Stihl 026 Rebuild/Upgrade

[AshBurner]

Hello Everyone. I'm glad to have become a member here.

I have a 24 acre woodlot that was formerly old farmland. I bought a 16" Stihl 026 in 1997 to clear the trees for my yard and have been using it until 2010 when it quit working. The repair shop (a Stihl dealer) told me at the time that it needed a new top end kit (Stihl 1121-020-1203) for which they quoted me C$285 - installation extra. As an alternative, they offered a Laser #44967 top end kit for C$170. I decided to hold off repairing that saw and bought a 18" Stihl MS 260 instead.

Having read up on rebuilding the 026 just now and checked around for parts prices, it looks like it wouldn't be too hard or too expensive to put it back in operation. I've taken the muffler off and I see that the piston looks quite scored. The cylinder wall on the far side looks reasonably smooth from the exhaust port.

For the most part, I have been using the Stihl 2-stroke oil in it (50:1 as recommended). For a few tankfuls towards the end, I used some old 2-stroke oil I had. I may have mixed that oil to 40:1 or 32:1 but I don't recall exactly now.

I found a Sten top end kit on Amazon for $61.99. A top end rebuild video recommended changing out the shaft seals.

Any recommendations for how best to rebuild my saw? Any upgrades I should consider while I'm at it?

Does anyone have any recommended (nor not recommended) aftermarket brands?

 

[Marshy]

Bump for new guy.

Welcome to the site.

 

[Duane(Pa)]

You must find the cause of the first melt down or it will happen again. There is a chance you can save your cylinder and get by with a replacement piston. I would suggest new hoses, crank seals and intake boot. Now is also the time for a carb kit. I have a few saws with Tecomec top ends from Weedeaterman. He is a site sponsor and the kits are European vs Asian

 

[jughead500]

Yeap what duane said.
More than likely your cylinder can be saved.a little time and some sandpaper works wonders.
Tecomec is the best behind oem,meteor is behind tecomec as far as cylinder kits go.tecomec or meteor pistons are all good.i myself stay away from chinese kits but have tried out a few of the farmertec parts that definative dave sells and all are top notch.may break down and test some of the farmertec pistons and cylinders this winter when time and money allows.

 

[scallywag]

For the most part, I have been using the Stihl 2-stroke oil in it (50:1 as recommended).

+1 On finding what caused the damage in the first place, could have been your old fuel?
Rebuild with OEM parts if you can afford to and run your saw on 32:1 tuned accordingly.

 

[BuckthornBonnie]

Avoid the Laser top end as the ones I've seen have been questionable at best. They run, but ports are rough and they don't have anywhere near the compression numbers as OEM or other Aftermarket top ends. Their rings are just plain not good. Try to save that original cylinder or get a used OEM cylinder with a Meteor piston from a site sponsor (weedeaterman).
As for "upgrades" - the last 026 I rebuilt I decided to put a fully adjustable carb on it. I got it from weedeaterman. Get an OEM air filter and replace/inspect VERY closely your: fuel line, fuel filter, impulse line. The 026 has tricky crank seals that are known to leak.

 

[Mad Professor]

Welcome to the site.

Good advice so far. See if you can salvage the OEM cylinder, lots of information here on that, post some pictures and you will get good advice/diagnosis. If so stihl piston prices are now competitive with aftermarket, get one of those. Get an OEM gasket kit that comes with seals. R + R carb with a kit. Replace all the hoses and filters, new plug. Watch out for aftermarket air filters, with some the choke won't work properly. You might want to put an upper rod and clutch bearing in. True up the rails on the bar and a new rim sprocket and chain. Check the AV mounts for wear. Inspect the oil pump outlet line for cracks, if needed replace (I like the OEM kits).

Get everything as clean as you can before you tear it down

If the cylinder is bad I'd go with Tecomec kit. I have used them and they compare well to OEM. Do a pressure/vac test when complete.

If you wish, a muffler mod and setting the piston squish is pretty easy and will get you bit more power.

Do the above and things will run like new for a long time.

 

[Blade]

You must find the cause of the first melt down or it will happen again. There is a chance you can save your cylinder and get by with a replacement piston. I would suggest new hoses, crank seals and intake boot. Now is also the time for a carb kit. I have a few saws with Tecomec top ends from Weedeaterman. He is a site sponsor and the kits are European vs Asian

Fully agree with Duane(PA), if you are going to use an aftermarket kit go with an Italian kit like Gilardoni, Techomec, Meteor, Ducati, Golf or alike. Up until the Chinese industry boom started 10 years ago, Italy was the largest producer of small engines and components for outdoor power equipment, motorcycles etc. They make excellent high quality products which are far superior to the kits I've seen coming out of China and alike.

