Stihl 041 rebuild

[bdurtka]

Rebuilding my late Grandpa's 041 farmboss.
Replacing all gaskets and seals due to vacuum leak.
After replacing gasket on fuel tank/recoil and crankshaft seals the tank/recoil won't go back on.
Feels like the middle of the pull start is hitting the end of the crankshaft.
I've taken it back apart several times and checked all mating surfaces.
Everything seems correct. Flywheel is lined up and doesn't look like it could go down anymore.
Took it to a stihl dealer that has a personal collection of 041's.
He took the plastic ring from the recoil and said it would be fine....
That was all he could do for me.
We still don't know what changed to make it not fit.
It does fit now but I never touched the plastic rings, I would rather it fit correctly.
has anyone ever ran into this before?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Dennisthemenace]

The chainsaw Gods are being capricious, they do that sometimes.
Put it away for a week and then have another look