Need Help - What's Wrong with 550XP MII

[barbender]

Yep, you might as well buy your saw online at the cheapest price at that point. 

If I had a Spike saw shop staffed with professionals locally, I'd certainly pay more to buy my saws and have great service. As it is, the largest local dealer's a crapshoot whether the saw will end up in competent hands, and there saws are priced about as expensive as I've seen. 

I've bought my last 3 Husqvarnas from a shop in Wisconsin that comes to our annual logging show in the fall. They are usually priced at 20% off list, and they move a lot of saws. They still sell a lot to hardwood hand cutters over there, and I'm under the impression that they have the service to back it up. I haven't had to use it🤷

If I do have issues beyond my tools and capabilities, I'll box up the saw and send it over to them.

[DHansen]

Good customers, good service, it's a two way street.  You need to develop a relationship with the customer and good service becomes easier.  A customer that receives good service,becomes a better customer.  Without customers you have no business.  And that Husqvarna Common Service tool is under a grand US.

After using the tool on 50 saws the tool has paid for itself.

[Spike60]

Tom, your idea has merit on the surface.

But it's ultimately a dead end. (As some local shops prove). Husky can require  a dealer to have the tool, but, can they require that dealer be proficient in its use? Or to measure repair times In days vs weeks or months for that matter.

The OEM can schedule the schools, print the material, and make all tools and service docs available. They exist in amazing quantities. Look at just the few I've shared with Dave in his 254 projects. But it's ultimately up o each dealer as to how much they will embrace those resources.

You could spot the differences right away in the tech meetings. Some stores would send an uninterested kid from the shop who looked at it as a day off. Some dealers would send the shop manager or a principal like myself. Some of us would take notes, others play on their phones.

Husky also had field service tech reps that would visit dealers to keep them on top of service news.

(Believe it or not, by an odd coincidence, my former tech reps son bought the house across the street from mine. Small world, eh ?)

In the end, i dont think any OEM can be faulted for the incompetence of a dealer. They can only provide the resources necessary for the dealer to service the product. It's upto the dealer to use those resources to take care of his customers. (If he plans on keeping them) 

[thecfarm]

Dealer support is a good word here.

[Old Greenhorn]

Tom, your idea has merit on the surface.

Bob, good buddy, respectfully I would submit that my 'idea' has merit all the way through, not just on the surface.

 If I open up a business to sell and service left handed widget sharpeners from a major worldwide manufacturer, you can bet your bottom dollar I have every intention of becoming the regional expert on those widget sharpeners, know everything about them, and have all the spare parts in stock for quick service turn arounds. I will be the guy at the quarterly meetings taking notes and taking the factory engineers out for dinner after so I can pick their brains and build support relationships. I know my business depends on people WANTING to come to me to solve their problems. Maybe I am too old, but I think think happy customers are the best thing a business can have. If you don't have good customer service then you can't serve your customers and might as well be a box store.
 It sucks being brought up in the past century.

[arojay]

This story sounds disgustinly similar to my experience with my 2021 572xpgw.  9 hours in the clutch side crank bearings went.  Dealer replaced them which lasted for another 10, so at 19 hours the dealer repaired the saw again.  This time seemed golden and I was starting to like the saw when the flywheel side bearing failed.  Now I'm way over warranty.  This time I took the saw in and paid them to assess and give me a written evaluation.  I've been buying Huskies from this sales manager since about 1983 when he worked for a hardware store with a pretty reasonable saw shop and a real small engine mechanic who specialized in saws, so I thought I might make a case, but neither the sales guy or the Husqvarna rep acknowledged my existence.  The dealer sells the range of Honda products, Can Am and skidoo and a few orange things in a back corner, so you might guess they have little time for a 'stuck in the
70s' logger, but I expected more from Husqvarna.  Anyway, that niche in my saw stable is filled with a 462 that I bought from the only somewhat local dealer, who mostly sells boats and motors, snowmachines and quads.  Einstein's  definition  of insanity?

[g_man]

Thanks @arojay. I don't under stand why they need a diagnostic computer to diagnose a know problem. The tech knows what he is looking at - saw the same thing I did. No damage except bound up crank bearing. You buy a pro saw looking for quality because it is worth it to you and they wonder if you know how to put a chain on  even though you have been running saw your whole life ??

gg

[g_man]

Thanks @arojay. I don't under stand why they need a diagnostic computer to diagnose a know problem. The tech knows what he is looking at - saw the same thing I did. No damage except bound up crank bearing. You buy a pro saw looking for quality because it is worth it to you and they wonder if you know how to put a chain on even though you been running saws your whole life ??

gg

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks @arojay. I don't under stand why they need a diagnostic computer to diagnose a know problem. .......
gg

They may not need it to figure out the issue, but they do need all the data they can collect to make their case to the OEM for a warranty decision. Saws may 'look' like they are very low hours, but the computer readout tells the true story, exactly. OEM's don't want to spend money on warranty claims just for goodwill. As I mentioned before, they are much less focused on keeping clients for the long haul over maximizing profits each and every day. It's just like health insurance, they turned down lots of justified claims in order to force the few clients that can afford it to sue them. The rest just 'go away'. It's a numbers game.
 A good dealer will do just as Spike said, give a full and comprehensive accounting of the exact conditions on the very first go-around.

