MS361 crankcase removal help please.

[Gnarlyoak]

Greetings all,

 

I am in the process of trying to replace the right hand (clutch side) crankcase casing. So far I have removed every part, bolt and clip that I can find, but I'm having no luck in actually removing the casing from the body of the saw.

 

Bit stumped now, clearly I must be missing something! But have no idea what!! Is it something on the opposite crankcase (starter coil side)?? I've attached a pic of where I am upto, but can anyone tell me what else I need to do .

 

I was about to get the "hammer shaped" persuader out, but thought I'd ask on here first before I wreak havoc upon it.........

 

Many thanks,

Rick

[White Noise]

Greetings all,

 

I am in the process of trying to replace the right hand (clutch side) crankcase casing. So far I have removed every part, bolt and clip that I can find, but I'm having no luck in actually removing the casing from the body of the saw.

 

Bit stumped now, clearly I must be missing something! But have no idea what!! Is it something on the opposite crankcase (starter coil side)?? I've attached a pic of where I am upto, but can anyone tell me what else I need to do .

 

I was about to get the "hammer shaped" persuader out, but thought I'd ask on here first before I wreak havoc upon it.........

 

Many thanks,

Rick

 

Get ya hammer out Rickster . You ok

[spudulike]

I think you may have run out of talent, the handle and cylindhead should be removed so you are left with just the alloy crankcase. You then need to remove all the case bolts and dowels where fitted and then the fun starts - you need to break the seal between the cases and getting the cases apart can be an interesting job.

Seeing your post - I really think you should give this to someone who knows what they are doing - have the crank bearings gone??

[Megatron]

First of all. Where are you getting the new crankcase half from? Stihl only sell them in sets (i.e. both sides).

As Spud says you will have to remove the cylinder, tank housing etc so basically you only have the case with the crank in left. The crank is held in there by an interference fit with the inner race of the bearings and likewise the outer race has interference fit with the case.

There are 5 case bolts holding the two sides of the case together. I don't think there are any dowel pins to punch out on the 361.

If you can weld or are relatively good at fabricating things you can make a puller which fits to the bar nuts, to separate the case. I wouldn't recommend using a hammer to separate them! You can use a big vice/clamp to get the crank out of the flywheel side and to remove the bearings. Heat can be used to make everything slot back together.

On reinstallation you will need to pressure/vacuum test the crankcase to see if all is well...

 

What is actually wrong with this case half? or is it the bearing?

[Gnarlyoak]

Cheers Spud/Megatron, I think, you've well and truly peed on my chips chaps!. Had'nt realised or appreciated the amount of rigmarole involved in replacing crankcase. Naively thought it would be a few bolts to undo, pull the crankcase apart, replace new half, replace gasket and then bolt it back together it again. Bish bash bosh, and Roberts your mothers brother!

 

All genuine Stihl parts sourced from Stihl dealership local to me. To be fair I did ask them to supply me the parts and I would fit them myself to try and save the cost of having them fitted by them. Of course if they had warned me about what I was facing (a near impossible task in my tool shed from the way you guys describe it) I may have bitten the bullet and coughed up for 3-4 hrs labour plus VAT. But if its as bad as you describe then it looks like I will be taking it back with all the bits and leave it to one who knows, and resigning myself to having another chunk taken out of my overdraft limt. The bank account is all one way traffic at the moment.

 

Whilst its not clear from the attached photo, the reason why I'm replace the crankcase in the first place is that the ally casing around the top and upper right hand side of where the clutch assembly sits, is shattered; broken!

 

An expensive mistake that I will definately try to avoid making again!

Edited July 25, 2011 by Gnarlyoak

[spudulike]

Sorry M8 - hope the chips dried out ok:001_tt2: The work you are doing is never simple - did an 044 recently - the owner stripped it down but got to the point where he felt uneasy about going any further, the saw was a bit of a pig as the crank bearings had welded themselves to the crankshaft - fortunately a set of pullers, a mallet, a can of WD40 and going easy with a large screwdriver got it apart and now has a new bearing and is a sound runner.

 

We didn't even mention pressure checking - when you do this sort of work you MUST make sure the crank case holds pressure - i.e. all mating surfaces and rubber components are in serviceable condition. Failure to do this can seize te engine and/or cause unstable idle!

 

Hope it doesn't cost you too dearly - better than breking it trying to get it apart!

[Megatron]

It can be quite a daunting task if you have never done/seen it done before.

It appears I was wrong about not being able to buy half crankcases though, it seems the the newer models allow you to do so which is a plus.

Depending how bad the damage is it might be cheaper to find someone who can weld it? Or sell it on ebay and invest in a new saw. Unless you have already bought the parts.

 

 

We didn't even mention pressure checking - when you do this sort of work you MUST make sure the crank case holds pressure - i.e. all mating surfaces and rubber components are in serviceable condition. Failure to do this can seize te engine and/or cause unstable idle!

 

On reinstallation you will need to pressure/vacuum test the crankcase to see if all is well...

 

[spudulike]

Yeah Yeah - your a cleva fella:001_rolleyes:

 

[Gnarlyoak]

Thanks again fellas. I am walking away from this one, bullet bitten, she's on her way back to the shop to be someone elses headache. I'm always prepared to "have-a-go", but I'm not afraid to recognise my limits, and step back when necessary.

 

(Quote from: Megatron. Depending how bad the damage is it might be cheaper to find someone who can weld it? Or sell it on ebay and invest in a new saw. Unless you have already bought the parts)

 

Yes parts already purchased, would love to replace saw with new but funds not availalbe to do that. Welding not an option given the amount of damage which does show up a bit better in these photos. Thanks again for your helpful advice.

[Lurcherman]

Thanks again fellas. I am walking away from this one, bullet bitten, she's on her way back to the shop to be someone elses headache. I'm always prepared to "have-a-go", but I'm not afraid to recognise my limits, and step back when necessary.

 

(Quote from: Megatron. Depending how bad the damage is it might be cheaper to find someone who can weld it? Or sell it on ebay and invest in a new saw. Unless you have already bought the parts)

 

Yes parts already purchased, would love to replace saw with new but funds not availalbe to do that. Welding not an option given the amount of damage which does show up a bit better in these photos. Thanks again for your helpful advice.

 

That thing looks like it's been eaten by PALM, Rick!!!

 

How you doing?