Wow, that is a very spendy crank assembly. Has anyone ever rebuilt one? With that price tag it might be worth the extra labor to press it apart and Rebalance it. Assuming you can get a new rod and bearing. Do the newer stihls still use nylon cages in the case bearings? That could be what saved the top end.
Rebuild a pooched 461 or buy used 661?
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I Don't get up to Bellingham often, but most stihl dealers are pretty good, they may look at you like yer from pluto, but if you talk real slow they will order the parts you need. Wood's are good folks though if you plan on being in the area. I would call ahead and tell em what you need though, make sure they got the parts in stock or they can order em for ya if needed.
As I said before the bearings are easy to install, no special tools are anything, just a complete tear down and reassembly, should be no need to balance the crank, its pretty feckin hard to shift the lobes... Unless it is the connecting rod bearing... then yer up poo creek, but those or rare so I assume its just one of the standared crank bearings, in which case split the crank pop out the old bearing, seat some new ones and new seals, reassemble, fire up and go, just be careful to set the seals nice and straight, and you shouldn't need to force the bearings, wiggle a bit and they should slip in with a bit of pressure but you won't need a press or anything.
Takes me about 2 hours, and I'm far from being a certified mechanic, I'm just to cheap to pay someone else to do something I can do...
bearings and seals will probably run around $60 or so, once again don't quote me on that...
Also at a pure guess, its the clutch side bearing that went... folks like to "warm up" a saw before running em.... sometimes by leaving the brake on and having it on half throttle... creates a bunch of heat on that side. Or more fun, getting hung up and thinking more throttle will save the day.
Personally, choke it till she pops, half thottle till she roars, bump the trigger and go, taint got time to mess around with "warming" up a saw.... And before anyone freaks out about that, I've got one of the first ms461's, it gets horribly abused for 20-30 hours a week for the last 3 years or so, left out in the rain, ran over, thrown, squished by logs, tossed by falling trees, smacked with axes... it still runs like a champ. If ya think that's bad you should read the laundry list on my poor ole ms 260...
Thanks Northman, The guys in Bellingham were great. I took the disassembled powerhead in and they suggested just replacing the bearings. He even had the parts in stock. $68 and I was out of there.
Clutch side bearing, as predicted. I was reasonably successful tearing it apart and getting it back together but I did have one glitch. When trying to remove the clutch I broke the piece in this picture. Problem is, I don't know what the hell it is. A guide or stop? Not much wear on it. I don't see it included on either the top end or bottom end kits so I'm hoping it is available from Stihl without buying a really expensive kit.
Can anybody tell me what this is called?
Clutch side bearing, as predicted. I was reasonably successful tearing it apart and getting it back together but I did have one glitch. When trying to remove the clutch I broke the piece in this picture. Problem is, I don't know what the hell it is. A guide or stop? Not much wear on it. I don't see it included on either the top end or bottom end kits so I'm hoping it is available from Stihl without buying a really expensive kit.
Can anybody tell me what this is called?
Thanks Mwmx54, that was the ticket.
Got the part yesterday ($5) and put the saw back together today. Had a couple of minor setbacks directly attributed to my inexperience, but eventually got it working. I haven't really run it hard but I did go through a 20" piece of fir I had lying around.
Starts good, very responsive throttle, torquey engine. I'm thrilled with this saw.
Total cost was $65 for the bearings and gaskets, $5 for the flange I broke, and $40 for a new chain.
Thanks to all that helped.
Got the part yesterday ($5) and put the saw back together today. Had a couple of minor setbacks directly attributed to my inexperience, but eventually got it working. I haven't really run it hard but I did go through a 20" piece of fir I had lying around.
Starts good, very responsive throttle, torquey engine. I'm thrilled with this saw.
Total cost was $65 for the bearings and gaskets, $5 for the flange I broke, and $40 for a new chain.
Thanks to all that helped.
