loose cylinder bolts

[knockbill]

i was cutting up some cherry with my "new" poulan 3300 this morning, and i noticed the saw was starting to run lean,,, so i loaded up the truck and came back... it was hard to start, so i went thru it looking for the problem, and found the cylinder bolts hand tight,,,, i tightened them,, and the saw started, ran and idled fine,,, now,, why did they get loose?? should they have lock tite, or some other sealant on them? is there a torque spec i should set them at?
should teh gasket get replaced if it was loose?
as always thanks in advance,
john

 

[redunshee]

i was cutting up some cherry with my "new" poulan 3300 this morning, and i noticed the saw was starting to run lean,,, so i loaded up the truck and came back... it was hard to start, so i went thru it looking for the problem, and found the cylinder bolts hand tight,,,, i tightened them,, and the saw started, ran and idled fine,,, now,, why did they get loose?? should they have lock tite, or some other sealant on them? is there a torque spec i should set them at?
should teh gasket get replaced if it was loose?
as always thanks in advance,
john

Gasket should be fine. I tighten by hand. Have several old Poulan 3400's and specs call for 90-100 inch lbs. I would imagine thats roughly 8-9 ft. lbs which isn't overly tight, which is why I hand tighten. Should get a small torque wrench but so far so good.

 

[knockbill]

tahnks for the reply,,, i got an inch lb wrench,, how about sealent or lock tite?? i don't want the problem again........

 

[TRI955]

I use a drop of the blue Loctite on each of the cylinder bolts. I don't know that it really needs it, it's more peace of mind for me.

 

[knockbill]

thanks for the reply..whats the difference between blue & red locktite, is blue for heat??

 

[pioneerguy600]

No Loctite needed if the bolts are torqued enough, I own torque wrenches but don`t even bother with them, hand tighten with a tee style driver handle with the proper bit ,ALLEN, TORX or whatever and it would be hard to over tighten as the shaft or bit would shear off, just make sure you twist good and tight. The Locktite colors are for holding power, red is heavy and very hard to break free again and blue is good for machine screws that need to be removed, it does not hold as hard.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Mama Tried]

blue is servicable and red is perminate

 

[knockbill]

good info.. thanks,,, i have some red locktite,, but it seems blue is better for this....

 

[nilzlofgren]

We use red locktite on tub grinder tips. But, sometimes they still fly off.

 

[Brad101]

If the cylinder actually did come loose there may be some damage to the head gasket...

 

[knockbill]

as we speak, i'm looking for a gasket set, and rings for the saw...
thanks for the reply..

 

[Modifiedmark]

If thats the saw you said you had apart, then the reason the bolts came loose is because you didn't tighten them enough.

I just checked and the rings and gaskets are to be had from your Poulan dealer.

 

[knockbill]

i'm sure your right,,, now i'll use locktite, and someone sent me teh torque specs,, so it should work, i may wait and replace teh rings 1st , tho....
its a learning experience for me, don't expect it to be right the 1st time, but i'm gettin there,,,
thanks for your reply, mark

 

[Nailgunner]

Make sure you degrease the bolt holes and the bolts really well, or the loctite won't stick worth a rat's 4ss.

I prefer angle tightening specs, as most cylinder heads call for these days. It makes allowance for grease, sealent etc on the threads which would allow a bolt to be over-tensioned if it was torqued into place.

Thinking of bolts, I've just screwed down a machine base with six 9" x 3/4" thunderbolts, they took a compressed air impact wrench at 120 PSI to get them in. Nobody's going to run off with that thing now