im pretty sure you can do it without spliting the fuel tank but take the fueltank\handle off the saw. there should be two little pins you have to pop out, one pin holds the trigger and the other pin holds the lock. both the trigger and lock use these pins to pivot on. it can be a pain in the ass to get things back in there and properly aligned but it can be done. i just had my 371xp apart last week because my throtle cable fell off inside the handle and i had to take the whole trigger assembly out to get the cable back on.