Stihl 046 Project Saw

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jweier111

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It's been a hot minute since I've been able to spend much time on chainsaws. Had some health issues last year that I'm finally getting out from under. And now have some time to start working on saws again. But I figured I would start this one about the latest project saw that I acquired last week. And absolute basketcase Stihl 046. Kind of funny back story. This saw popped up on Marketplace in the area I grew up in. My dad had looked at the ad as well. Turns out the seller was the son of a highschool classmate of mine. Anyway, it had been ridden hard and put away wet for a number of years and developed a low compression problem. They took it to a local saw guy (a real good wrench I've had work on my own equipment before). His take was it was too far gone, and I understand why. If you are a guy trying to make a living doing repairs, a full rebuild on something in this shape is a risk that you really can't afford. For someone like me who's too dumb to care about the time...it's perfect.


I didn't get a lot of before pictures, but here is a bit of sampling of what we're dealing with.

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It's actually not that bad in the area aroudn the flywheel. You can see my 066 in the background.


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The plastics are missing. It's caked in baked on oil and sawdust. All kinds of missing parts. But my goal is to build a runner. Not a wall hanger. So cosmetics don't worry me. I cracked the cylinder first to get an idea of what we're looking at. And the amazing thing was the crank, bearings, and cylinder didn't look half bad. The piston on the other hand...

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That is hosed. The rings are stuck and the scoring is awful. Thankfully the stock cylinder was able to be saved. I had to do a little polishing on the transfers that corresponded to the piston damage. But it only took a few minutes of hand work to take the rough spots out and bevel off the transfer ports smooth. When it was cleaned up the cylinder looked pretty good to me. But I'm still going to stick a hone down it before final assembly.

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I'm operating under the assumption that the rings and pistons were the main culprit behind the compression being low. But after the experiance I had chasing air leaks on the Husky 262XP rebuild (that thread will be updated again soon) I'm not taking any chances. So I'm replacing the oil seals right off the go. But first a lot of cleaning had to happen. Which of course I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of.

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At least the carb was relatively clean.

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So after a lot of digging at nooks and crannies with a dental pick and a flat head screwdriver we're mostly clean. Again this is going to be a user saw. So I'm not going over the top on the cleaning or painting.
I've ordered up parts, and most have already arrived. I'm mixing and matching between OEM, aftermarket, and genuine "Chinesium" reproductions (limited to just the covers for the most part). I ordered Meteor 52mm Cylinder with Caber rings. A muffler and gaskets from Highway. Stihl replacement hoses, carb boot, clutch, and anti-vibe isolators. And replacement plastic covers from Farmertec. I have to check the coil and oil pump yet, but if they are shot I'm likely going to go with OEM for both. More parts are coming next week (a handful of things I missed). In the mean time I'm going to pull the carb for rebuilding and get the flywheel and clutch off. So far it's been a nice project to work on outside after work in the warm spring weather we've been having. I'll post some more photos as I get further along.
 
I've made a little more progress in the past couple of days. The carb has now been completely rebuilt.

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When I removed the clutch I notice that there is a groove worn in the oil pump's housing. I'm not sure what would have caused something like that. But I've got a new pump ordered.

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I didn't take pictures of the seal replacement. Honestly, I kind of struggled with how to do it for a bit. Seemed like everything I could find about it involved buying a $100 puller. I ran across Bellhopper's video on replacing crank seals for this saw. He just used a rounded-down, small, flat-head screwdriver. So...that's what I did (being careful not to scratch up the seal seat or the crank). It was pretty simple. Installing them I just used a 7/8 socket for the small seal, and a 9/16 for the large seal. I was over thinking it apparently. Because it didn't take long and wasn't particularly hard. I checked the bearings out while the jug was off with a mirror and bright flashlight. They seemed to be in really good shape.

So I continued on with the reassembly. I've got the new piston and rings in, along with the jug, muffler, and new rubber mounts. I'm at a bit of a standstill until tomorrow. The wrong impulse line was shipped and somehow I misplaced the inner intake boot ring. Those parts and the new coil should be here tomorrow. And then I can continue putting things back together.

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Stihl cylinders continue to amaze me with the amount of abuse they can take and still be serviceable.
I picked up a MS440 about a year ago that had a chunk of the piston between the rings broken off.
I planned to convert it into a 440/460 Hybrid saw just based on what I could see with the muffler was removed.
To my surprise, the cylinder was serviceable and the saw was back up and running after the piston was replaced and the aluminum deposits on the cylinder walls removed.
 
It's been a hot minute since I've been able to spend much time on chainsaws. Had some health issues last year that I'm finally getting out from under. And now have some time to start working on saws again. But I figured I would start this one about the latest project saw that I acquired last week. And absolute basketcase Stihl 046. Kind of funny back story. This saw popped up on Marketplace in the area I grew up in. My dad had looked at the ad as well. Turns out the seller was the son of a highschool classmate of mine. Anyway, it had been ridden hard and put away wet for a number of years and developed a low compression problem. They took it to a local saw guy (a real good wrench I've had work on my own equipment before). His take was it was too far gone, and I understand why. If you are a guy trying to make a living doing repairs, a full rebuild on something in this shape is a risk that you really can't afford. For someone like me who's too dumb to care about the time...it's perfect.


I didn't get a lot of before pictures, but here is a bit of sampling of what we're dealing with.

View attachment 1075186

View attachment 1075187

It's actually not that bad in the area aroudn the flywheel. You can see my 066 in the background.


View attachment 1075188

The plastics are missing. It's caked in baked on oil and sawdust. All kinds of missing parts. But my goal is to build a runner. Not a wall hanger. So cosmetics don't worry me. I cracked the cylinder first to get an idea of what we're looking at. And the amazing thing was the crank, bearings, and cylinder didn't look half bad. The piston on the other hand...

