Found a decent deal on an 044

PogoInTheWoods said:

Right about now, how 'bout a couple nice ones of those steaks? I'm gettin' hungry!

Nice work, man. It's just cool to watch the details of these projects unfold -- sometimes right down to the seals gettin' pulled. We (or someone) will all hopefully learn something during the process.

Poge

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I'm learning a lot. This is my first engine rebuild of any kind. Steaks...what steaks? I don't see any steaks left.

I haven't taken pictures of any of the actual procedures I'm doing, just as things unfold. The service manual is pretty decent at walking through the steps. The biggest thing is figuring out how to make things happen when you don't have the tools Stihl uses in the manual or the little tips/tricks like the rope since the plastic piston stops seem to break when removing the clutch. Stuff like that has been the difference maker.

I'm sure there will be more to learn as I eventually start working my way toward putting parts back on rather than taking them off.

I can't wait to pull the rope and hear this thing run the first time. I'll be happy that I was able to tear it down, almost to the bare cases, and then rebuild it and get it running, but that is a going to be at least a few days as this weekend is almost shot as I'm cutting tomorrow and we're doing a blue crab fest on Sunday in Maryland.

$100 for the saw, 2 28" bars, a 32" bar, and 7 chains of each length.
$216.55 from Baileys
I'm guessing somewhere between $30-$50 in misc parts from two local dealers.

I'm not going to count the price of the tools I bought as I'll use them quite a bit more for other things as well. The saw will end up costing $350-$400 and will almost be a new saw top to bottom.

I'm happy with that considering I've seen quite a few 044s go for over $400 and they certainly aren't fresh rebuilds and I learned a lot along the way.

The way your case halves line up in the one pic is just fine. For cleaning out the case just prior to p/c install I like to hold the saw with the oil tank vertical and spray the inside with carb cleaner letting it run out the impulse barb. Rotate the crank a couple times and keep spraying til it is nice and clean. Hit the bearings with a little oil of some kind and spread it around. Make sure you check the squish and that your piston is in the right way and you should be good to go. Looking forward to seeing a video of this saw running. Do they show you the method of using a small length of string to get the manifold thru the tank, in the manual?

oscar4883 said:

The way your case halves line up in the one pic is just fine.

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Sweet. Thanks.

oscar4883 said:

For cleaning out the case just prior to p/c install I like to hold the saw with the oil tank vertical and spray the inside with carb cleaner letting it run out the impulse barb. Rotate the crank a couple times and keep spraying til it is nice and clean. Hit the bearings with a little oil of some kind and spread it around.

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Sounds good. I have all of that stuff.

oscar4883 said:

Make sure you check the squish and that your piston is in the right way and you should be good to go. Looking forward to seeing a video of this saw running.

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I've read about squish on the site, but I have no idea how to measure it. Haven't seen a thread on how to come up with that number. I would appreciate some enlightenment.

oscar4883 said:

Do they show you the method of using a small length of string to get the manifold thru the tank, in the manual?

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????????? Forgive me, but I'm not sure what you're talking about here.

For squish get some electrical solder, like sold at radioshack, and cut some pieces about 3/8th or so long. Put them at 12-3-6-9 on the top of your piston. Hold them in place with a dab of grease. Make sure that they are at the piston edge so they will be sure to hit the squish band at the top of the cylinder. Then, without rings, slide the cylinder on and bolt it down like normal. Remove cylinder and measure solder. This measurement is you squish. .020 is probably perfect, but a little less or more is cool too. If you can run without a gasket thats great, if not soda/beer cans make great gasket material.

By wrapping a piece of string around the intake manifold just behind the flange, you can pull the manifold through the tank easier. Just feed the string through and as you slide the tank and case together just pull the manifold in with the string.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=61178&highlight=string&page=4

Post 56 shows the string trick.

oscar4883 said:

For squish get some electrical solder, like sold at radioshack, and cut some pieces about 3/8th or so long. Put them at 12-3-6-9 on the top of your piston. Hold them in place with a dab of grease. Make sure that they are at the piston edge so they will be sure to hit the squish band at the top of the cylinder. Then, without rings, slide the cylinder on and bolt it down like normal. Remove cylinder and measure solder. This measurement is you squish. .020 is probably perfect, but a little less or more is cool too. If you can run without a gasket thats great, if not soda/beer cans make great gasket material.

