Josh Long
ArboristSite Lurker
So long story on that saw:
Bought it running for $200, August 2nd as a bday present, then the flywheel key snapped on it the first day I had her out that week.
I put the big bore kit on it $130, and lined up the timing by eye, it ran fine for one log, then the cylinder bolt heads sheared off (guess I needed to retorq after running it for a minute).
Put new bolts in but it wouldn't idle and would only run wide open, and would bog sometimes until I popped the air filter back off and on. I made a few cuts with it trying to tune the carb, and fiddled with it for a couple of days, but wasn't getting anywhere. It acted like an air leak to me, so I replace the crank seals. Still wouldn't run right. I redid the cylinder gasket. Still funky. I'm not the best with carbs so after having cleaned the carb and still no luck I broke down and took it to the shop and they said the carb failed a pressure test and needed rebuilt and that the liquid copper gasket I was using was a bad idea. I paid them around $110 to do the carb and sell me an oem gasket. I took the saw home and rebuilt it myself to save on labor, and still she acted the same, wouldn't idle, would run/bog w/o. Took it back to the shop to have tune it, and they said the timing was off and I would need to replace the flywheel before it could be tuned. So rather than have a $400 paperweight, I thought it would be better to have a $550 runner; i bought the $140 flywheel. The $%*#!# thing still acted the same, except now I could barely get it to run at all.
Took it back to the shop and they pressure tested it (I thought they had done this before because I thought it had an air leak). They told me it needed the clutch side crank seal, and the impulse nipple on the new bbk was leaking but they felt they had repaired this with epoxy, also mild scoring on the piston and cylinder. 
I got ahold of Weedeaterman at this time to let him know I may need a return if the epoxy failed, and without any effort from me he shipped me a new one "so I would have a back up on hand in case I needed it", no questions asked. I'm very impressed with him and his business FYI; buy with confidence.
I decided to have them put in the crank seal because if it was still leaking I must have botched it somehow. They then called me to tell me the saw was "totaled" basically. They said there is play in the crank, and that is why the seal failed. There was also a "little bit of rust under the seal" and he wasn't sure if it was the bearings that were bad or the crank and it was "cost prohibitive relative to the value of the saw" to repair it. I wish they would have told me that $370 ago!
So to answer your question, why not replace the bearing? 1) I'm still not entirely sure that is the exact problem 2) I need to learn how to split a case 3) Last but not least I have been trying to get that saw running since early August, I would like to fix it, neigh, love to fix it (it has been the bane of my 2 stroke existence) but I would like to have a functioning saw in the mean time. I have learned a lot about 2 strokes with that saw, I could take it apart and rebuild it blindfolded now, but its been the hard way pretty much every time.
Good question
