026 seals.

tried assembling an older 026 case with a good used cylinder, used tank, used clutch, used chain brake, and a myriad of other used parts i had in a heap. the only new parts were a meteor piston and a bar stud.

it didn't turn out so good.
long story short, i took it mostly apart again looking for a vac leak. found a bad flywheel side crank seal. HOOORAY!

so, the lisle puller is on the way, the 026 is in a heap of parts again.
oodles of time..... gone.

never done crank seals before. i welcome advice other than, 'take it to a dealer'. anyone know how much seals are? is it common practice to do both seals even though only one leaks?

:bang:

Don't be too surprised if the Lisle puller won't work on that one. That seal is tiny! One of the most difficult to remove on a Stihl saw.

volks-man said:

tried assembling an older 026 case with a good used cylinder, used tank, used clutch, used chain brake, and a myriad of other used parts i had in a heap. the only new parts were a meteor piston and a bar stud.

it didn't turn out so good.
long story short, i took it mostly apart again looking for a vac leak. found a bad flywheel side crank seal. HOOORAY!

so, the lisle puller is on the way, the 026 is in a heap of parts again.
oodles of time..... gone.

never done crank seals before. i welcome advise other than, 'take it to a dealer'. anyone know how much seals are? is it common practice to do both seals even though only one leaks?

:bang:

Click to expand...

A OEM gasket set with seals will be ca. $15.

The last time I brought in a clean stripped saw, my favorite dealer charged $20 to put the seals in.

I sent you a PM. It is very common for those FW side seals to fail.

i paid 12 buck for full crankcase set. both seals and crank,jug gaskets.

blsnelling said:

Don't be too surprised if the Lisle puller won't work on that one. That seal is tiny! One of the most difficult to remove on a Stihl saw.

Click to expand...

i read somewhere on AS that you can grind the puller skinnier to get at the smaller seals better.

difficult to remove? good one to learn on huh?

I can second what Brad said and it is a difficult seal to remove because of how small it is.

B200Driver is also right that it is the most common seal and bearing to fail based on my experience on the 024/026/MS260 family of saws.

I've had pretty decent luck on those drilling a small hole (or two- on opposite sides) in the metal part of the seal and using sheet metal screws to get them out.

That'll learn yah to put a saw together without checking the seals...

Jacob J. said:

I've had pretty decent luck on those drilling a small hole (or two- on opposite sides) in the metal part of the seal and using sheet metal screws to get them out.

That'll learn yah to put a saw together without checking the seals...

Click to expand...

hmmmmmm................
i wish i had known to do that.

what do you do? just drop and old cyl on the case fast and dirty just to check the seals? i am used to testing everything, intake, impulse, ect.

note to self........................................

I have had luck on the 026/036 flywheel seals by taking a small punch, or even the little orange screwdriver and a hammer and lightly knocking one side of the seal IN to cock the seal. Then work the other side up and out with a small flat screwdriver that I heated with a torch and bent a small 90 degree bend on.

volks-man said:

hmmmmmm................
i wish i had known to do that.

what do you do? just drop and old cyl on the case fast and dirty just to check the seals? i am used to testing everything, intake, impulse, ect.

note to self........................................

Click to expand...

You can check it BEFORE you tear it down.

Jacob J. said:

I've had pretty decent luck on those drilling a small hole (or two- on opposite sides) in the metal part of the seal and using sheet metal screws to get them out.

That'll learn yah to put a saw together without checking the seals...

Click to expand...

Do you put grease on the drill bit to keep metal chips out of the bearing? That is what I am afraid of.

teacherman said:

Do you put grease on the drill bit to keep metal chips out of the bearing? That is what I am afraid of.

Click to expand...

Same here. I'm also afraid of going through and damaging the bearing, especially with plastic cages.

The number of chips produced drilling two very small holes through the thickness of the seal housing is extremely minimal. However like Brad says you have to be extremely careful to drill slow and do not use much if any force or else you will end up hitting a retainer. After that seal is removed lay the crankcase on that side and flush it ...this will remove any remaining drilling remnants. Also you have to make sure your sheetmetal screws will have adequate bite in your hole without needing to wind the screw in far or else you risk damaging the bearing retainer installing the screw.

All this talk is making me nervous about the 026 I've been working on for my dad...

Mad Professor said:

You can check it BEFORE you tear it down.

Click to expand...

good idea!!!
though i didn't tear it down to start with.

blsnelling said:

Don't be too surprised if the Lisle puller won't work on that one. That seal is tiny! One of the most difficult to remove on a Stihl saw.

Click to expand...

Jacob J. said:

I've had pretty decent luck on those drilling a small hole (or two- on opposite sides) in the metal part of the seal and using sheet metal screws to get them out.
...

Click to expand...

Bowtie said:

I have had luck on the 026/036 flywheel seals by taking a small punch, or even the little orange screwdriver and a hammer and lightly knocking one side of the seal IN to cock the seal. Then work the other side up and out with a small flat screwdriver that I heated with a torch and bent a small 90 degree bend on.

Click to expand...

welp......
since i already had bought the lisle puller and it arrived this morning i decided to try it.
first thing i did was place it next to the seal and see if the hook was narrow enough to fit properly. no it wasn't. so like i read in a thread here recently i ground the puller hook narrower and tried to hook it in the seal. now the hook is too deep for the tool to swing verticle... so off to the grinder again this time to grind the horizontal reach of the hook shorter. this time we're in business!!!

i knocked the seal in a tiny bit per advice i got here, one drop of wd40 on the seal and lifted one side about 1.5mm. removed tool, flipped upside-down, reinsert on far side and pulled approx 2mm. remove and reinstall first side, lather, rinse, repeat.......... the seal popped right out with no damage to the case or crankshaft.

now i'm off to try and install the new seal.

volks-man said:

welp......
since i already had bought the lisle puller and it arrived this morning i decided to try it.
first thing i did was place it next to the seal and see if the hook was narrow enough to fit properly. no it wasn't. so like i read in a thread here recently i ground the puller hook narrower and tried to hook it in the seal. now the hook is too deep for the tool to swing verticle... so off to the grinder again this time to grind the horizontal reach of the hook shorter. this time we're in business!!!

i knocked the seal in a tiny bit per advice i got here, one drop of wd40 on the seal and lifted one side about 1.5mm. removed tool, flipped upside-down, reinsert on far side and pulled approx 2mm. remove and reinstall first side, lather, rinse, repeat.......... the seal popped right out with no damage to the case or crankshaft.

now i'm off to try and install the new seal.

Click to expand...

Nice work!! I have found getting them out to be the hard part. You should be good to go!

follow-up

i think my seal install went o.k.

first, everything clean as a wistle.
next, wrapped the crankshaft with electrical tape to protect the seal from the flywheel keyway, being sure that the tape was high enough to be removed after the seal was installed!!!
next, greased the seal lips.
then, applied a thin smear of rtv to the outside of the seal.

placed seal on crank, and approriate sized socket over shaft. push seal down untill it started in the case. tapped it down in to the case slowly with the socket untill i achieved 1mm below the case edge. checked my 1mm with mic until i got it right .

lakeside53 once cautioned that if you don't have the stihl installation sleeve on the crankshaft that when you traverse the 'step' in the shaft that you could lose the seal spring. i have no idea if i lost it or not. the case held vacuum after the install, so i am hoping for the best.

Typically if you don't smack away on it you won't lose that spring. It takes quite a bit of force to dislodge the spring on a new seal. In the hundreds of saws I've replaced seals on I have yet to do it. I check mine afterward with a dental mirror.