Hey guys! Thanks for letting me join.
I own 20 densely forested acres and have cleared over 100 trees on it so far in the 5 acres I've worked on, over grown is an understatement. Cedar, Douglas Fur, Oak, and ponderosa pine. I run a 16" 346xpg and 24" 372XP. Most trees are 24" or under but I've gotten up into 26 - 36" oak and when I have to take them down 30" pines or furs. The oaks mainly go down due to elevation I'm at and danger they pose after certain size. I run the 346xpg mostly as I love that saw, fast, light and gets the job done but the 372xp for all my oak work. I cut to clear my land, and for heat\firewood and prefer to own something that'll last me a lifetime.
I had a tragic accident yesterday and my beloved and often cursed (for starting) 372xp is in bad shape.
I was working on a nasty forward leaning oak with a bore cut and had what I thought was enough strap (4"+) left to hold it but once I hit center water came out and, I knew I was done and she shifted pinching my 372xp. Not really an issue, grabbed my trusty 346xpg and finished the job. The problem here was this was a cluster of trees and had a pallet wedged between them all, when the 372xp broke lose it hit the pallet which was / and went directly under the falling oak... even with soft earth and a 6" indention the crank case, clutch cover, and throttle\gas tank assembly were destroyed. Appears no other damage (as-if that wasn't enough).
Posting here looking for advice and some help...
1- Who is trustworthy builder? If I ship this to someone can someone rebuild this and tune\port it so it starts better and has a bit more grunt? I'm not happy with the low-end torque and random times I get chips stuck between bar\chain when not pulling out at wot.
(I don't want an unsafe exhaust though due to high fire danger where I'm at.)
2- Would anyone suggest replacing these parts with knock-offs or is authenticate the way to go? Again I'm after top quality, but saving $ is important too
I've never dealt with knock saw parts.
3- How does the new 572XP compare? From what I've seen video comparison seems to be more weight for same performance?
4- What are chances another 20% deal? I may jump to a 390xp and sell mine.
I either need parts to replace ASAP or ship this ASAP as my season for cleanup is ending and I have a couple dozen more I need to take down this year.
