Remington PL-55A teardown & rebuild

[CamMann]

Thinking of getting an XL-12 sprocket/drum for this saw; they are way easier to source in my location. I see the XL-12 sprockets are broken down into before/after SN 1735838, but I've read conflicting info on which one fits the PL Remingtons. More sources seem to suggest it's the older style XL-12 sprockets that fit Remington PL saws. Anyone have experience w/ that?

 

[CamMann]

At a bit of a standstill for now. Just waiting on the crankcase o-ring. Local shops only had approx 1mm & 3mm thicknesses, which were too thin & too thick. So, deductively, 60mm ID x 2mm thickness is proper size for that o-ring.

To order a proper size o-ring from an hour away in NY was $16.50 shipping on a $0.60 o-ring. So, I bought a 10-pack from China for $5 w/ free shipping. 6-8 week wait time though.

I'll never understand why to afford shipping, I generally have to order goods from the other side of the planet, rather than from an hour away in the US. But that's the way it usually is here. Pretty sure it's Canada's own fault, having cost prohibitive import fees on goods from the US to protect Canadian businesses, while not applying that philosophy to China, India, etc. Strange days.

 

[CamMann]

Okay, new crankcase o-ring & crank seals are installed! Just finishing the carb rebuild now, and noticed something i've not seen before. Carb is a Tillotson, stamped "HS80B 1". I've attached an image, with the area in question circled in red. There's a passage drilled in that area, but the area had no plug (nor do any plugs in the rebuild kit look to be that size), and the gasket & carb-mount it mates to wouldn't really seal that area...

Old gasket actually looks like it did seal it well, given the matching imprint, but as shown with the gasket's opposite side's imprint from the saw's carb-mount, nothing puts pressure on that spot.

So, given the old gasket's imprints, and the fact that OEM gasket is shaped to cover that hole, I'm guessing it should be sealed, just not sure how that's reliably achieved when nothing pushes against that spot of the gasket to create a seal. Should I use a dab of sealant around that area?

wish i noticed it before the rebuild, maybe i'll take the carb back apart to see where the passage goes. maybe it's sealed somewhere inside the carb.

 

[CamMann]

Shined a light in that hole, and i could see the light through the low-jet needle hole. Passages meet up under the welch plug in the metering chamber for the low fuel circuit & idle discharge ports. So, guessing it should be sealed up. Maybe I can find a plug around here somewhere.

Edit: didn't have a plug, I just stuffed a bit of an o-ring in there... passage downsizes to like 0.5mm about 1/4" in, so the piece of o-ring isn't going to poke through into anything. hopefully I'm right that it should be sealed though...?

 

[cbfarmall]

I don't ever remember seeing a welch on the gasket surface of one of these carbs. The IPL shows next to nothing as well. Maybe somebody with PL55A can chime in with a picture.

 

[CamMann]

I don't ever remember seeing a welch on the gasket surface of one of these carbs. The IPL shows next to nothing as well. Maybe somebody with PL55A can chime in with a picture.

This is the first time I've seen this kind of open passage, linked to the low fuel-jet circuit. From What I understand, to function properly, the metering chamber operates under a vacuum force from engine suction via fuel discharge ports. A passage like the one in question would seemingly diminish the vacuum force in the metering chamber if left open. So, I can't imagine it being left unsealed. It's probably meant to be sealed by the carb-mounting gasket, but it'd be a poor seal without anything putting pressure against that area of the gasket. Plugging it one way or another seems like a good additional measure. That actually could have been the source of the air-leak I previously attributed to the O-ring & crank seals.

Had a little trouble with a melted portion of the spark plug wire arcing on the cylinder, so didn't get around to starting the saw till I sorted that out around 9:30pm. With the carb rebuilt, and that opening plugged, and a different spark plug wire, the saw started up normal, idled smooth, and revved decent. Was too late in the evening to run it for long though. So, I'll see if it tunes up nicely tomorrow & whether or not the air leak symptoms are fixed. So far so good though :}

 

[cbfarmall]

I guess my point is that wasn't familiar. Homelite has a tillotson carb that has no idle ports in the venturi. Instead, there is a port thru the base gasket a special reed. This would be on the vaunted 2100 series. You never know with this stuff.

 

[Modifiedmark]

I have seen that open channel on some HS carbs before, probably my SL7 or some other Remington I have had over the years. I have also seen them with a welch plug covering them.

Why? IDK I try not to over think stuff now days, but if that proper gasket is used it plugs it off just fine.

I learned years ago that the carb gasket that comes in the HS kits are not to be used with most any of the saws I work on.

 

[CamMann]

Well, heck yah! Thing starts easy, runs strong, idles & revs nicely. No more RPM racing / air-leak symptoms. All that's left to do now is get a new sprocket/drum, and this saw is back from the dead & ready to cut. Not generally into Remingtons, but it was a $10, 80cc project to tinker with. It's been interesting & I'm happy with how it turned out. Really appreciate all the input, thanks all!

Plenty sprockets on ebay for cheap, but that extra $20-$25cdn tacked on for every little part to cross the border into Canada just adds up like crazy if I let it. Will probably just wait until one lists on this side of the border.

 

[CamMann]

Would be interested in info on compatible sprockets. It's an early version PL-55a, came with the early sprocket style with a pressed bearing that rides a 1/2" race on the crank. I think it's compatible with the early XL-12 sprockets (before SN 1735838), but I've read conflicting info on whether it's compatible with later XL-12 sprockets. I can get the later XL-12 sprockets in Canada currently, but unsure if that'll fit.

 

[CamMann]

Okay, I have a couple sprockets coming! While searching, I tried to make a compatible sprocket list, though I'm sure there's more. I do know there was some design variations over the years of PL-55 production. So, IDK if all PL-55/PL-55a used sprockets with a 1/2" ID pressed-bearing to fit a 1/2" race on the crank, but that's what mine has. With that style sprocket, these should all be compatible:

Oregon 68208
Oregon 68090
Oregon 30681X
Oregon 27927
Oregon 37990
Oregon 21715
Herr N147-A7
TILTON TN147A7
GB HO102-A7N
Windsor XL33-A7
Windsor RE82-A7
HOMELITE 37990
HOMELITE A 95620
SANDVIK XL33A7
STENS 085-061
STENS 645-135
ROTARY 1644

 

[Brufab]

I'll be darned, the cylinder looks great! Crank & bearings are all good. Piston is covered in this powdery white stuff on the exhaust side & the rings are stuck. TBH, if I cleaned up all this white crud, cleaned the ring grooves, cleaned/replaced rings, cleaned everything else up, and reassembled with some fresh cut gaskets, and maybe some new crank seals, this engine would probably run fine. Will definitely need some new prongs for the recoil though. Someone broke them trying to crank it while it was seized.

So, I'm wondering what caused this white powder. Obviously this thing sat on a concrete floor or something for way too long. Bottom of the handle assembly turned white & crusty with magnesium rot. I don't often see muffler boxes turn white from corrosion though... So, maybe it's a cast magnesium alloy too. But why would it's corrosion spread & coat half the the piston... just through moisture & proximity to the magnesium muffler box?

I'll add pics & details of the disassembly process later, but here's the white crud:

Dang bro! I wish I was knowledgeable enough to tear one down and rebuild it like that