261 clutch drums splitting?

[Snedasawrus]

It probably will, but I will replace the whole clutch, to try to cover all possibilities, not just the drum again. Hopefully that will work.

[spudulike]

One of the drums was put in by stihl about a year and a half ago and cracked 3 weeks ago. Replaced with new one and it went today. Was glowing red hot and has melted a lot of the plastic around the drum! The drums are fractured in just the one place, no sign of wear on any other area. Will replace clutch and see what happens. Cheers

 

Looks like a manufacturing fault then, you could try an aftermarket one!

[harrythecat178]

Sure its not a worn clutch bearing and its rubbing against brake band or even play in engine main bearing? I assume you are fitting a spur sprocket. We fit loads of genuine Stihl spur sprockets and no problems

[jdavis]

We have had this happen to both our 261s, 2/3 times on both saws. Our local dealer (Neil at Greens in Hadleigh) told us to grease the bearing every other day. This has worked so far, he has no idea why it's happening but greasing it regularly does stop the clutch drums cracking. USE PLENTY!

[spudulike]

I have found that the aftermarket metal caged needle bearings last longer than the glass fibre standard ones. A bit of grease is good but remember that the drum and crank are locked together at speed and the bearing only does its work at idle!

 

It is common for the standard bearings to disintegrate and lose their rollers, the drum then wobbles and takes out the oiler arm and can wear the oiler in bad cases.

[Snedasawrus]

Bearing was in good condition and yes drum was genuine stihl spur sprocket. After I changed the drums to a spur I have had no problems with the bearings with a weekly greasing.