Stihl MS361 Rebuild - how do these bearings look? Should I run them?

[2-StrokeDude]

Hey guys, as I posted in another thread I am rebuilding a blown up MS 361. Just got a whole bunch of parts in the mail today, got a really nice cylinder and piston kit from meteor and it looks like amazing quality. Other than the cylinder kit and some other parts, I got a set of bearings and seals, and also a few gaskets in the mail as well.

Wondering if you guys think these are some good quality bearings? They seem like they’re pretty good, but I’ve never heard of the brand you can see the little letters etched on the edge of the bearings, are these brands good or should I go with some thing like SKS or NTN bearings? Not sure if anyone has heard of RTS saw shop but they are a seller on eBay who also claims to work on saws too so I hope they are decent quality if a shop is using them/selling them.

On the original cylinder from Stihl, it had a metal cylinder base gasket, but the seal kit came with a paper type one, is that OK to use or should I get a metal one?

Also, I believe these are the correct piston wrist pin circlips, correct? Which way should the clip openings face?

 

[2-StrokeDude]

Hey guys, as I posted in another thread I am rebuilding a blown up MS 361. Just got a whole bunch of parts in the mail today, got a really nice cylinder and piston kit from meteor and it looks like amazing quality. Other than the cylinder kit and some other parts, I got a set of bearings and seals, and also a few gaskets in the mail as well.

Wondering if you guys think these are some good quality bearings? They seem like they’re pretty good, but I’ve never heard of the brand you can see the little letters etched on the edge of the bearings, are these brands good or should I go with some thing like SKS or NTS bearings? Not sure if anyone has heard of RTS saw shop but they are a seller on eBay who also claims to work on saws too so I hope they are decent quality if a shop is using them/selling them.

On the original cylinder from Stihl, it had a metal cylinder base gasket, but the seal kit came with a paper type one, is that OK to use or should I get a metal one?

Also, I believe these are the correct piston wrist pin circlips, correct? Which way should the clip openings face?

 

[J D]

All looks ok to me... can't tell tolerances etc from pics but meteor is generally pretty good.
Assemble the top end dry & check your squish. That will tell you if you need the metal gasket (or any gasket).
Those clips don't have "ears" so shouldn't really matter which way they go in.
Not familiar with those bearings, so can't help you there

 

[SteveSr]

Those clips don't have "ears" so shouldn't really matter which way they go in.

Stihl recommends that their clips should be installed with the gap either up or down. Even though they have less mass than the "eared" clips they are still a spring.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

C&U is one of the largest Chinese bearing companies. Not regarded in the same league as some of the best but they're in next to everything now worldwide and considered fairly decent and one of the better of the Chinese companies. Should be fine. You're looking good to go with what you have there. As was said, gap of circlips recommended facing up or down, but my experience was any damn way you can get them on, call it good. Nightmare to compress them enough from that gap amount to get them to fit without collapsing them at all and losing some of the spring force. The old ones that came out of mine were permanently reduced to a much smaller gap than the news ones I tried to fit. I know you want as much tension in the clip as possible, but after an hour of cursing and retrieving the clips from every known direction they fell or shot off to, I reduced the gap a little on mine to make it possible to compress them enough to fit. They still seemed to have plenty of tension. Hopefully you can get them in as they are.

 

[bwalker]

C&U is one of the largest Chinese bearing companies. Not regarded in the same league as some of the best but they're in next to everything now worldwide and considered fairly decent and one of the better of the Chinese companies. Should be fine. You're looking good to go with what you have there. As was said, gap of circlips recommended facing up or down, but my experience was any damn way you can get them on, call it good. Nightmare to compress them enough from that gap amount to get them to fit without collapsing them at all and losing some of the spring force. The old ones that came out of mine were permanently reduced to a much smaller gap than the news ones I tried to fit. I know you want as much tension in the clip as possible, but after an hour of cursing and retrieving the clips from every known direction they fell or shot off to, I reduced the gap a little on mine to make it possible to compress them enough to fit. They still seemed to have plenty of tension. Hopefully you can get them in as they are.

Get a pair of cheap needle nose vise grip, grind the nose to a point and grind a ramp on one side. Makes install very easy.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Get a pair of cheap needle nose vise grip, grind the nose to a point and grind a ramp on one side. Makes install very easy.

I'll do that, thanks. Have needle nose vise grips that are relatively useless as they are, that will make good use of them. I learned a lot about having the right pliers for spring clips rebuilding my 4x4 transfer case these past couple weeks. Got $15 Lock Ring Horseshoe Washer pliers which you can't really do transmission/t-case work without. Made life so much easier. If you're just compressing instead of opening rings, you can usually grind existing pliers to do what you want.