steve_earwig wrote:Nah, I'll keep it and see if I can fix it at some point. It's not like I found these things, my dad had and used them for years, so I'm reluctant to just throw them away. I won't know what's wrong with it until I pull it apart but I can get a (pattern) piston for it off the bay for 15 quid, which would be good enough providing the barrel isn't too chewed (or I could go completely mad
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CYLINDER-PIST ... 336c1a822d ).
Well, the weather's pretty crap so I thought I'd have a go at this. Very quickly I discovered why it lacked power:
Yeah, the rings are worn out my arse. Not being familiar with Tillotson carbs I'm not sure what this pipe does but it's probably the fuel pump. So, very little fuel, crankcase lacks compression, no power at all. I managed to free off the machine too, it seemed to have plenty of compression (shock) but it felt like it was full of gravel. Pull the barrel off and very quickly I can see bits of swarf hanging about. The barrel and piston look fine, just a few scratches from the swarf probably, the rings look fine too.
Looking at the big end through the hole in the crankcase I can see bits and pieces hanging out of it and it seems to be missing half a thrust washer, so the big end bearing, which is a roller cage, has disintegrated.
What's the betting the idiot has held it at full throttle while he tries to dial in the carb and it's overheated the big end? And remember folks, this is supposed to have been an expert wot dun this.
Sadly the conrod, big end and crank are all one big expensive bit, about 180 quid from Stihl. I noticed they're cheaper from the US but then the crooks at the customs house get another chance to ream me. Then I found
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Crankshaft-As ... 5d45069234 which is a pattern part but I've been reading about and they seem ok. Coming from Greece, which is inside the EU last time I looked, means HR customs and the greedy thieving spedition wankers can go f*ck themselves (bad experience which I might tell you about if I ever get over how angry it made me). They also do the bearings, seals and gaskets. Cool. I could probably rebuild this for less than a ton.
The question is should I do this? Sensible says I don't need two of these, hell I probably wouldn't even be able to use one for very long 'cos they're damn heavy, plus they aren't actually worth much in Croatia because they're massive and there's newer and cheaper stuff with lots of safety features, of which these have, er, none.
TBH part of me is thinking that if I can resurrect this one then I haven't been quite so badly shafted for once. And I'll never have to tell my dad what I let some moron do to his chainsaw...
I did that with the whizzy attachment on the boggo tizzy Karcher. I dunno if you're actually using some sort of brush attachment, this thing's just like a normal lance but something in the end of it spins round making a kind of farting noise.
