Stihl 051 AV I picked up this evening.

[Hddnis]

Came from a farmer.

36" .404 bar and chain. Original bar on the saw. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

I'm still thinking about just selling the parts, but I doubt I'll be able to do that, I like to bring them back to life.

Mr. HE

 

[Hddnis]

Now we start getting to the heart of the matter.

This fell out of the exhaust. A bunch more fell out later, it is a mess in there.

Out board clutch. This saw has thrown a few chains. Getting the chain between the clutch and the muffler is far harder than it should be.

Fuel tank/recoil cover removed.

Mr. HE

 

[Hddnis]

Flywheel.

Tig welded repair on the rear handle. This could be ground and sanded to look like new.

As I mentioned it has thrown a few chains. I imagine they all look like this if they've been used much.

Dirty, dirty, dirty boy.

Gasket is gone, it was leaking air through here, probably why he couldn't get it to run.

There are some scratches on the piston, nothing that would keep it from running hard and long. Cylinder is in really good shape. Bearings felt smooth when I rotated everything by hand.

Compression release is very dirty and will get a trip thourgh the sonic cleaner.

The more I think about it the more I think this one is going back together to be a runner. Just too good of shape to not give it that respect.


Mr. HE

 

[madhatte]

I'm pretty sure the first saw I ever ran was an 051AV with a 20" bar. It was huge and scary and loud and powerful, and I want one.

 

[sawman2077]

Good find. Looks like it should be a killer saw.

 

[dave k]

I had mine out felling pines with it only on Thursday and I enjoyed it ! A heavy saw for the cc's but who cares ? You will have to find a 050 to match it now ! Looking forward to seeing it back to life.

 

[Hddnis]

Well, further work reveals that this saw needs new seals, not a surprise, but they don't seem to be available anymore. The dealer that is open on Saturday said they are NLA. I'll still call the other dealer that I like much better since he has a way of finding items the first dealer can't. Also going to check ebay and see what is there.


Here are some more pictures of what I've found so far. Looks like the seal between the oil tank and crankcase was leaking a little bit based on the oily carbon build up.

Jug looks good. There is some smearing of the oily carbon. I have not cleaned it yet, but it doesn't look like there are any scratches.

Piston is decent too. Rings are partly stuck, but even they look good. I tend to replace them as a matter of course, but I'll wait to see if OEM is available and what compression is with the old ones.

Bearings are a little gritty. I think they'll flush out ok and be smooth and tight, based on the rest of the saw they should be in good shape. The trouble is that I think some of the grit from the muffler made it back into the saw.

Mr. HE

 

[epicklein22]

I'm wondering if those shavings from your muffler are from a loose baffle inside the muffler? I have seen plenty of 051/075/076/TS510/TS760 with this problem.

Aftermarket seals should be available....

Might as well by a meteor piston as that piston you have doesn't look that great. It might work fine for quite a while, but the piston slap will kill that saw eventually.

 

[giljack]

Stihl 051 AVE

I just purchased (4 weeks ago) a Stihl 051 AV Electronic off of Craig's list for $75.00. It was advertised for $100.00 in Raleigh, NC and I called the seller up and drove to Raleigh to look at it. When I got there the seller had a Honda generator in parts using the tailgate of his truck as a work bench and then switched to taking the carburetor on the 051 to clean it up with "Sea Foam". I painfully watched him tear the carburetor down and eventually told him that I wanted it for parts and offered him $50.00 plus he would have to put the carburetor back together. We settled on $75.00 and he put it back together. He had sea foam in the gas tank and he started it up and it ran. The muffler was hanging on with wire, it was missing the air filter and the chain although new had been used to cut nails and was dull as could be.
I got it back home and after a couple of weeks found a chance to look at it and cleaned it up. It had the remnants of a dirt dobber nest on the frame, bar oil and sawdust was dried hard and caked on the saw. I don't think that it had been run in quite a while. I put a sharp chain on it and blew it off with and air hose and scraped as much as the gunk I could off. I used isopropyl alcohol to clean it (the isopropyl alcohol dissolved the paint on the 051 logo, probably won't use it again to clean). I cranked it over and it cranked easy for an 051 with no compression release and cut some oak logs and it would die out at high rmp's. It idled perfectly. I thought that the engine had low compression. As I was putting it up I noticed that the spark plug was loose and turned it a couple of turns to tighter it. The loose spark plug was acting as a compression release and also explained the power loss at high rpm's. I am now a firm believer in sea foam and have used it to clean the carburetor on a honda lawn mower that I had not used in two years because it would surge and die out and it ran perfectly.
I already had an 051 that I bought 32 years ago and the shroud (handle) had broken and the rubber shock absorber bushings had come apart. I found a shroud for about $60.00 on Craig's list off of an O51 cut off saw and with some modification it worked. I installed new bushings that I bought 7 years ago and installed a new starter rope. The plastic cup that stabilizes the starter mechanism when you crank it had broken and the saw made a god awful noise.
I took the saw to Gum Springs Garage in Pittsboro, NC and they didn't have a new plastic cup and so they took it out and the racket stopped. I left it with them and they ordered a carb kit and when I picked it up it ran the best it has ever run and even idles. To get it started we figured out that I slowly pull it over with the starter rope until it gets just past bottom dead center on the compression stroke and as I was told (pull the hell out of the starter rope). It starts beautifully without jerking my hand off.
I have an MS 260 which has stopped oiling the chain and I have ordered a conversion kit to install an adjustable oil pump for the MS 260 pro on it.
Giljack (Stihl's-- 2 O51 AVE's, 1 MS 260 and 1 011)

 

[Hddnis]

Howdy, giljack, interesting story you have there on the 051's

The one that started this thread is carefully packed from my move earlier this year. Most of the parts are painted and I have all the new parts I need to put it together. When I get some time this fall I'll unpack it all, post a bunch of pics, and finish this thead.



Mr. HE