Stihl MS280 stuck crank

[moretools]

Hi all. A friend gave me a running MS280 which needed a new clutch and some clean-up. I got it apart and cleaned okay, but am having some trouble on re-assembly. It appears that the crank or piston is banging against something. It will move freely about a quarter turn then hits a hard stop. I removed the muffler and can see that it goes down far enough to see the first ring. I am new to chainsaw rebuilding, but familiar with other 2 stroke engine equipment. Any help on what I did wrong is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[HarleyT]

I assume that it did not do this before you touched it. Describe how you removed the clutch.

 

[moretools]

Right, didn't do it before, it ran fine. To remove the clutch i removed the spark plug and stuffed a nylon rope through the hole. Then unscrewed the clutch in reverse thread.

BTW, I did notice the crank would freely rotate forward, but hit that hard stop when rotating backward while I had it apart. I wasn't sure what to make of it so I put it back together, pulled the rope a few times, then it wouldn't go forward or backward more than a quarter turn.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[HarleyT]

Did all of your rope come back out?

 

[moretools]

yes. it sounds/feels like it's hitting a hard metal stop.

 

[HarleyT]

Take off your starter and make sure you don't have something caught in the flywheel.

 

[moretools]

Did that. Nothing there. I think next step is to remove the cylinder? Is it just those 4 torx bolts?

 

[HarleyT]

Here is the manual...

 

[moretools]

thanks Buddy!

 

[lwn9186]

Pull the flywheel and make sure the oil tank screw didn't back out.

 

[moretools]

lwn9186, you nailed it. As you said, it was the screw backed out. thanks everyone for the support.