wrecked my 462, today, somewhat!

My granddaughter wants to have a bonfire and have some friends over for her birthday. So, I decided to cut a bunch of green elm rounds up, to make a fire ring, instead of going around hunting up a bunch of big rocks or buying concrete blocks, etc.

I had a big elm down, which I had dropped back a while, and messed around making a double cut at a Y, and the tree dropped and took my saw with it. I just didn't judge it right, I expected it to drop, but not in the way it did. It grabbed my saw at the falling dogs and jammed it into the ground, but still pinched in the log. The lightweight bar look bowed and the chain was about off of the saw. I grabbed my 362 and made another cut and freed the saw up.

The bar was OK, and the chain with a slight tap with my knife, went back in place on the bar. I picked the saw up and I noticed the handle felt different and then I saw that the top part of the handle above the trigger was missing. I found it, and did not see any damage, the trigger block had fell out but I found that too, and was able to snap it all back in place, no problem. I knew the tree was putting a lot of weight on the back of the saw, and I guess deflection or something popped the top of the handle out.

I got that fixed and started sawing again, then in a little bit, I noticed the chain was a little too loose, it was a brand new chain. I set it up in the tailgate, and noticed that the back bar nut was looser then normal, and after tightening the chain, I discovered that the back bar nut would not tighten up solid, anymore. I went ahead and run the saw for several more cuts, with only the front bar nut actually tight. I may have been over tightening the bar nuts, all along and that one finally gave up. So, the bar nut, and or the bar stud bolt is stripped out, apparently. I have not taken it apart yet. I guess I could have damaged it in the wreck, hopefully nothing more serious then a bar nut or stud replacement.

I may go take it apart, after while for a closer look.

 

Well, darn it, I took it apart far enough to determine that the stud bolt and bar nut are alright. The stud bolt backed out easy enough and the threads are apparently stripped in the saw itself. I took a bar nut off of my 461 and screwed it on the stud, and could tell that stud bolt was turning in the saw body. The bar nut stuck enough that the stud bolt backed out, so this allowed me to identify that the damage was the threaded hole in the saw, itself, probably from just over tightening, I guess.

So, how much trouble and expense is this going to be?

 

A popular replacement for stripped case threads is a bolt from an 056. It has the same 8MM bar nut thread, but it uses 10 MM rather than 8 going into the case. You would also need the proper size drill and tap along with some red Loctite

 

Or buy a new case half, or have the hole welded shut and re-drilled and tapped

 

When I look into the hole I see it's open on the other end, I believe. I assume it going into the bar oil tank? So, if that's the case, I will have to take it all apart, to get any cuttings out of the oil tank? Drilling and tapping is something I can handle. Not sure about taking everything apart, or am I wrong on this? I would love to be able to just drill and tap it right in place. I would be tempted to just try and blow any cuttings out with air, and then sloshing with gas.

How's it usually done?

 

Just to consider all of the options, approximately what would a new half case cost? Of course if I have to remove it, it would be relatively simple to drill and tap out to for the 056, at that point. A drill bit and tap wouldn't be that expensive, I am assuming the half case would be a lot more, probably.

 

I just remembered, that saw is less then a year old. I wonder if that would be something covered by Stihl's warranty? I may call, but I am going to guess not. They would probably just accuse me of over tightening it. At any rate, I recon I will go a lot easier on tightening the bar nuts in the future.

 

I’d flush the oil tank out with gas a few times first to get rid of the oil residue and blow it out with air until it was dry. And then once your drilling and tapping is done, blow it out with air and flush with gas one more time. And then go back to work with it. Not a bad idea to remove the oil pump and hose before hand just so no shavings get into the pump

 

A stab in the dark, but the case half is probably $150

 

I don’t think your tightening stripped out the bolt. But the bending action of the bar could definitely have pulled some threads. As soon as you stop tightening the nuts up, you will be replacing chain tensioners

 

I know some people who really crank down on tightening bar nuts hoping that it will prevent the chain from going slack.
It is a pia when I am doing pm on the saw and have to break them loose. If stripping stud threads was possible from over tightening, they would have done it by now.

 

Is this a R model Lastmohecken? Have read the cracked bar stud housing has happened on the R models running 28" and longer bars. Also the 661 R has had problems. I'd talk to your dealer and see what they say. Good luck.

 

I tend to go a little light on tightening the bar nuts because I tend to have a gorilla grip and over tighten everything. After ruining a couple saws (cheaper ones) by pulling the studs out from overtightening, I backed way off and only use my thumb to tighten them. That worked well till I had an aggressive chain grab in some Sugar Maple a couple months ago. Like huskihl says, it trashed my chain tensioner. I go a little tighter than my thumb grip now, but I don't give them my full gorilla grunt... I'd still rather replace a chain tensioner than a snapped off crank.

 

No, not an R model.

 

I am thinking maybe it could have been a combination of the wreck and overtightening. I don't get crazy on tightening the bar nuts and I feel like I have a pretty good sense of how tight I am getting things, but maybe I pushed it a little, who knows.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking, also.

 

Glad you said that, exactly how I thought I would do it. Now, off to buy a stud bolt for an 056, etc., probably.

 

I took the saw head in to my closest dealer, and after looking at it in better light, I discovered that the hole was cracked, not just stripped. So, it wasn't over tightening, it was the wreck I had, when the saw bar got in a hard bind. He talked me into installing a heli-coil instead of drilling and tapping it out. He said that it might be better to do that, and I would still have the option of installing the 056 stud bolt later, but that conversation was before I spotted that the hole was cracked. Anyway he is going to try the heli-coil, and I told him to epoxy or JB weld it also.

I also, noticed that I cracked the edge of the flat plastic plate back at the handle under the saw, but not bad. My lightweight bar is still straight at least. If the heli-coil fails, I will probably remove the half case, and weld it up and re-drill and tap, if it's not too expensive to come up with the right filler wire. I can tig weld it, where I used to work, or at my friend's shop, if I have to, but I will have to weight the cost of doing that, against a new half case. The only thing is, I was told that I might have to buy the full case, because they are or used to be split after being made, and came as a matched set. Hopefully, I won't have to go that far with it.

Good lesson for me, I guess. I will definitely be more careful in the future. It was hot, and I was a little tired and went about it wrong, when making the cut. If I had just moved on up the tree trunk first and made a cut or two, I would have been OK.

 

Sorry to hear about any damage ever... Hope it all turns out OK for you.

 

Thanks, yep, I hate tearing stuff up, because I was not being careful enough. I guess I just need to be thankful that I didn't get myself hurt in the process. Equipment can be replaced.