Contra Horrors

I had a quiet few hours in the afternoon as I had taken the children for a long bike ride in the morning....so they were spark out for a while. Off to the garage and my "stiff" Contra.

I knew it would be bad - the saw turned over, but it was stiff and rattly. Through the exhaust port the piston looked OK, so I was hoping for rusty bearings at worst.

Oh dear, the big end has gone totally. The fragments you see in the picture are all that remains of the big end bearing. It is the split con-rod version, and the con-rod is in good order.

View into the crankcase - what a mess!



The whole crankcase is full of metal shavings - presumably previous owner was deaf to the rattling that was going on.

The crank looks nasty. Does the assembled company agree that this is now scrap? I don't think it can be recovered.



The piston is toast - it has eaten big chunks of metal.



Amazingly the jug looks in "as new" condition. Not a mark on it. So all I need is a piston, crank and some bearings. I probably have all that in my parts box....

Stihl hurts my eyes to look at your pictures .

I feel your pain........................

Stihl 041S said:

I feel your pain........................

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How about warrenty???????:jawdrop:

Yeah, warranty I like that.

Dear Mr Stihl

I bought one of your saws second hand off eBay for 60 euros. It is only 55 years old and the big end has gone. Obviously this is poor workmanship, please send me another one, and make it snappy.

Thanks

rxe.

Rather annoyingly, the only Contra crank I have is different.



The spare is from a really old saw with the large washers that stop the crank from slopping about in the saw - the trashed crank is more modern, and takes the small washers. Ho hum.

hOMELITE ez-6

I'm looking for parts for a Homelite EZ-6 chainsaw. Any ideas?

I know its going to be a trick to find a crank for such a saw, but look on the bright site, the damage is pretty limited. Having metal parts bounce around inside the saw could've produced lots more damage. The saw is at least rebuildable. It still looks like a great project to me.

JTKROZ said:

I'm looking for parts for a Homelite EZ-6 chainsaw. Any ideas?

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You should have started a different thread, but what are you looking for?

rxe said:

I bought one of your saws second hand off eBay for 60 euros. .

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Sure beats dropping the E1000 ($1500) that someone did on Ebay recently for a 'like new' 090!
I think you're still way ahead of the game.
Make it run!!!

madrone said:

Sure beats dropping the E1000 ($1500) that someone did on Ebay recently for a 'like new' 090!
I think you're still way ahead of the game.
Make it run!!!

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Or, at the very least, not nearly as far behind.

Good luck, have fun, POST PICS!

rxe, so the crank you need cannot have that little bushing seat on the left side? I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I go see my parts guy and ask if I can look thru his (literally) boxes of Contra parts. He'd give me a good deal for one, though shipping to the UK might not be pretty. If I had that "wrong" crank here I know he'd trade straight across. Is that a 106cc saw or a 137cc S model? Because if I can find a crank I can probably get a piston too.

Thanks for the offer...! The good news is that the crank I need is the one without the bushing - i.e. the one at the top of the photo, without the red ring. It is good news because this is a "modern" 1106 series crank - all of the late Contras, 070s and 090s will have it - so I should be able to get hold of one pretty easily. Oh, well looks like I have to buy another parts saw....

While everyone says that the Contra/070/090 are all similar, there are a lot of detail differences. I have a NIB 070 piston - dimensionally identical, but the slot for the con-rod is significantly wider than the Contra - because the 070 takes the bushed bearing in the wrist pin.

More detailed inspection reveals the con-rod to be toast as well. Not that surprising really.

Getting all of the metal flakes out is really tough, but the crankcase internals are now clean, and ready to accept new bearings.

Edit - does anyone out there have a Contra IPL? My 090 IPL has the one piece crank etc, and it would be nice to get dimensions for all of the bearings...

Would it be out of the question to have the collar on the good crank turned down? Just a thought.
Is that crank around the other way?

Darkness77 said:

Would it be out of the question to have the collar on the good crank turned down? Just a thought.
Is that crank around the other way?

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To your first question, probably but I don't know if it would be worth it. If I put something that unbalanced on my lathe it would soon fly off and/or break. To the second, now that you mention it, those cranks are sitting opposite to one another so that the flywheel end of one is being compared to the clutch end of the other. Maybe you've just been looking at them wrong, rxe? :monkey:

Assembled company? Is that like Y'all. I love UK speak. No really. It does make me feel just a tiny bit hillbilly though.

Most metal is only surface hardened or chrome plated so if you turn down the crank you will most likely end up with pretty soft metal in those areas which will soon wallow(sp?) out and cause more problems unless you have the ability to rechrome or harden again without warping the crank.

Take the crank to a good crank shop, they can build up the journal and re-grind it. They will also have bolt-on weights to balance the crank so the "collar" can be turned off. Unless the ring grooves are damaged the piston is usable.

g.moore said:

Most metal is only surface hardened or chrome plated so if you turn down the crank you will most likely end up with pretty soft metal in those areas which will soon wallow(sp?) out and cause more problems unless you have the ability to rechrome or harden again without warping the crank.

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So all the cranks that are turned down are soft? I doubt it.

Bill

rxe said:

The spare is from a really old saw with the large washers that stop the crank from slopping about in the saw - the trashed crank is more modern, and takes the small washers. Ho hum.

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I found a crank from a parts contra, but it turns out to be the old model also, otherwise you could have had it.