View attachment 1075189


That is hosed. The rings are stuck and the scoring is awful. Thankfully the stock cylinder was able to be saved. I had to do a little polishing on the transfers that corresponded to the piston damage. But it only took a few minutes of hand work to take the rough spots out and bevel off the transfer ports smooth. When it was cleaned up the cylinder looked pretty good to me. But I'm still going to stick a hone down it before final assembly.

View attachment 1075191

View attachment 1075192

I'm operating under the assumption that the rings and pistons were the main culprit behind the compression being low. But after the experiance I had chasing air leaks on the Husky 262XP rebuild (that thread will be updated again soon) I'm not taking any chances. So I'm replacing the oil seals right off the go. But first a lot of cleaning had to happen. Which of course I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of.

View attachment 1075193

View attachment 1075194

At least the carb was relatively clean.

View attachment 1075195

So after a lot of digging at nooks and crannies with a dental pick and a flat head screwdriver we're mostly clean. Again this is going to be a user saw. So I'm not going over the top on the cleaning or painting.
I've ordered up parts, and most have already arrived. I'm mixing and matching between OEM, aftermarket, and genuine "Chinesium" reproductions (limited to just the covers for the most part). I ordered Meteor 52mm Cylinder with Caber rings. A muffler and gaskets from Highway. Stihl replacement hoses, carb boot, clutch, and anti-vibe isolators. And replacement plastic covers from Farmertec. I have to check the coil and oil pump yet, but if they are shot I'm likely going to go with OEM for both. More parts are coming next week (a handful of things I missed). In the mean time I'm going to pull the carb for rebuilding and get the flywheel and clutch off. So far it's been a nice project to work on outside after work in the warm spring weather we've been having. I'll post some more photos as I get further along.
Too bad you aren't using the OEM cyl, could of saved a bunch and ended up with a good runner. The Meteor cyl are ok but OEM is better. Since your that far in, why not do the bearings as well!?
 
My kinda saw build, fyi the single ring weisco piston that CCC is selling adds some decent pep in its step. Cant remember if these are supposed to have the spacer/washer behind the worm gear on the crank, if its missing the worm could walk in and out hitting the pump.
 
Too bad you aren't using the OEM cyl, could of saved a bunch and ended up with a good runner. The Meteor cyl are ok but OEM is better. Since your that far in, why not do the bearings as well!?
Personally I use Meteor cylinders on my rebuilds and haven't experienced and issues.
However, the OEM cylinders on the saws were toast before they ended up on my workbench so I don't have a reference point.
I wonder if anyone has dyno'ed a Meteor cylinder and compared the results to an OEM Stihl?
When I rehab Husqvarna saws, I use OEM piston and cylinders as they are priced quite reasonably as compared to aggressive pricing on Stihl parts.
I'll use my current 346XP rebuild as an example. I was able to purchase an OEM 346 piston and cylinder for $125, while a Stihl OEM set for a 026/MS260 will set you back over $300.

Replacing the crankshaft bearings is a substantial amount of additional work.
Splitting the case and replacing the bearings is something I avoid, unless there are reasons to do so.
 
@grizz55chev and anyone else who might be wondering; I am using the OEM cylinder that was on the saw. It was in fine shape just required some cleanup (pictured above). I did replace the piston though with a Meteor and Caber rings. I agree with @John Lyngdal about replacing the crank bearings. To my mind, unless it is 100% necessary to split the case I try to avoid it. That's just me. I can't detect any play in the shaft, and the bearings looked fine on close inspection. If I was planning to do a full "make it pretty" restoration or was doing professional production I would probably have a different take on it. Really the intended purpose for this saw is to complement my 066 for milling. Running in an edger min-mill setup, and occasional bucking while the 066 stays in the 42" Granberg the rest of the time. At the moment, with the purchase of the saw and all the parts I only have about $475 tied up in this saw. Which to my mind isn't too bad given second-hand saw prices in my area. Best price I've seen on something local that is in "ready to run" shape recently was $500 for an 044. But the seller is a flake who's left me hanging out to dry once before...so I wasn't about to go down that road a second time lol.
 
I just finished mine, seems to have a bad airleak. I have to test when I get back from my road trip. I looked and my mighty vac is vacuum only, I know they sell one that can do vac and press. My next purchase.
 
I didn't do a great job of taking in-progress photos. Mostly because the saw went back together quickly. Yes, I did most of the reassembly in my living room. And yes...my wife and I are planning the divorce presently.

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Just to qualify this video; there has been zero tuning to the carb at this point. It was just a test start (second of 3) to figure out where it was. I got into the throttle a little too hard (and should have had something under it 🙄). But running a camera and a saw at the same time isn't the easiest lol.

Video here

To my ear, it sounds too lean on the high jet and needs to be richened up some. I've been recovering from neck surgery earlier this year. So I had my dad help with the initial cold start. The look on his face the first time he gave it the gas :surprised3: ...was priceless.

I'm going to throw a bar and chain on it and test it with the tac to get the carb adjusted this week. I'll post another video once we've had a few tanks of gas through it to break in the rings. But I'm happy it can now be added to my small fleet of Stihls.

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About a month ago I went to the dump and found a Husqvarna 272 XPG and a Stihl 046 tossed in the metal salvage pile. The 272 had a mismatched spring on the clutch and a broken chain brake, the 046 had a broken rear handle (but is has a full wrap front handle) and scored piston and cylinder. Both were as dirty as the one you show. I am looking forward to digging into the 046 and get it working again.

Glad your Farmertec covers fit, I bought some for my 066 and they didn't fit, I think they were instead molded for an early 660. I went onto e-bay and bought some well used covers that fit.
 

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