[Spike60]

Most important chunk of data the CST would spit out in this case is the run time. I doubt ghere are many hours on this saw. Not like it's spent every day on a full time tree crew. Lower the hours, easier it is to get a replacement saw.

Current fuel settings would show if the saw was trying to compensate for an air leak. Honestly, that thing is your friend, not your enemy. 

I don't want to go too far down speculation avenue, cause the saw isn't on my bench. Have they pulled the flywheel or clutch to IDwhich bearing has failed?

[Spike60]

Well.....been hesitant to throw this out there but....... Couple times in situations like this I was able to resolve them by suggesting to Husky: you send me a short block and I'll donate the labor.  Everyones happy. Granted, I likely wouldn't do that for a saw bought somewhere else unless I really felt I wanted tohelp someone like gman. But there are ways to get things done that aren't written down anywhere.

[g_man]

Just to check in - this is getting bazar. After initial warranty claim on 3-25-25 Husqvarna requested more info from diagnostic computer and pictures of the bore and cylinder. Every time I inquired I was told Husqvarna wants more pictures. On 4-10-25 I went in and confronted the service manager to show me the pictures and info they sent. Cornered, the manager admitted that they had done nothing being reluctant to put more time into the saw w/o the owner's permission and owner is on vacation. Then later in the day the owner called and said he gave to OK.
On 4-18-25 I emailed asking for the status and was told there is a new service manager and he is going request from Husqvarna the status because he has no clue. Next day he emailed and said Husqvarna needs diagnostic info and pictures and wanted to know what I used for fuel. Yesterday he emailed and said he had sent in the pictures and fuel info.

I have little hope but will let this play out. Next saw I buy I will make sure there is a real shop behind it.

gg   

[Spike60]

Well.....since you  already tore into the saw early on here, I'm thinking you are quite capable of doing your own work. At this point, it's not looking like we're heading towards a resolution. It's especially frustrating that the lines of communication are blurred by people in this shop changing jobs. You are constantly having to start from the beginning.

Nothing to lose by trying to play the card Ive used in the past: dealer a asks for short block and offers to donate the labor. But in this case you do your own bebuild. From what we're seeing of this shop, you'll probably be better off without them doing the work anyway.


 You don't have to talk to them anymore, they don't have to talk to you.  This stuff just wears everyone out on both sides. Through no fault if your own, you have fallen into that "it's that guy with the 550 again" category every time you contact them. If Husky goes for this, the story will mercifully end. Certainly, you deserve better. But this is trending in the wrong direction. The dealer is losing what limited interest he's shown throughout this "adventure". The time involved on their side is indeed adding up. But  that's another thing they need to press Husky on, by saying, "this is dragging on far too long. We need an answer"

[barbender]

I would try to contact Husky directly someway bypassing the dealer and explaining the situation, since they are apparently no help.

[g_man]

Well.....since you  already tore into the saw early on here, I'm thinking you are quite capable of doing your own work. At this point, it's not looking like we're heading towards a resolution. It's especially frustrating that the lines of communication are blurred by people in this shop changing jobs. You are constantly having to start from the beginning.

Nothing to lose by trying to play the card Ive used in the past: dealer a asks for short block and offers to donate the labor. But in this case you do your own bebuild. From what we're seeing of this shop, you'll probably be better off without them doing the work anyway.

I played that card last week thinking if he is worried about shop time it might help.

When he came back and said that he needed to send info and pictures - ie start at the beginning then knowing he doesn't I asked the new manager if he had the diagnostic equipment required to give Husqvarna the info they want like time on the saw and if not was Husqvarna willing to work with him. He did not answer me. Then I told him if he could get a short block I would be more than willing to do the rebuild on it myself. He made no comment on that, only said I have sent the pictures and told them what fuel you used. (Stihl high performance oil mix and non-ethanol gas).

gg

[Spike60]

These people are awful. They're doing the passive-aggressive deal now, looking across the counter and not answering your questions. The turn over and turmoil in the shop is a sign of a dysfunctional operation.

BB is right. Call down there and try to work this out with dome who has a brain in their head. 

[g_man]

I received an e-mail from the service shop. It simply said,

     "They finally decided to replace the unit "

that is all. 

I had to read it 3 times before it registered. Good news !!!

gg

[g_man]

Thank you all for all the support and info - much of it I used in conversations with the shop and I believe it helped me quite a bit in making my case. Thanks again!!

gg 

[Wlmedley]

G-man , I have been following with great interest especially since I just bought the same saw this spring. I'm glad to hear that they are doing the right thing by replacing your saw. I really like mine although I haven't used it much. 

[g_man]

G-man , I have been following with great interest especially since I just bought the same saw this spring. I'm glad to hear that they are doing the right thing by replacing your saw. I really like mine although I haven't used it much.

Hopefully they are past the crank bearing problems and your saw is fine. Even though my experience was more difficult than it needed to be Husqvarna is still a class act in my book.

gg

[DHansen]

Great news.

[Spike60]

Happy ending! Amen. 

I trust you didn't get hurt when you fainted and fell over after getting that email? 

[Big_eddy]

Any chance we can see the pictures from the tear down? Was it indeed a bearing cage failure as suggested in post 2, and if so which side?

[g_man]

I will see if I can get them - I am also curious. When I was initially looking for the problem I took the clutch and oil pump off and could see some of that bearing on that side which looked normal.

gg

[Magicman]

Hopefully this will end your woes!!