choose them over a aftermarket saw.

 

[afleetcommand]

By the time a guy spends all that money on the AM 372 ya coulda bought a good used 372 or rebuilt a oem used one. Don’t get me wrong. I totally see the reasoning behind AM parts. It’s been hashed out many times on the forums. Plastics, clutch covers and various smashed bits on logging/tree service saws... cheap topends for firewood hacks just trying to cut there firewood for the season.... guys who want to experiment and test porting/modifying but don’t want to eff up a good oem saw. Heck some of the aftermarket pistons are pretty decent pieces if you check them over properly. You can’t guarantee AM parts though. I tried explaining this to a co worker who went and purchased a aftermarket saw. Professional job... professional tools... professional results. Guess what? His saw runs like garbage, even after I went through it. Just as I told him it would. The cylinder porting is just so poor that it won’t run anywhere near a oem piece without extensive changes or a swap to oem parts. A OEM saw will pay for itself in the long run. Even if a guy is too cheap to buy a husqvarna or stihl pro saw... echo and dolmar/makita are way too good at there price point for the professional to ignore and choose them over a aftermarket saw.

The great thing about capitalism, you can buy what you want. Think what I have proved over time is that's not as cut and dry as you make it sound as SO many of the X-Torq's from 2010 until 2015 had the PTO bearing pockets beat out. So now you are into cases.....and as I did in a few video's I've gone both directions, from OEM to blended AM parts to running and from AM to blended OEM parts to running. My favorite build for those X-torqs with the ruined cases is AM cases with an OEM Original edition cylinder/piston and OEM Original edition intake boot cut and rotated to accept the X-torq carb. BUT this last saw starting with a g372xt and swapping in a used OEM tank/handle, ignition, and handle bar has been unexpectedly strong and has lasted as well. SO like all generalizations....not smart. BUT in specific cases is true.