Stihl 044 air leak?

if i remember correctly the sides of the gasket wont pass the piston so it may have been deleted but im not seeing any sealant either

 

Had a few minutes to play with it this morning. Is this amount of rod to crank play ok? Piston had no play on the rod.

 

side to side play is ok it is the vertical play that you dont want
usually you can see a broken bearing cage if the big bearing is bad

 

No vertical play at the crank or piston.

 

your good to go then

 

So I never got around to picking up a case splitter or flywheel puller. I ended up having my local dealer do the work. I figured he could do it better and quicker than I could. I got the old bearings off and the case halves cleaned up, put in new bearings and case gasket. I got the seals started but I’m not sure they’re seated deep enough. I think the clutch side is ok but I’m not sure about the flywheel side.

 

Are those seals installed in the wrong direction ?

 

seals are put in backwards

 

Well chit..

 

once you do a few you will get better at them

 

I don’t feel too bad about it considering this is my first rodeo. The way those seals beveled made me think they went that way.

 

Yep, no worries. I’ve seen experienced mechanics drive the pto seal in wayyy too deep. Just get new seals and go slow. The pto side is easier on the 044 because of the crank clearance needed for the bushing; the seal lip won’t easily invert with that model.

 

Well I actually tried to pull the seals, flip them and reinstall. I boogered up the clutch side but I thought the flywheel side went in nicely. If I should just do all new seals for peace of mind I will though.

 

Considering the price of seals versus the effort to get to them, I’d get new ones. Looks like you should get one new one anyway.
Even if leak check passed, I’d always have that doubt in the back of my head.
Nice thread by the way!

 

Thanks to everyone for all the tips and advice! When BuckthornBonnie recommended new ones I thought about the cost of new ones vs the effort to replace them after everything was put together as well. I’ll get some new ones in.

 

Consider it practice so the new ones go in perfectly.

Are you using a socket to drive them in? Make sure it’s the correct diameter and clears the crank and directly lines up on the metal of the seal. Avoid the rubber.

Grease/oil on the inner lip and flywheel side crank, small amount of sealant on the OD. I prefer loctite 518 here since it’s anaerobic and won’t get into bearings or anything. Carefully set the bushing in after the pto is right. The little o-ring... not necessarily needed if you pack some grease in there and properly torque the clutch.

Funny, I use the ring on 371/372, but I don’t use it for 044/440s. It’s easily available at Husky dealers, maybe that’s why? I also pack that bushing with grease.

 

I used sockets for both of them. 14 and 21 mm I think?