By wrapping a piece of string around the intake manifold just behind the flange, you can pull the manifold through the tank easier. Just feed the string through and as you slide the tank and case together just pull the manifold in with the string.

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I haven't used solder since high school. It's soft enough that it will compress/flatten a bit when the piston is at TDC?

Yes, the service manual uses the string method.

Learning has occurred.

oscar4883 said:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=61178&highlight=string&page=4

Post 56 shows the string trick.

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Until you asked about it, I hadn't gone on to the reassembly part of the manual. I was initially assuming it was like a lot of other things in the manual - reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.

Yup. The solder is very soft. I think the stuff I got from Radioshack measures slightly over 30 thou or so. The string method for manifold installation is a life saver.

I have the service manual but never even looked through it. Never saw that string trick. I will have to remember that. Learn something new everyday.

Oil pump is good...quick test was to stick the end the oil flows out of in water and turn the gear and when bubbles come out, I'm guessing that means it's good.

I cleaned a bunch of crud off the flywheel with a brush and some purple cleaner, and a bit of dish soap.

Brian13 said:

I have the service manual but never even looked through it. Never saw that string trick. I will have to remember that. Learn something new everyday.

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I preferred to use the manual since I had never done any kind of engine rebuilding like this before. I use a repair manual when working on Jeep. Usually saves me time and money (not breaking things when taking things apart or putting the new parts back in).

What is on my worm gear? Feels like melted plastic.


Clean clutch and other bits and pieces:

I know what you mean. I should have used the manual but I just used the it probably goes back the same way it came apart method. As for the worm gear. Looks like it got hot. I would probably replace it.

Brian13 said:

I know what you mean. I should have used the manual but I just used the it probably goes back the same way it came apart method. As for the worm gear. Looks like it got hot. I would probably replace it.

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I'm wondering what caused this to happen. I'm sure running lean heated things up a bit, but what would have caused the heat to get high enough for this to happen to the plastics around the clutch drum? It feels like it melted and was charred/burnt.

I dont know if running it lean will cause enough heat there, but running it with the chain brake engaged will. Or I guess running lean as it was loosing power starting to slip on the drum. Either way the drum got pretty hot it looks like.

crud can get packed in there and rub on the brake band or start to bind it up. If it pitchy pine pretty easy to get it smouldering. Or could be a bunch of other things but I've seen pine pitch do that

Picked up one of these today at CarQuest to pull the seal on the flywheel side. It needed some attention with a file to get the "hook" small enough to grab that small seal.


Not much progress today as I was cutting. I'm going to pick up some sandpaper tomorrow from my BIL to wet sand the plastics. Going to a crab feast in Maryland tomorrow and probably won't get done because of that.

Adding these three part numbers to the order on Monday to replace those charred looking chain brake covers and the worm gear:
1128 640 7110 worm
1128 021 1101 cover
1128 021 1105 cover

I have an 044 apart on my bench as we speak. If you need any pics on the installation process, squish, etc., let me know and i can snap some.

oscar4883 said:

I have an 044 apart on my bench as we speak. If you need any pics on the installation process, squish, etc., let me know and i can snap some.

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Thanks, pics of the squish process would probably be helpful. All the replacement parts I need to get started on assembly are in. Case received the final cleaning tonight and some air compressor love. I won't be able to get started on the assembly until next week as I go out of town tomorrow through Sunday.

I started reading about installing the snap rings to hold the wrist pin in since I don't have the Stihl tool described in the service manual. I'd like to read about getting the oil seals in place without the Stihl tool as well and then get the seals on, piston on the rod, check the squish, and finish up with the reassembly next week.

Sorry but I got mine back together already. Built an 044 with a 460 top on it and with the gasketless squish at .018 and plugged de-comp it was tough to pull. Built it for another climber and I had to go back in and add a soda can gasket to raise the squish. Thought it would be a little rough to start in a tree running gasketless. For the cir-clips get a carb tuning screwdriver and file a slight v-shaped notch in the blade. Slightly off center works well. I will get a pic of the set-up for checking squish later this afternoon for ya.