What would you do?

[Timbo74]

My battle with my Husky 450s chain break is almost over...but it does just seem like one thing after another. I just got new innerds in my clutch cover, but found a new problem. It seems that my old brake handle's arch that goes over the cover is higher then the arch on the new handle. The new handle does not clear the cover, and since they don't make the old handle anymore, i am stuck modifying what i have. Gotta love all those revisions. Anyway if it was yours, knowing you may have to replace the brake again...would you take the material off the handle, or the cover? Some material has to go because once again...i cannot disengage the chain brake.

 

[s sidewall]

Trim the handle, don't think it would be noticed as bad as the covers would be.

Steve

 

[sunfish]

Damn man, the luck you have. . Why do you think you will need to replace the chain brake again? I have a few similar saws, same brake that are 15-19 years old with tons of hours on them and never had to replace one??? That said, I'd just trim the underside of the brake handle.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

I don't know if it would work, but maybe heat the front edge of the cover and gently bend it out of the way.

Maybe??

If that doesn't work (or you don't want to try it), I concur - take the material off the brake handle.

 

[Timbo74]

I ended up trimming about 1/4'' off both the cover and the handle, because of the way the weak part of the handle met the corner of the cover. I think it turned out ok, and the chain brake is now fully functional.

 

[Timbo74]

Damn man, the luck you have. . Why do you think you will need to replace the chain brake again? I have a few similar saws, same brake that are 15-19 years old with tons of hours on them and never had to replace one??? That said, I'd just trim the underside of the brake handle.

I meant to say i may have to replace the handle again, not the brake, sorry for not being clearer. I would have just trimmed the underside of the handle, but where the handle was touching, it was flush with the cover, so removing material underneith would'nt have helped much.

 

[sunfish]

I meant to say i may have to replace the handle again, not the brake, sorry for not being clearer. I would have just trimmed the underside of the handle, but where the handle was touching, it was flush with the cover, so removing material underneith would'nt have helped much.

Understood, but you shouldn't need to replace the brake handle again.

 

[Timbo74]

Good, i hope i don't have to.

 

[s sidewall]

Just out of curiosity, how did it get damaged in the first place. I've never worn one out, nor broken one. Of course I don't engage mine but once out of a blue moon.

Steve

 

[Timbo74]

Just out of curiosity, how did it get damaged in the first place. I've never worn one out, nor broken one. Of course I don't engage mine but once out of a blue moon.

Steve

I pulled the cover off with the brake engaged, then I tried to reset the brake using the wrong tool for the job, the said tool slipped off when it was about 75% to the reset point, and it bent the brake mechanism. I had to buy a new handle because the old one was very chewed up, because i tried to disengage the brake with the handle. I learned the hard way.

 

[s sidewall]

Oh, I remember that now, figured you would have bought the complete assembly. I dare not try to take mine apart unless I'm forced to. Glad to hear you got it repaired.

Steve

 

[chopper88]

Oh, I remember that now, figured you would have bought the complete assembly. I dare not try to take mine apart unless I'm forced to. Glad to hear you got it repaired.

Steve

It's not all to complicated to be honest.
I had never worked on a saw until a few weeks ago, when I bought a 562XP with a problem.
Of course I wasn't aware of this like most novices are, and just started disassembling the saw as received, with brake engaged...
I pulled everything from the clutch cover, cleaned it out and replaced everything that was worn/broken and put it back together.

This is what I did:

Disassembly:

1. Undo all screws inside cover
2. Push down on the spring hard to keep it from flying into your face and insert a small flat screwdriver into the spring end, with a handle big enough so the spring won't slide over it
3. Slowly start lifting the spring until it pops out and slides onto the screwdriver
4. Take the rest of the parts out (nothing complicated or under pressure anymore, everything just lifts out)

Assembly:

1. Put brake into engaged position if it wasn't (otherwise you'll never get the spring back on)
2. Slide the spring on to the pin
3. This time take a flat screwdriver that's wider than the spring, push down on the spring again with your hand so it won't fly out and then compress it carefully using the screwdriver so it fits back into the case again
4. Install the remaining parts and screw everything back together

Disengaging brake while off the saw:

1. Wrap the clutch cover with everything installed in a towel or similar so that it's wrapped about twice
2. Clamp the wrapped cover AS LOOSE AS POSSIBLE in a vice
3. Hold the brake handle firmly (no need to push excessively) against it like it were installed on the saw
4. Pull back the brake handle to disengage brake

It seems like a lot of steps and a hassle, but really isn't.
Me, with no prior experience did all of the above (except the cleaning part) in about 10/15 minutes.
The only 'hard' part is to not get the spring to fly away, or stab yourself with the screwdriver installing it again (I did, lesson learned, wear gloves!).

To visualize the screwdriver thing, this is not my vid, but I used this as an example on how to do it: