Holzfforma g288

[afleetcommand]

Really like this saw, maybe not the best for hot rodding, but as it came out of the box plus a oil pump...its work ready

 

[67L36Driver]

Norfolk Southern ?

 

[Wolverine]

Eff china.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Thanks Walt, great video.
A very comprehensive overview of the saw.
I imagine that alot of 181, 281, and, 288 owners will be excited about being able to get parts that are unobtainable for their saws . Ive looked a some parts saws to rebuild with Aftermarket parts but the price is just to restrictive to make it feasible.

 

[afleetcommand]

Norfolk Southern ?

Nope, New York Susquehanna & Western. NYS&W has a few "ex" NS EMD's, Four EMD SD70M-2's and a passel of SD40-2's & SD33eco's. Not a big surprise as NS owns a big portion of NYS&W

 

[afleetcommand]

Thanks Walt, great video.
A very comprehensive overview of the saw.
I imagine that alot of 181, 281, and, 288 owners will be excited about being able to get parts that are unobtainable for their saws . Ive looked a some parts saws to rebuild with Aftermarket parts but the price is just to restrictive to make it feasible.

I certainly am, my 281's ignition crapped so will be getting one from the FT folks to try. Be cool to get a source of parts for the L77's and predecessor

 

[farminkarman]

FWIW, the 288 kit I put together for a friend of mine from work has been working out good so far. I had procured a used OEM cylinder to build the saw with, but didn't end up using it because the FT jug looked pretty good.

 

[Stump Shot]

Thanks Walt, great video.
A very comprehensive overview of the saw.
I imagine that alot of 181, 281, and, 288 owners will be excited about being able to get parts that are unobtainable for their saws . Ive looked a some parts saws to rebuild with Aftermarket parts but the price is just to restrictive to make it feasible.

Parts are no problem for the 288 from Husqvarna.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Parts are no problem for the 288 from Husqvarna.

I was referring to the cost prohibiting side of parts like the crankshaft, but a 200.00 oem piston and cylinder are pretty reasonable, which is nice.

 

[Stump Shot]

I was referring to the cost prohibiting side of parts like the crankshaft, but a 200.00 oem piston and cylinder are pretty reasonable, which is nice.

Not to be a jerk, but, it's mote expensive to buy a cheap crank first then have to replace it later with a real one. I wouldn't say if it hadn't have happened over and over and....
I know several will come by and comment on the millions of hours they got with theirs, I'm just not that guy I guess.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Not to be a jerk, but, it's mote expensive to buy a cheap crank first then have to replace it later with a real one. I wouldn't say if it hadn't have happened over and over and....
I know several will come by and comment on the millions of hours they got with theirs, I'm just not that guy I guess.

Nope thats certainly true with some parts . I bought a 5 pack of 028 stihl fuel lines as just part of the things I replace on an old saw, every single one leaked ! The original one that was probably 20 years old didn't, I cleaned it up and put it back in.
But determining whats works and what may change is part of the process as parts supply become more precious or limited. The prebuilt saw quality has gone up with some of the different saws , could be all those cranks are bad but even Husqvarna changed case design and other things along certain lines.
Being honest is the best policy with your experience, that is more of a desirable attribute than the alternative ,so I think your experience is valid.

 

[Stump Shot]

Nope thats certainly true with some parts . I bought a 5 pack of 028 stihl fuel lines as just part of the things I replace on an old saw, every single one leaked ! The original one that was probably 20 years old didn't, I cleaned it up and put it back in.
But determining whats works and what may change is part of the process as parts supply become more precious or limited. The prebuilt saw quality has gone up with some of the different saws , could be all those cranks are bad but even Husqvarna changed case design and other things along certain lines.
Being honest is the best policy with your experience, that is more of a desirable attribute than the alternative ,so I think your experience is valid.

Sadly I'm at the point where I can't take the chance any longer. I understand things change with the times and I hope FT does better in the future. But(there always is one) a crank(s) lasting 30 days isn't acceptable and surely not like replacing a fuel line. A lot of frustration can be had when this happens even if the guy specifically asked for it. So I revert back to what my Father told me many years ago, "Never throw good money after bad". And not every saw is going to be rebuildable, this is only going to get worse now with the "new" normal and prices skyrocketing. Good news is, there will be more parts saws available to work with.

As for my opinion, I do believe that the whole saw market will drive up the quality of the parts eventually. Evidence of this is in the Walbro carbs and coils being installed on some of these blue saws, that should tell ya something.

 

[slackinoff]

@afleetcommand - I watched the video, nice work. That new oil pump is really pushing the oil out! Question - Why would this one not be the best for hot rodding?

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Gonna give this G288 a go. I had an OEM full wrap already and a decomp button.
I filled it with mix and oil and it started , idled, and oiled on the 4th pull. Rope seems a little short though?

 

[Maintenance Chief]

First tank of mix, I haven't put a screwdriver to it yet.
Seems like it could use a little bit more compression and some better breathing but overall it does very well straight out of the box.

 

[JT78]

I recently bought one of these on eBay as I have always wanted a 288 but have never had the funds when the nice ones come up for sale. I have to say the saw itself is fairly well put together this is my 3rd one I have the 372 and the 660 version as well. The cylinder ports look awful on every one of these saws I have purchased. So I decided with the first one the 660 to go with the MMWS Cross kit and then I did a little more porting on the cylinder and cleaned the piston windows up on it. Did basically the same with the 372 with a hyway kit on it. The hyway cylinder was a little bit better but not great I had to do some extra grinding on it as well. So with the 288 I bought a meteor kit as I was going to buy oem but got the meteor for 1/2 the price and had heard good things. So the meteor cylinder ports looked really wonderful very clean but the plating flaked off a bit as I was working the ports on it so a little disappointed in that but the saw seems to run pretty good so far. I've got some big trees coming up in the next week or so to cut so I will get some video and report back. I will be running a 32 on the 660, my ported hacksaws 390, and the 288 I just finished gonna be cutting some big maple.

 

[smokey7]

Did husky raise the price on cylinder kits back up again?

 

[JT78]

Did husky raise the price on cylinder kits back up again?

Cheapest I found was on eBay for 199 the other sites were 229 and up.

 

[JT78]

 

[JT78]

Got a decent sized black gum to drop will get some more video then probably next month.