What's unknown to many is that Italian small engine manufacturers produced many OEM cylinders & pistons for companies like Husqvarna, Jonsered, Tecsumeh, Stihl, Briggs & Stratton and the list goes on.

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

You must find the cause of the first melt down or it will happen again. There is a chance you can save your cylinder and get by with a replacement piston. I would suggest new hoses, crank seals and intake boot. Now is also the time for a carb kit. I have a few saws with Tecomec top ends from Weedeaterman. He is a site sponsor and the kits are European vs Asian

Tecomec for the 026? If you have some time on a top end for the 026 in this realm I'd love to know the results. Many of the aftermarket top ends for this model saw do not get good reviews. Let me know, I'm interested in looking into top end options for these saws.

 

[Duane(Pa)]

Tecomec for the 026? If you have some time on a top end for the 026 in this realm I'd love to know the results. Many of the aftermarket top ends for this model saw do not get good reviews. Let me know, I'm interested in looking into top end options for these saws.

My Tecomec top ends are on different models: 028 & 038. May have to check on availability for an 026? I assumed

 

[PA Dan]

You must find the cause of the first melt down or it will happen again. There is a chance you can save your cylinder and get by with a replacement piston. I would suggest new hoses, crank seals and intake boot. Now is also the time for a carb kit. I have a few saws with Tecomec top ends from Weedeaterman. He is a site sponsor and the kits are European vs Asian

I agree!

 

[AshBurner]

Thanks for the welcome and all of the great responses. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the reason(s) for why my saw quit working. I used it intermittently in the past so I may have had old gas (but it always seemed to have ran fine). I read somewhere that excessive oil in the fuel tends to cause carbon build-up, which might explain why the piston looks scored through the exhaust port while the cylinder looks smooth. I see that my (original) air filter seems to be quite caked with saw dust even though I've brushed it off many times in the past. Anyway, if I replace all of the parts that potentially could have failed and make sure that I use 50:1 fuel-oil mixtures with 89 octane (minimum) gasoline, I think this will ensure that the problem is behind me. Presumably, I'll be able to tell if the rod's crank bearing is worn once the cylinder is off.

I'll pull the cylinder to see exactly what condition is my piston and cylinder.

Some questions:

• The original carburetor seems to have run well. What would I gain with a fully adjustable carb?
• Any recommended videos for doing a vacuum test?
• Any recommended videos for doing a muffler mod?
• Any recommended videos for setting the piston squish?

 

[PA Dan]

I would never run 50:1 regardless of what the manufacturer says!

 

[jughead500]

Yeah tecomec makes a 44mm p/c kit.weedeaterman sells them $145.99

 

[jughead500]

Tecomec also has the piston kits seperate.found two last week for $18 each. just so happened i had a couple of spare 44mm 026 pro top ends.one will be going on a ms260 next week.

 

[AshBurner]

I got the cylinder off and, to my untrained eye, it doesn't look too bad. The exhaust side of the piston is scuffed and the rings are flush with the skirt. The rod doesn't appear to have any play on the crankshaft. Any guesses as to what would cause this sort of wear?

I see that Tecomec is an Italian company. Someone here recommended that I also look at SawParts Canada for parts and they appear to sell Hyway, which is a Taiwanese company. Weedeaterman lists its 026 Top End Kit for US$145.99 (~ C$189.79) while SawParts Canada lists its Nikasil 026 Top End Kit for C$89.99. Is the Tecomec top end kit really C$100 better than the Hyway?

 

[Duane(Pa)]

Try cleaning that oem jug up. They are, generally speaking, better than aftermarket cylinders.
http://www.arboristsite.com/communi...sfer-without-acid.248325/page-15#post-5450720

 

[PA Dan]

I have used that method many times and it worked very well!

 

[jughead500]

Like these guys says.got with a oem,tecomec or meteor piston and rings.if it doesn't clean up go with a used oem stihl cylinder.if that isn't an option go with tecomec if that isnt affordable go with meteor.

 

[AshBurner]

If I can clean up my original cylinder "by hand with 150, 320 emery cloth and red scotch brite pad and then with a dremel", is there any reason that I could not similarly clean up the original piston and reuse it with some new rings?